Archive for November, 2013

Volcano in Borneo?

Tuesday, November 26th, 2013

So a new island comes up near Japan thanks to an underwater volcanic eruption. There has also been some activity in Indonesia. Last night I was lying in bed and I set my mind to straying for knowledge, the type that comes from God’s Holy Spirit. I got a sense of impending cataclysm and a low resolution picture (they are always low resolution) of a massive eruption to take place on the island of Borneo, an island of Indonesia. So I prayed that it would not happen. If it did happen there wouldn’t be a great loss of life. I have no idea if a cataclysm will take place. I just know that I needed to pray. If nothing happens either my prayer had effect or my thoughts on my pillow were the result of something I ate before bed. Either way, not to pray would be foolish.

Why pay any attention to it at all? I remember the last time I had a picture of a great disaster. An undersea earthquake off of Malaysia/Indonesia. A tidal wave that swamped the Indian Ocean. I did not pray because I thought it was a bit too foolish to do so. Less than a week later there was an earthquake and a tidal wave did kill a hundred thousand around the Indian Ocean coastline.

These pictures are rare. Most times I never know if anything happens at all. Most times I don’t pray. Yet once in awhile the picture unfolds just as I have seen it. So I pray and hope that nothing happens.

I pray Lord Father that there will be no incident and that no one is hurt. In Jesus’ holy name. Do I get an amen out there?

50th Anniversary of Kennedy assassination +1

Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

50 years plus one day after the assassination of President Kennedy I want to recall some of the events of this 2 year 10 month presidency. Elected by a slim (contestable?) margin Kennedy wins the Nov 8, 1960 election. He takes the oath of office on Jan 20, 1961 and the reins of power are now in his hands. In his inaugural address Kennedy raises the hope of peace and goodwill and in the next breathe warns of military struggle. You are either, with us for peaceful purposes or against us in warmongering, is what I come away with in his speech.

Warmongering?

Remember that this is the height of the cold war. Communists have taken over many European countries, China has fallen, and insurgents around the globe trying to overthrow governments both good and bad. Fidel Castro just two years before overthrew Bastista and his government and established a communists foothold 90 miles off the US Coastline. Eisenhower made plans to train Cuban ex-patriots to invade Cuba and establish a western-style democracy. A little over two months into his administration Kennedy approves the invasion plan. He authorizes an air attack on Cuba, using disguised aircraft, in an attempt to destroy Cuban aircraft and their support structure, which does not succeed. Then on the 17th of April, 1961, the invasion is launched at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba. It was a disaster for the ex-pats.

Vietnam also came into focus and Kennedy increased US involvement in that region. It was to become the centre piece of a “Test of Wills.” This policy eventually led to the long standing struggle that resulted in 50,000 US servicemen dead. It ended with a “tail between the legs” moment as the last US personnel in Vietnam were evacuated by helicopter. Perhaps if Kennedy lived he would have cut his losses short as he did with the Cuban ex-pats. No one will know.

The Soviet Union then casts an eye to its new ally Cuba. As the US had nuclear strike capability in Turkey, so now they would try to place nuclear assets in Cuba. In October of 1962 an overflight of a U2 spy plane shows that the Cubans/Russians were starting to place and put together this nuclear strike equipment. What followed was 13 days in which the world came close to a nuclear war. As Roosevelt did with Japan, placing an embargo which lead to WWII, so too did Kennedy place an embargo about Cuba. Fortunately a deal was reached in which the Soviets would remove nuclear capability from Cuba with the promise from the US to never attack Cuba and secretly remove their own nuclear strike capability from Turkey. On the balance sheet this was a win for the Soviets. Better that then a nuclear holocaust.

Peaceful purposes?

Peace Corps. What a wonderful thought. To enable volunteers to travel to impoverished countries and lend a helping hand to raise life-expectancies and quality of life. A noble undertaking that could raise the hopes of millions. Sadly it could also be used by the CIA to place human assets on the ground. How much involvement did the CIA have in this program is unknown… it’s a secret you know.

A race to the moon. This would take great advances in science. It would pave the way for satellites, a lab and a space station to circle the globe. It could open up lunar exploration and would be our planet’s first step to the stars. From the Soviet point of view it also meant spy satellites and space weaponry, some nuclear, passing over their heads every 90 minutes or in a higher orbit so that it stays over their heads as a bird of prey.

Politics?

Seems to have been more aligned with conservative fiscal policies than with the more liberal wing of the government. His human rights initiatives seemed to be stalled in the House. Whether or not he would have been able to get any of these initiatives through if allowed to continue is unknown.

Sum up!

He was a president. He served 34 of his 48 months in office. An assassin’s bullet through the brain ended his reign. It was a volatile period of time. The world changed. It could have ended. It did bleed. Yet through his speeches the dream continues. Jacqueline’s vision of a Camelot lost still resides in the minds of many. We eventually went to the moon.

I still do not know what his legacy to the world will be. What I do know is this, when his casket was rolling down the streets of Washington on a caisson, I wept with all those Americans witnessing the event. When I was a child I wept as a child, but when I became a man I saw things differently. My sadness remains but my judgment of the times have also changed. He was in the end… just a man!

Climate Change?

Sunday, November 17th, 2013

Climate Change?

Left wing media are biassed when covering the subject of climate change. I was watching Reliable Sources this morning on CNN and the misdirecting talk was evident once again. The left love to portray the right as people who cannot process scientific evidence. That the right are always sticking to their ideological prejudices. They keep saying that the right denies the truth that climate change is real. It is at this point most people would think that the right would rather believe a lie than accept the truth… and that truth that they slip in is that climate change is “driven” by man made carbon-dioxide emissions.

For the record… The right do believe in climate change. There always was and will always be changes to the climate. These changes have been brought about by natural means and by natural disasters. From the changing of landmasses to an asteroid strike, great shifts in climate have occurred in the past. At this present time the trend appears to be on a warming trend yet over the past 15 years the temperatures world wide have been relatively stable. And this snapshot of time is too short in geological terms to predict if there really is a warming trend that will continue on its current projection over the next 100 years.

I do believe that there has been a short term (50 year) increase in the planets temperature. It is self evident that the polar caps are melting faster and are not re-freezing to the previous year’s extent. And yes, glaciers high in the high mountains and low lying areas near the poles are disappearing. These effects are seen by everyone who watches the news feeds or those TV specials about nature. There really is general agreement that these things are occurring.

What then is the problem?

The problem arises from the left-wing statement that these changes are being driven by the increase of CO2 emissions from man made sources. Our cars, coal plants and a host of other human activities increase the CO2 levels and that these levels “drive” climate change by raising world wide temperatures of the air, sea and land. I must say this, I am not a climate scientist. Then again most of the scientists who are polled about what they think is the cause for climate change are not scientists in that field. Just because you are a scientist in one field does not mean that you are qualified to judge what is happening in a different line of scientific enquiry. Yet we are led to believe that those with some university education are the only ones who are qualified(?) to render an opinion… Hogwash! And that they all agree… more Hog in the Wash.

I will say that the activities of mankind are the main reason for the increase in CO2 in our environment. We are taking the planets stored hydrocarbon energy sources and processing them and using those sources in our cars, homes and industries. Yes, this increases the CO2 in our atmosphere. The oceans of the world absorb most of this CO2. What remains in the atmosphere is not enough to “drive” climate change. What about the oceans? CO2 is responsible for a slight increase in ocean temperatures but CO2 is not “driving” that ocean climate change either.

Now I am talking about the fallacy of climate change being driven by the increase use of hydrocarbons stored as gas, coal or oil in the planets crust. It does have an environmental impact, but that impact is a lot less than the so-called environmentalists would have you believe.

What is driving climate change?

The sun, in part, has warmed the atmosphere and the oceans. Not so much in the past 10-15 years because the sun’s seasonal cycle is more or less in its “winter” stage. The sun will of course become more active and then the temperature will once again begin to climb. What are the long term cycles of the sun no one knows. This may be a bigger driver of climate change than CO2 emissions from hydrocarbons.

The denuding of the forest cover is another factor in the increase of environmental CO2. This is actually done in two stages. The ground cover is destroyed releasing CO2 into our environment and then, because of the lack of greenery, less environmental CO2 is absorbed by plant life. This also contributes to global warming.

Destruction of the ozone layer. That was a man made disaster and has nothing to do with CO2, from hydrocarbon sources, in the environment. So we outlawed CFC’s and hopefully the upper atmosphere can begin to increase the right kind of chemicals to reflect UV rays back out into space. Ozone Layer? Over the poles? All that energy, once was reflected out into space now strikes the polar ice caps. They are also striking those disappearing glaciers in the northern and southern reaches. Even the glaciers in the mountains are being affected by this increase in heat energy. And again, this has nothing to do with CO2 emissions from hydrocarbons.

How about the raping and polluting of the worlds oceans? The small course changes of the earth in its orbit? The destruction of other types of plants and animals on this planet? Other things??? And worse… the shear increase of humans on the planet and what it takes to feed them, house them and move them.

Summing up?

There are natural events that are increasing temperature changes in our environment. There are also human activities that are responsible for temperature changes in our environment. All these factors working together will increase the likelihood that our environment will get warmer. The question that needs to be asked is, “what can be done in all these areas to mitigate global warming?”

Spending billions, if not trillions, trying to limit CO2 emissions from hydrocarbon use is a fools errand. All the pomp and pageantry of groups and governments dancing to the lie that man-made CO2 is the main culprit will ruin the lives of millions, affect negatively on the life of billions, and in the end be far too little too late.

Peace In Our Time? Again?

Sunday, November 10th, 2013

kerry-peace-in-our-time

Peace in our time? Again? Is this what Kerry is trying to accomplish in the middle east? An Interim deal? A toothless wonder? I remember seeing the clip of Chamberlain arriving back in London just before the second world war broke out. Then too a peace agreement was signed. We know that Hitler had no intention of living up to the agreement not to seek war.

Does Rouhani really want peace? Absolutely not! He wants the sanctions lifted so that they can trade with the world and get the goods his people need. An infusion of cash would do nicely. It has taken years for the UN to get enough sanctions on Iran to finally make the leadership uncomfortable. Why the sanctions? The Iranians are trying to build a nuclear weapon. They want to use it against Israel… the West… the Sunni…

Do we let up on the sanctions for an empty promise on a piece of paper? Unless there are boots on the ground and they have the teeth to start dismantling the Iranians centrifuges no peace will be had. They were led by a madman and now a smiling fox. Yet the spirit behind Hitler is alive and well and standing firmly at Rouhani’s shoulder.

It is not enough to negotiate a deal. To obtain a promise. To hope. It is not enough to trust. As Reagan said, “Trust and Verify” the dismantling of their nuclear war program. Until then keep your powder dry and the sanctions in place.