"The fact is that much of what is reported in the American media reflects not only the propaganda machines of the Left, but also that of our Jihadi adversaries© often the content from those machines is indistinguishable."
"Newspapers... serve as chimnies to carry off noxious vapors and smoke." -Thomas Jefferson Friday Digest PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE Memo to the American Media from Sheikh Muhammad al-Zawahiri Recently, I participated in a three-day national security forum with some knowledgeable military officers. The briefing focused on Fourth Generation Warfare in the Second Nuclear Age, and the formidable threats we face from Jihadi terrorists <http://PatriotPost.US/papers/primer01.asp> . The non-attribution policy of such briefings prohibits me from identifying any of the presenters, but I can tell you that one of them summed up the current nuclear WMD threat as paraphrased: If the American people could see the bone-chilling threats outlined in the [classified] cable traffic concerning al-Qa'ida and other Islamist terror networks, there would be little dissension about our military mission. Unfortunately, there is a wide gap between what the mainstream media reports about Iraq and other theater operations, and the underlying rationale for those operations, which are classified in order to protect methods and sources. Though there is an effort under way now to declassify more real-time intel, it won't close that gap because the major networks and print outlets are more concerned with political agendas, which most often mirror those of the far left. Consequently, their "journalism" contains much more fragrance than substance. Notably, the most senior presente r at the aforementioned briefing discussed the topic "Media as Terrain" - how our adversaries use the media as a battleground. He used this declassified quote to make his point: "I say to you: that we are in a battle, and that more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media." That quote is from an intercepted and authenticated communiqué <http://PatriotPost.US/news/zawahiri.asp> from Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Sheikh Ayman Muhammad al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, before Zarqawi's termination last June. The fact is that much of what is reported in the American media reflects not only the propaganda machines of the Left, but also that of our Jihadi adversaries. Too often the content from those machines is indistinguishable. Two weeks ago, this column took to task a mainstream-media organ ( <http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=514> Newsweek ) for its cover story on Iraq entitled, "We're losing." There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the Newsweek piece except that it typified the Leftmedia's relentless and traitorous <http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=342> efforts to undermine America's will and national resolve to defeat a dangerous enemy. Indeed, Islamist leaders must be thrilled by the support they receive from American media Leftists -those sympathizers whom V.I. Lenin once famously dubbed <http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=275> "Useful Idiots." This week, among other egregious examples of Leftmedia dissent, was a notable tome that went beyond the normal disparagement of Operation Iraqi <http://PatriotPost.US/Alexander/edition.asp?id=470> Freedom and instead adopted John <http://PatriotPetitions.US/kerry/> Kerry's modus operandi: Don't just question the war, attack the credibility of our warriors <http://PatriotPost.US/news/stuck.asp> "stuck in Iraq." The offender is William Arkin, a military analyst for NBC and writer for the Washington Post, whose bio fails to mention his previous employment and affiliation with Leftist organizations, including the Institute for Policy Studies, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Last week, Arkin posted a column on the Post's website attacking U.S. military personnel. The column exposed the underlying contempt held by many MSM "journalists" for those who defend our nation. Arkin wrote, in part: "Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order. So we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, and their attitude is that we should, in addition, roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?...[T]he recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary-oops sorry,-volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work." The "indulged rapists and murderous mercenaries" of whom Arkin writes are the men and women who serve our nation in uniform, and who do so, almost to a person, with honor and humility <http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=339> . As I have noted in this column before, there is no more humble gesture than to stand in harm's way and offer one's life for the liberty of others, most of whom take such liberty for granted. This would be the same William Arkin who, in 2003, "outed" Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, Commanding General of Special Forces at Fort Bragg, for his Christian world view after Gen. Boykin said of the hunt for Osman Atto in Mogadishu: "He went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, 'They'll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me.' Well, you know what? I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Arkin accused Gen. Boykin of being "an intolerant extremist... who believes in Christian 'jihad'." Arkin has rebuffed objections to his latest rant with two subsequent essays entitled "Demonization and Responsibility" and "The Arrogant and Intolerant Speak Out." He claims, "The torrents of [complaints] represent the worst of polarized and hate-filled America. [I am not] apologizing for being critical of the military. Instead, I'm trying to make sense of the worldview of those who have responded. For the critics, I have become the enemy and have been demonized... I am part of the all powerful, self-congratulatory, far-left, Bush-bashing, fifth-column mainstream. It isn't so much what I say... it is more that I sit in my safe little cubicle in front of a keyboard sipping lattes, giving aid and comfort to the rnemy while our boys and girls die. In other words, I'm comfortable while others suffer. Well, if the shoe fits... Arkin, like most of his arrogant ilk, thinks that he is somehow bullet-proof to criticism; that even though he now finds himself in a deep hole of his own design, he needn't stop digging. He is probably right, at least in regard to his job security. NBC responded to complaints about its military analyst with this disingenuous reply: "The comments in question were made by Mr. Arkin in his Washington Post column. He does not speak on behalf of NBC News." Of course, everything Arkin says at NBC reflects what he wrote at the Washington Post, which, by the way, invoked "no comment" in response to complaints. It is notable that neither NBC nor the Washington Post challenges the substance of Arkin's comments, but they cannot feign surprise. After all, the title of Arkin's latest book, "Codenames: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs, and Operations in the 9/11 World," says it all. If I were a betting man, I would take odds that any terrorist listed in Who's Who among Jihadis has a copy of that book. Notably silent during this whole Arkin affair is General Electric, which owns NBC and collects billions of dollars from military-procurement and operations contracts. (Footnote: Arkin closed the reader response blog under his Washington Post column after receiving more than 900 objections. You can still contact him at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.) Quote of the week "It might seem at first glance that the left wing of the Democratic Party should be in the forefront to fight radical Islam. "Islamic radicals despise women's rights and gay rights. I think we all know what they would do with Hillary Clinton or Barney Frank. "[Their] reluctance to support the war on terror... has nothing to do with cultural relativism or multiculturalism. It has everything to do with domestic politics. Basically the left hates Bush more than it hates Bin Laden... "Consider the war in Iraq. This war is tough going in Iraq. But it is even tougher going in America. The war is being lost not on the streets of Baghdad but right here in America... There is no way that Bin Laden could persuade America to give up on the war on terror and get out of Iraq and the Middle East. Fortunately for Bin Laden he has a whole political movement in the United States that is dedicated to exactly this objective." -Dinesh D'Souza on his new book, The Enemy At Home GOVERNMENT & POLITICS Democrats fail to pass Iraq resolution Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be rinsing the taste of sour grapes out of his mouth for some time after Republicans rallied to stop his anti-Bush, anti-troop Iraq resolution this week. All but two GOP senators (Susan Collins and Norm Coleman, for those keeping score) voted against proceeding forward on debating the resolution opposing the troop buildup, essentially bringing dreams of embarrassing the President to a halt for the time being. Reid and company accused Republicans of stifling debate, and the Leftmedia pointed the dirty end of the stick at the GOP for using parliamentary procedures that Democrats mastered during their time in the minority. However, all Reid had to do to get the debate over his precious resolution was to allow a vote on two competing Republican resolutions also making the rounds. Republicans are not ducking a fight over Iraq; they are, in fact, trying to have a debate. It's just not going to be on Reid's terms. He seems most genuinely angry that even though his party has the control they've coveted for so long, he still can't do anything effective with it. One of the resolutions on which Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to hold a vote was written by John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman. It would have called for the Iraqi government to reach clearly defined benchmarks over time to earn America's continued military and financial support. This is not an unreasonable resolution, and it is similar in tone to what Democrats were calling for last year. A second resolution, which is quite crafty in its execution, was written by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). The text of the resolution calls for support of the troop buildup, but it also declares that Congress should not cut off funds for troops in the field. Democrats don't want to vote in support of Gregg's language, because pulling funding is exactly what they plan to do should their other attempts to abandon Iraq fail. They can't afford to vote against it, though, because doing so will expose their rank hypocrisy. Thus, while it looks as if the anti-troop buildup resolution is dead in the Senate, the war debate is far from over. Reid is sure to hold hostage a large Iraq funding package coming up in a few weeks in order to get his point across that the Demos are determined to throw in the towel in Iraq. Open query "So let's get this straight, during a week in which Democrats are pushing a resolution that states, 'it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq,' they believe that securing Speaker Pelosi [a transcontinental luxury jet] is in the national interest?" -Republican Study Committee spokesman Brad Dayspring Giuliani: 'I'm in this to win' Rudy Giuliani is done waffling about running for president; he's running in no uncertain terms. His campaign team has added some major-league talent in recent weeks, including former RNC political director Mike DuHaime, former congressman Jim Nussle and fundraiser Donna Henderson. Giuliani's soft stand on social issues is sure to roil conservatives, but he's hoping to cancel that out by playing up his strengths: shrinking government, reducing taxes, fighting crime and, of course, 9/11. Here in our humble shop, we'll be listening to Rudy's rhetoric concerning the appointment of constitutional-constructionist judges - judges who might well oppose him on abortion, gun rights and homosexual "marriage." A bit behind on the fundraising front, Giuliani hopes to raise $100 million this year-and he'll need every penny of it going into the Iowa caucuses, where social and religious conservatives aren't likely to cut him the slack he's enjoyed in many nationwide favorability polls. Conservatives gather to discuss strategy Forty-eight members of the House Republican Study Committee <http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/> (RSC) met in Baltimore this past week to discuss the present circumstances and the future of the conservative cause. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay were among the speakers who imparted their wisdom at the conference, and many ideas were shared. Gingrich told attendees that conservatives need to focus more on their own agenda and not worry about what the White House is doing. He also noted that conservatives need to be the "mouthpiece" and the "conscience" of the party, because no one else will. Sounding a similar call, RSC Chairman Jeb Hensarling noted, "As conservatives, we must get back to basics and begin to thoughtfully communicate our vision and core principles." Mitt Romney, recognized by many RSC members as a possible GOP presidential nominee, attended the conference, which was sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, but John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani did not attend. Giuliani had a scheduling conflict. McCain gave no reason. New & notable legislation Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) has proposed HR 77 (HR 442 in the 109th Congress) to move the 15 April deadline for filing federal income taxes to the first Monday in November, making Tax Day the day before Election Day. Says Bartlett, "It just made sense to me that having the most visible price of government at the top of their mind at this time would be valuable and useful information. That's just what moving the tax-filing deadline to the first Monday in November, one day before Election Day, would do." NATIONAL SECURITY 2007 NIE on Iraq released The January 2007 Iraq National Intelligence Estimate is a sobering reminder of how hard things are likely to be in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Despite nearly four years of hard work, lost lives and spent treasure, the road ahead is still long and difficult. Among the NIE's key judgments, one is particularly unsettling: "[E]ven if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation in the time frame of this Estimate [3-5 years]." While the NIE is a product of group-think, and also of an institution (the CIA's National Intelligence Council) that is almost openly hostile to President Bush's post-9/11 foreign policy, it does provide one assessment that should be required reading for every American, and indeed every citizen of the world who does not want to see Islamic terror succeed: "Coalition capabilities, including force levels, resources, and operations, remain an essential stabilizing element in Iraq. If Coalition forces were withdrawn rapidly during the term of this Estimate, we judge that this almost certainly would lead to a significant increase in the scale and scope of sectarian conflict in Iraq, intensify Sunni resistance to the Iraqi Government, and have adverse consequences for national reconciliation." "If such a rapid withdrawal were to take place, we judge that the Iraqi Security Forces would be unlikely to survive as a non-sectarian national institution; neighboring countries -invited by Iraqi factions or unilaterally- might intervene openly in the conflict; massive civilian casualties and forced population displacement would be probable; Al-Qa'ida would attempt to use parts of the country -particularly al-Anbar province- to plan increased attacks in and outside of Iraq; and spiraling violence and political disarray in Iraq, along with Kurdish moves to control Kirkuk and strengthen autonomy, could prompt Turkey to launch a military incursion." Since the 2008 election campaigns have already begun, we hope and expect that all candidates for Congress and for President -from both parties- will be asked repeatedly by the "unbiased media" to address this NIE judgment and President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq as a way to secure Baghdad and diminish the violence. New revelations on Chinese ASAT test Citing the successful test of a Chinese direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) system on 11 January, Republicans from the House Armed Services Committee are now pushing for more spending on classified space programs. That's promising because, China's "peaceful use of space" rhetoric notwithstanding, the test betrays China's aggressive pursuit of counter-space weapons. That pursuit has merit. U.S. military forces depend on the asymmetric capabilities of space to such an extent that the question, "Can the U.S. win a major conflict without space?" is no longer seriously debated in military academia. China rightfully sees this capability as an Achilles' heel it must zealously exploit if it is to satisfy its quest for regional hegemony. Now challenging U.S. space supremacy may be easier than previously believed. That's because one result of China's test is the introduction of a semi-permanent, global "frag cloud" in Earth's lower orbit. Many experts believe one motivation behind the Chinese test was not only to hit the satellite target, but to study the debris that it left behind. China's newly minted "frag cloud" equates to space-borne anti-aircraft rounds -with each fragment traveling on the order of 10 miles per second. Already, the International Space Station has had to maneuver to avoid collision and, next time, intelligence or military communications satellites would constitute even easier targets. Now the frag pattern is spreading from its original single polar orbit into a shell, more-or-less uniformly distributed about the Earth at roughly the impact altitude, potentially doubling the amount of trackable space trash previously orbiting the planet. That brings us to Taiwan, which the U.S. has pledged to defend from attack by China. While an unprovoked attack by China is improbable, should Taiwan declare independence, China would undoubtedly intervene. Such a declaration is not unlikely, given past overtures by independence-minded Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Bian. Besides technical validation , then, a probable political goal of the ASAT test is to put the U.S. on notice of the costs of intervening in a China-Taiwan conflict. Beijing knows that if U.S. decision-maker s can be convinced that the costs of standing up to bat for Taiwan are too high, China can have Taiwan without firing a single shot. Unfortunately, collateral effects of the ASAT test might have already become apparent. According to a Reuters report, the National Reconnaissance Office lost contact with one of its satellites the day the ASAT launched -an unlikely coincidence. Tehran blows off steam, not missiles Iran claimed this week to have fired a number of missiles, including their shiny new Russian-made SA-15 surface-to-air missiles, as well as naval missiles "able to sink big warships." Each claim was accompanied by media footage showing missile-launch activity. However, long-time Iran watchers spotted a familiar Iranian trick: the SA-15 footage is from a Russian marketing video seen previously at various international arms shows and could not be Iranian footage. Nice try, Iran, but we've seen better propaganda on YouTube. So, why might Iran want to make these two near-simultaneous claims of military capability? Well, there's one reason -and at 97,000 tons, it's a big one. USS John C. Stennis, the second aircraft carrier President Bush has ordered to the Persian Gulf, is approaching the Arabian Peninsula. The 23 February deadline imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1737 in December, requiring Iran to adhere to its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty obligations, is also fast approaching. Remember last summer's claims of submarine-launched missiles and flying boats, also occurring prior to a UNSC deadline? Iran is apparently feeling the heat of the U.S. Navy's big stick and wants to brandish a stick of its own. Look for more such claims to come out of Tehran over the next two weeks. BUSINESS & ECONOMY President Bush unveils FY 2008 budget Any thoughts that President Bush would quietly shuffle off as a lame duck can be put to rest now that he has submitted his budget proposal for fiscal 2008. The $2.9-trillion budget is the largest in history, but it continues the trend of shrinking deficits and, all things being equal, will lead the government down the path to producing a $61-billion surplus in 2012. Of course, all things are not equal. The Congressional Budget Office is not so sure that the budget can be balanced if the tax cuts remain in place, pointing out that they have "cost" the Treasury almost $1 trillion in revenue since 2001. However, tax collections have risen by $757 billion in that same period, proving that lower tax brackets stimulate the economy and bring in more revenue. Bush, an unabashed big spender, has actually slowed the growth of outlays in his second term, but he still finds room for $600 billion in defense spending, an additional 20 percent for the State Department, and an additional $1 billion in Title I grants for students attending school in low-income areas. However, for all the alarm about the enormous size of the budget and the amount of debt it brings with it, the deficit will likely remain at or below one percent of GDP, well below the forty-year average of 2.4 percent of GDP. That's another tidbit of information you are unlikely to hear from the Democrats. Trade deficit in the balance President Bush is seeking renewal of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) which is set to expire on 1 July. TPA allows the executive branch to negotiate foreign-trade agreements with a straight up or down vote by Congress upon presentment. No amendments, no retractions, just a simple debate and vote. Now congressional Democrats have a dilemma. On the one hand, a significant number of their freshmen members campaigned on protectionist platforms. On the other hand, their green elements (environmental, not envious) are beginning to realize that U.S. exports are "cleaner" and act as a displacement to "dirty" domestic production on foreign shores. Then there's the fact that the congressional leadership hail from districts beholden to foreign trade: Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel represent the financial centers of San Francisco and New York; Max Baccus from Montana benefits from beef exports; and Harry Reid's Las Vegas -the fastest growing city in the country- is doing more business than just show business. The simple solution: renew TPA. Our trade deficit has improved, but we need to maintain the trend. Congressional leadership needs to exert leadership and produce a binding resolution. Without TPA, Congress will become the trade negotiator with whom nobody can do business-a proverbial Fred Sanford at the head of the U.S. trade mission. Remember Old and Kahn's Law? "The efficiency and effectiveness of any committee is the inverse of the size of its membership." With Congress consisting of 535 members, its coefficient of effectiveness is 0.001869 -enough said. Caveat emptor... and the seller, too Erstwhile VP candidate, Senator and ambulance chaser John Edwards has (drum roll, please) unveiled his presidential candidacy's prescription for universal health care. His $90-billion dollar scheme would raise business taxes to six percent of payroll, impose a potpourri of other tax increases and destroy competition via heavily regulated insurance pools called "health markets." Buyers beware; Mr. Edward's plan merely recycles the same old liberal tropes the left has pushed for decades -high taxes and suffocating government over-regulation. Worse yet, the yearly sticker shock is eclipsed by the cold reality that his plan provides Americans with greater access only to waiting lists, not actual care. >From another corner of the healthcare universe, President Bush recently submitted his Medicare and Medicaid budget to Congress. The proposal reduces annual inflation reimbursements to hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers to achieve a 0.9 percent ($101.5 billion) cut in the programs' anticipated growth rates over five years. While we applaud most reductions in the growth rates of misbegotten government programs, in this case it's the seller who must beware. We question the Orwellian method of achieving these alleged reductions in cost by inexplicably reducing net provider payments as time progresses, despite continually rising costs for healthcare products and services. Ultimately, medical providers who already lose money on Medicare and Medicaid patients must make up these increasing revenue deficits from insurance companies-a figure currently estimated as eight percent of the total cost of insurance premiums. Private insurers must in turn pass along this hidden tax by again raising premiums upon the already insured. CULTURE Texas mandates HPV vaccine for 6th graders "Fie on parents!" So said Texas Governor Rick Perry with his recent executive order mandating 11 and 12-year-old girls be vaccinated against HPV, the cancer-causing STD, upon entering sixth grade. Although Perry spun his diktat as "an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer," the order effectively strips parents of the right to determine their children's upbringing. The American College of Pediatricians has opposed the order, noting it marks "serious, precedent-setting action that trespasses on the right of parents to make medical decisions for their children." At the same time, parents and children are stripped of even more personal rights; Perry's order forces the discussion of sexual activity with often pre-pubescent students. Now Texas legislators are criticizing Perry's circumvention of the legislative process in signing the mandate. In the end, no publicity slant can hide Perry's open disregard for the rule of law and the rights of parents. While he may think the end justifies the means, we strongly disagree. ASU: Christian = Bigot A recent role-playing exercise at Arizona State University has raised some eyebrows. The training session for dormitory employees was designed by students and approved by the Residential Life staff as a tool for awareness and sensitivity, focusing on the effects of racism, classism and "homophobia." Of course, to the "diversity" crowd, those are one-way streets. Students were assigned race, ethnicity and sexual orientation as their role to play. Each would then go to a "life station," encountering "typical" responses. One student was assigned the role of homosexual Hispanic. He soon learned that the "diversity" experts thought his lot in life would be working as a landscaper and living in a ghetto apartment or unemployment and homelessness. The "church" told him only that he was unwelcome and that Jesus said he was going to hell. Meanwhile, students assigned to the white race were offered executive jobs and an easy life. "It got to the point that if you weren't a minority or gay, you were supposed to feel guilty and that everything was given to you in life," the student said. Once again the liberal assumption is that their permanent victim classes will always need their help -even to get a landscaping job. Who's living by stereotypes now? A tale of two cities Washington, DC, council member and former mayor (and recovering tax evader and drug addict) Marion Barry has introduced a bill to suspend temporarily the 30-year-old handgun ban in the nation's capital. Citizens would be given a 90-day window in which to register their handguns for legal possession. Current gun restrictions would then set in again. "We are in the midst of a gun-violence epidemic," Barry said. "We need to see gun violence as an emergency in the District of Columbia." Is that so? It sure sounds as if Barry is admitting that guns in the hands of the citizenry reduce criminal violence, not elevate it. Of course, his change of heart could be due to his being robbed at gunpoint himself last year. Further north, in New York City, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is investigating Mayor Michael Bloomberg's little "sting" operations to entrap gun dealers. According to Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, "Mayor Bloomberg dispatched private investigators to several states, where they apparently made straw-gun purchases in an effort to file civil lawsuits against gun dealers. The mayor refused to turn over alleged evidence obtained during this vigilante operation to ATF or other proper authorities and instead exploited the affair to advance his own political agenda." Apparently, Bloomberg thinks the title "Mayor of New York City" entitles him to police other states-Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia, for the record. We would advise him to think again. More from the 'Hot Air' Department As if this were news, the Washington Post recently ran a headline declaring, "Humans Faulted for Global Warming." You don't say! That is the enforced orthodoxy these days. Hundreds of scientists from 113 countries have for several years participated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and their mission was in essence to throw gas on the fire. In a summary of their upcoming report, they conclude with "90 percent" certainty that greenhouse gases created by humans have been causing warming for the past 50 years. The panel says "warming of the climate system is unequivocal" and the ensuing chaos, destruction and doom that Algore makes a living proclaiming is just around the corner. We're not putting money on that just yet. Partisans of the global warming bandwagon are also intensifying their efforts to crush the rebellion of dissenters. Oregon's "State Climatologist," George Taylor, is among those on the chopping block. Governor Ted Kulongoski doesn't think someone who says climate change is due to "natural variations" deserves the title. Instead, the governor wants to appoint a yes man to whisper apocalyptic nothings in his ear. Many refuse to be bought, however. "Global warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist," says Dr. Timothy Ball, chairman of the Canada-base Natural Resources Stewardship Projec t and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg, noting that "consensus is not a scientific fact." Dr. Ball might just be onto something, surmising that debate is quashed because of worries about job security and the like (see "Taylor, George" above). Challenging the prevailing wisdom can be dangerous to one's advancement, particularly when the "wisdom" has become nothing but political fodder. Of course, challenging the prevailing wisdom used to be known as science. Boy Scouts celebrate 97th Birthday Happy Birthday to the Boy Scouts, who this week turn 97 -the organization, that is. British Lord Robert Baden-Powell began the scouting movement in 1908, and the YMCA took up the cause soon thereafter. In 1910, Chicago publisher William Dickson Boyce ran with the idea and filed incorporation papers for the Boy Scouts of America <http://www.scouting.org/> . The purpose "Shall be to promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in Scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods which are in common use by Boy Scouts." The Scouts have been remarkably successful in staying true to their roots amidst great adversity. We wish them well for many years to come. Super testimony after Super Bowl Super Bowl XLI garnered much attention for an unusual aspect this year: Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith were the first two "African-American" coaches ever to make it to the championship game. Put on the spot about this superficial "milestone" after the game, Dungy deferred to a higher calling than race: "I'm proud... to be the first African-American coach to win [the Super Bowl], but again, more than anything... Lovie Smith and I are not only African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord's way and we're more proud of that." Dungy obviously has perspective sorely lacking among the media. As for Smith, we don't recall seeing any hoopla over his being the first African-American coach to lose a Super Bowl! And last... We don't normally pay much mind to Nobel Peace Prize nominations, but this year, two piqued our interest. The first was no surprise: Al Gore, for scaring the socks off of everyone with his alarmist rhetoric about global warming and the apocalypse. Sounds Peace Prize worthy, no? The second struck us as real progress: Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh was nominated by the Landmark Legal Foundation. Landmark President Mark Levin said, "Rush Limbaugh is the foremost advocate for freedom and democracy in the world today" and is heard by more than 20-million people worldwide. While Rush advocates the ideals the Peace Prize is ostensibly about, Gore, well, not so much. Yet Norwegian lawmaker Boerge Brende says, "A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference." "- Made a difference"? Saddam Hussein made a difference! Osama bin Laden made a difference! Maybe a Nobel nomination isn't a compliment after all. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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