The science does not exist to make detailed forecasts for temperature and snowfall for the end of this month, let alone for December or even the winter as a whole with these types of forecasts only able to provide an indication of how our weather might change, or be different from normal, (i.e. warmer, colder, wetter, drier) across the whole UK or even Europe.
But, the people who work there have no problem droning on about being able to predict hotcoldwetdry (hey, did the Met Office steal my meme?) 50-100 years down the road.
Melanie Phillips points out just how super duper mean Israel has been so far
Here is some information about the war between Gaza and Israel that for some unaccountable reason you may have missed today in Britain’s mainstream media.
The casualty rate in Gaza from Israeli strikes is astoundingly low
Since the beginning of Israel’s operation Pillar of Defence last Wednesday against Hamas rocket attacks, there have been more than 1000 Israeli air strikes. At time of writing, the Palestinian death toll is 69. That is a staggeringly small number of fatalities for more than 1000 bombing raids.
It shows beyond doubt that the Israelis are not only doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties, but have achieved a degree of precision in doing so which no other army can match. For sure, every civilian casualty is regrettable, and the deaths of children are always tragic — today’s apparently heavy toll particularly so, including at what appears to have been a mistaken target. Such mistakes inevitably happen in war.
Consider that most of those deaths can be laid on Hamas’ doorstep, as they surround themselves and their weapons with human shields, yet, that is a low body count. All Israel wants is for these “Palestinian” terrorists, backed by Syria and Iran, among others, to stop targeting Israel. Hamas, for its part, is intentionally targeting civilian areas, yet, the media, and liberal, outcry is barely noticeable.
We also learn that the breathless reports by many media outlets about Israel having killed a child in Gaza was a load of mule fritters, typical Islamist fake propaganda. We look towards the Sunday Telegraph
But there were signs on Saturday that not all the Palestinian casualties have been the result of Israeli air strikes. The highly publicised death of four-year-old Mohammed Sadallah appeared to have been the result of a misfiring home-made rocket, not a bomb dropped by Israel.
Hamas to blame.
The child’s death on Friday figured prominently in media coverage after Hisham Kandil, the Egyptian prime minister, was filmed lifting his dead body out of an ambulance. “The boy, the martyr, whose blood is still on my hands and clothes, is something that we cannot keep silent about,†he said, before promising to defend the Palestinian people.
That’s strange, it’s almost like the Egyptian PM has gone Islamist, talking about martyrs. Who would have thought Egypt would end up with extremists in government?
But, we all know that Liberals around the world will take the side of the Islamic extremists in Gaza. Why? They hate Israel. Doesn’t matter that the Islamic extremists stand against everything that Liberals do….well, they do both want fascist government and shut down opposing viewpoints, but, otherwise, disagree on every social issue…..and Israel is closer on social issues: liberals loathe Israel, and would like to see the country wiped off the map.
Just to be clear for those who aren’t aware, I’m not fan of Sarah Palin anymore. I was once, having rooted for her to be picked as VP back in early 2008. I still think she has great ideas and can reach people, but the way in which she abandoned any run for the 2012 presidency is what turned me into somewhat of a Palin hater. That said, I’m going to try and be fair and leave those feelings out.
The article goes on to point at that she was not the reason Obama lost (she wasn’t: look at the state polls, and realize that McCain started trending downwards quickly after his “suspension of his campaign” stunt, after trending upwards and even putting deep Blue states, like Michigan, in play. He had the Bush 2004 states locked up), and that the writer, Charlotte Allen, is serious about Palin 2016.
Gabriel Malor, writing for the New York Daily News’ blog, pinpointed another reason: By focusing his campaign mostly on serious economic and political issues such as the national debt and tax incentives, Romney failed to take into account the fact that large segments of the electorate neither know nor care much about serious economic and political issues. What they — a group sometimes euphemistically called “uninformed voters” — do know and care about are the tugs on their emotions, fears, revulsions and heart strings provided by hours and hours of uninterrupted television watching .
Romney did a fantastic job in responding to Team Obama, and responding quickly. But, as I have argued, his campaign made the decision to be the adult in the room and avoid those deep smear attacks, going very negative, and really reaching for the heart strings. He ran as if he was applying for a job as a CEO of a super massive corporation.
Palin can more than keep up with the Democrats in appealing to voters’ emotions. Hardly anyone could be more blue collar than Palin, out on the fishing boat with her hunky blue-collar husband, Todd. Palin is “View”-ready, she’s “Ellen”-ready, she’s Kelly-and-Michael-ready.
A Palin “war against women”? Hah! Not only is she a woman, she’s got a single-mom daughter, Bristol, to help with the swelling single-mom demographic. On social issues, Palin, unlike Romney, has been absolutely consistent. And let’s remember that most Americans, whatever their view of choice, disapprove of most abortions.
Gay marriage? Palin opposes it. But she is also a strong advocate of states’ rights, and I’m betting she’d be fine with letting states and their voters grapple with the issue on their own. Remember that all of America didn’t swing toward approval of gay marriage on Nov. 6. Three reliably blue states and their voters did. If she were smart, Palin would recruit a member of her impressive gay fanboy base — yes, she has one — to help run her campaign. I nominate Kevin DuJan of the widely read gay conservative blog HillBuzz, a Palin stalwart since 2008.
There are other good points, such as her son Track being an Iraq war vet, she’s dynamic, young, and good looking, and, let’s face it, the lady is very tough, refusing to back down in the face of all the attacks and personal smears thrown her way and towards her family.
Sarah Palin is the new Ronald Reagan: charming and affable and unwilling to back down if she’s right. I can’t see what’s wrong with that.
She has the potential to be. She is a great, plain spoken politician, though I think she needs to reduce the homilies and increase the number of big words she uses, and delve deeper into subjects. She can talk to people as people, and tug on their passions. Policy wise, she is a bit squishy on illegal immigration and globull warming, but, strong on economic issues and energy. She needs to explain those in more detail.
Could she be the GOP’s hope in 2016? I have two problems with this. First, the aforementioned way she bailed on running in 2012, which I won’t delve into. Second, where was she during the 2012 cycle? No one can argue that her influence and support wasn’t a top 2 factor in the GOP’s historic House blowout of the Democrats. But, what did she do during this cycle? Where was her support of Romney and others? Why wasn’t she out on the trail stumping for Republicans? She putzed around for half a year before bowing out ungracefully.
If she wants to be the nominee, Palin needs to start soon. She needs to make sure her plans are in place, substantive and detailed. She needs to put a team together, and get out and about. She needs to jump in with both feet and join the circus, er, GOP debates. If she does that, her appeal, toughness, and ability to connect to people’s hearts will win out.
Shut down White House petitions, since they never get a sincere response, few read them, & they are ultimately worthless
Since the White House never actually responds to any petitions in sincerity (like letting the one man whose job it is to oppose marijuana to respond to the marijuana legalization initiative, or having the head of the TSA respond to why we can’t de-fund the TSA) we should immediately de-fund and dismantle the White House petition website.
In recent days it has become a mockery with petitions for secession from almost every state, and cities wishing to de-secede in such events.
We ask Barack Obama to admit that this is a mockery of democratic process and immediately dissolve this joke of a website.
The creator, Brian W, has a good point. The majority of petitions that ultimately get to 25k signatures in 30 days feature responses that are simply boilerplate campaign responses, and little else. Action are never taken. There are two points to the petition website: first is to tell people how super duper awesome Obama is. The second is to capture emails from liberals AND conservatives and send them thinly veiled campaign messages.
Happy Sunday! Another fantastic day in The People’s Socialist Republic Of America, er, the United States. The birds are singing, the EPA has designated your home a wildlife refuge. All the normal stuff. Might be a bit too early to be cynical, eh? Anyhow, this pinup is by Bill Layne, with a wee bit of help.
What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15
The Other McCain points out that Obama knew it was terrorism quickly
Weasel Zippers covers Harry Reid blowing off any investigation into Benghazi
Teresamerica brings cuteness overload with dogs that surf
And last, but not least, heartbreaking news about one of the great fun bloggers, Amusing Bunni, via Political Clown Parade.
As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets†calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts
Watcher of Weasels has this weeks’ Council results. And thanks to all the Council members who linked back to Pirate’s Cove for an honorable mention.
Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.
The posts do take a long time, so, if you want to send me your links for Rule 5 babeage or links, use ye olde email in the header bar (remove the NOSPAM part). Preferably, create the html link so I can copy and paste how you want it to read.
This is surely going to make Obama’s Israel loathing base unhappy
(ABC) The White House on Saturday defended Israel’s right to defend itself against attack and decide how to respond to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, blaming the ruling Islamic militant Hamas group for starting the conflict.
Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in agreement that a de-escalation of the violence is preferred, provided that Hamas stops sending rocket into Israel, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters during the president’s flight on Air Force One to Asia.
Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday by assassinating Hamas’ military commander, but Rhodes said the U.S. believes “the precipitating factor for the conflict was the rocket fire coming out of Gaza. We believe Israel has a right to defend itself, and they’ll make their own decisions about the tactics they use in that regard.”
He added, “These rockets have been fired into Israeli civilian areas and territory for some time now. So Israelis have endured far too much of a threat from these rockets for far too long, and that is what led the Israelis to take the action that they did in Gaza.”
Sheesh, Rhodes sounds like one of those “neocons” from the Bush administration. And libs are doing their normal moonbat dance. Over at Firedoglake, there is quite a bit of ugly language, which, for one, fails to acknowledge that Hamas puts its war materials and fighters in the middle of civilian areas. And provide comments such as
The new nazis. Israel is a terrorist state. Israelis have been stealing Arab land and Arab water for more than sixty years now. End US military aid for this terrorist state now.
You know, as a self-styled student of WWII, this is looking more and more like what the Nazis did to the Jews after they segregated them into the Warsaw Ghetto. The Jews finally tried to rebel and the Nazis crushed them. Fast-forward 70 years and now the Gaza Strip is the Warsaw Ghetto, the Israelis are the Nazis, and the Palestinians are the Jews.
You have Kim Kardashian tweeting her support, received typical disgusting hate her way, wishing her death.
Unsurprisingly, most media outlets have closed comments for their Israel/Hamas stories, so as to avoid the typical unhinged and hateful Lefty comments which pop up every time Israel is mentioned.
Anyhow, someone over at the NY Times decided to get a little creative using their thesaurus: Israel Steps Up Aerial Strikes in Gaza. I think simply calling them “air” strikes would have sufficed.
On the White House petitions site, some “progressive” named Naji I has created a petition to stop the war on Gaza
Israel has this week intensified it war on Gaza, with aerial and naval bombardment. Innocent civilians continue to be killed by Israel using American-made weapons and US citizens’ tax money. The statement is baseless that Israel has the right to defend itself. Because Israel has a track record, ever since its ceation in 1948, of being the party who started all wars, including its illegal invasion and occupation, for over two decades, of neighbouring Lebanon. This current war on Gaza adds one more episode of resorting to shedding blood of besieged Gazan people purely for electioneering ends, meant ti boost the chances of victory for the governing coalition ruling Israel at the present time. (WT note: misspellings are all Naji’s. I just copied and pasted)
Shocking that a leftie puts all the blame on Israel and fails to mention Hamas constantly launching rockets into civilian areas of Israel, eh?
It was confirmed that McKayla did her “not impressed” face, and, I’ll give it to Barack, he had some fun with it. Ah, but the official White House photo was doctored! Here’s the real one
(BBC) Iran is ready to double the output at its underground uranium enrichment facility, the UN nuclear watchdog says.
A leaked report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there were 2,784 centrifuges at Fordo, and that Iran could soon double the number operating from 700 to 1,400.
Yawn. On to the very last paragraph
The IAEA’s report concluded that the agency was “unable… to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities”.
(OneNewsNow) A federal judge has blocked enforcement of the Health and Human Services mandate to provide free insurance coverage of abortion-causing pills in ObamaCare.
Bible publisher Tyndale House, which is owned by a foundation and donates most of its profits to faith causes worldwide, filed the lawsuit. The Obama administration had argued Tyndale House Publishers was not religious enough for an exemption from the mandate.
“The court has done the right thing in halting this mandate while our lawsuit moves forward,” he states. The court’s order is the third nationwide against the mandate and the second obtained by ADF attorneys.
“For the government to claim that a Bible publisher cannot exercise religion is startling,” Bowman continues. “It shows how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard Constitutional protections for religious freedom in order to advance the political interests of the abortion movement.”
Liberals are going to have a tough time boycotting Tyndale House, since government is the God of liberals, and their Bible is the Communist Manifesto. Or, perhaps Mao’s Little Red Book.
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