politics – Page 38 – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Finally! 100% agreement on global warming in Congress!

The witnesses at the June 18 Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety hearing included four U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrators who formerly served in Republican Administrations—all four of whom were invited by Subcommittee Democrats to testify—and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. The hearing examined the Obama Administration’s push for intrusive anti-energy regulations that will cause energy prices to “necessarily skyrocket,” destroy millions of good-paying jobs, and reduce incomes for working Americans.

100% did agree

the President lied, so we see

as the warming got cold

we are not to be sold

on his “Carbon Pollution ” decree.

For the record. Here are the global temperatures anomaly record for the last 35 years

As to hurricanes, we are into record territory for no major hurricanes reaching landfall in the U.S.

Obama has no law license, was never a Professor. A Limerick.

First, the Limerick:
Obama lost accreditation.
He lied on his bar application.
He wrote: I’ve no alias,
But Barry has AKA’s.
A fact and no disinformation.

The link to desertconservative has been taken down, so this is what I copied from there.
FYI –Check it out……..
NO WONDER HIS SCHOOL RECORDS ARE OFF LIMITS, SOONER OR LATER THE FACTS WILL TRIP HIM UP AND THE SHAM WILL UNRAVEL.
I can corroborate Obama’s teaching career at Chicago being a sham. I spent some time with the highest tenured faculty member at Chicago Law a few months back, and he did not have many nice things to say about “Barry.” Obama applied for a position as an adjunct and wasnt even considered. A few weeks later the law school got a phone call from the Board of Trustees telling them to find him an office, put him on the pay roll, and give him a class to teach. THe Board told him he didn’t have to be a member of the faculty, but they needed to give him a temporary position. He was never a professor and was hardly an adjunct. The other professors hated him because he was lazy, unqualified, never attended any of the faculty meetings, and it was clear that the position was nothing more than a political stepping stool. According to my professor friend, he had the lowest intellectual capacity in the building. He also doubted whether he was legitimately an editor on the Harvard Law Review, because if he was, he would be the first and only editor of an Ivy League law review to never be published while in school (Publication is a requirement).
INTERESTING….MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND
Former Constitutional Law Lecturer and U.S President Makes Up Constitutional Quotes During State Of The Union (SOTU) Address. Consider this:
1. President Barack Obama, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, is no longer a “lawyer” . He surrendered his license back in 2008 in order to escape charges he lied on his bar application.
2. 2. Michelle Obama “voluntarily surrendered” her law license in 1993.
3. So, we have the first black President and First Lady – who don’t actually have licenses to practice law. Facts.
Source: http://jdlong.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/pres-barack-obama-editor-of-the-Harvard-law-review-has-no-law-license/
4. An untenured, part time senior lecturer is one thing.. A fully ranked law professor is another. Barack Obama was NOT a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Chicago. He did no research and published no papers.
5. The University of Chicago released a statement in March, 2008 saying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “served as a professor” in the law school, but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part-time, never held, a spokesman for the school confirmed in 2008.
6. “He did not hold the title of professor of law,” said Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago School of Law.
Source: http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet_obama_did_hold_the_title.html
Taken from: May 15, 2009 by Johnny Alamo

The wonderful planet Earth, complete with thermostat. Or is it out of control without human intervention?

Climate Change is again making the news. During the February 13 broadcast of CBS This Morning, host Charlie Rose and his guest turned to the topic of this year’s harsh winter, calling the extreme cold an example of global warming.

Guest Michio Kaku, a physics professor from New York City College–not a climatologist, but a physicist– specializing in paranormal phenomena like ‘telepathy, telekinesis and mind reading’ claimed that the “wacky weather” could get “even wackier” and it’s all because of global warming. “What we’re seeing is that the jet stream and the polar vortex are becoming unstable. Instability of historic proportions. We think it’s because of the gradual heating up of the North Pole. The North Pole is melting,” professor Kaku said.

“That excess heat generated by all this warm water is destabilizing this gigantic bucket of cold air… So that’s the irony, that heating could cause gigantic storms of historic proportions,” the prof. explained.

This was all because of global warming, Rose insisted….

CBS Host Norah O’Donnell also took the occasion of the discussion to claim that 2014 will be the hottest summer ever.

Yesterday, Feb. 13. John Paul Holdren, the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology spoke to reporters about President Obama’s one billion (with a “b) dollar Climate Resilience Plan and made the following statement: Without any doubt, the severe drought plaguing California and a number of other states across the country is tied to climate change.

Among his other ramblings he came up with this priceless gem:

Weather practically everywhere is being caused by climate change.

This is Holdren’s Law of Climate Causation, all you need to know about droughts and such … weather practically everywhere is being caused by climate change.

These are the people advising Obama on science. So, in his State of the Union message Obama made the following statement regarding the environment:

“Taken together, our energy policy is creating jobs and leading to a cleaner, safer planet. Over the past eight years, the United States has reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth. But we have to act with more urgency – because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought, and coastal cities dealing with floods. That’s why I directed my administration to work with states, utilities, and others to set new standards on the amount of carbon pollution our power plants are allowed to dump into the air. The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did.”

Of all the claims and statements Obama made during his hour long speech, this was the paragraph
that received the largest difference in an audience tested poll between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats reacted more than 70% favorable, Republicans not so much, the approval was less than 10%.

Why is that? What is it in our respective world views that make such a difference?

Let us take a look at how most Democrats view the world and climate and contrast that with how most Republicans see it:

(Full disclosure: I am a Christian and take the God given call to be stewards of this earth very seriously, and I too want to leave this world a better place than I entered it.)

Democrats believe:

Climate Change is real. The scientific debate is over. Anyone disagreeing with this is still part of the flat earth society. (Obama, Al Gore, John Kerry, et. al. ) Kerry also calls Climate Change our most terrifying weapon of mass destruction (Indonesia, Feb. 17, 2014)

CO2 is a pollutant, and this pollution has been given a new name, “Carbon Pollution” The “environmentalists” have successfully convinced the U.S. Supreme Court that it is, and can thus be regulated. (D1)

The earth is heating up rapidly due to increased amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere. If we do nothing the earth will be between 3 and 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by the year 2100. (D2).

The earth is overpopulated with over 7 billion people. A sustainable level would be somewhere between 700 million and 2.5 billion, and UN’s Agenda 21 will lead the way to reduce the world’s population. To this effect birth control, abortion on demand, euthanasia, and education on the evils of “excessive” procreation must be enforced. Alternate lifestyles such as LGBT must be given social preference. The conventional family unit is the greatest hindrance to achieving these goals. (D3)

Increased CO2 levels may cause the earth to reach a tipping point with the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps melting off, causing catastrophic sea level rise (300 feet or so) (D4)

Storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts floods and all kinds of extreme weather is increasing.

The coming temperature rise will render large areas of the globe uninhabitable.

97% of active Climate Scientists agree global warming/climate change is caused by human activities. (D7)

Increased CO2 levels causes ocean acidification threatening coral reefs and all marine life. (D8)

We must develop alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal, but not nuclear. And indeed we have. Under Obama Solar has gone from 0.02% to 0.2% at a cost of more than three times conventional source development, Wind power has increased and is now approaching 5% , but depends heavily on subsidies. Geothermal is small and we have not completed a new nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island debacle.(D9)

We must invest heavily in alternate fuels like ethanol and biofuel. Not only that, its use should be heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. (D10)

Do not approve the Keystone XL pipeline! It will enable Canada to exploit the tar sands economically. The tar sands are one of the dirtiest crude oils ever discovered. It is an environmental hazard to transport it anywhere. (D11)

Don’t frack! It poisons the underground water supply. But if you do, do it only for natural gas, not oil, and don’t touch Federal land! (D12)

Keep your hands off ANWR! Areas set aside for wildlife refuges must remain undeveloped forever! (D13)

Energy independence is a pipe dream, but it should be pursued anyway by regulating energy use, discontinue incandescent light bulbs, make smaller, lighter cars, making a smart grid that can tell you when to use air conditioning or the clothes dryer, etc. (D14)

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle! (D15)

Regulate, Regulate, Federal Regulate! (D16)

Republicans believe:

Climate change is real, has been and always will be. The question is: Is it getting warmer or colder, and is that good or bad? The so called consensus is anything but.

CO2 is not a pollutant; it is no more a pollutant than Oxygen and both are necessary for life. Carbon pollution is real and is called soot and comes from smokestacks in China, which by now burn 45% of the world’s coal. (R1)

The temperature of the earth is cyclical. There have been ice ages and warm periods in the past. It was warmer in the Roman and Medieval warm period than it is now. It was colder in the little ice age, then warmer till 1950, then cooling, then warming in the 80’s and 90’s. In the last 18 years global temperatures have been more or less constant and we are now entering a 40+ year cooling period. Though CO2 causes warming its effect is minor and mostly beneficial. There have been ice ages in the past where the concentration of CO2 was ten times higher than it is now. (R2)

The best way to stabilize the world’s population is by encouraging energy production, which is closely tied to quality of living. With stable and secure futures people naturally limit the size of their families. A well informed but free family unit is best suited to achieve this. (R3)

Increased CO2 levels lead to a greener environment. We can now feed 2 billion more people without starvation thanks to the increase in CO2 levels. Photosynthesis works more efficiently and uses less water in the process, so it becomes less sensitive to seasonal droughts, reduces erosion and helps stabilize the climate through evapotranspiration where there was only dry land before. The earth is getting greener. (R4)

With increased CO2 levels, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts are becoming less severe. The jury is still out on floods, they may increase. Extreme weather will decrease. (R5)

The tropics has found its temperature. The temperature was more or less the same as it is now during the ice age or medieval warming period. All temperature rise will occur in the temperate regions. The poles will warm the most making temperature differences less pronounced leading to less storms and violent weather. If the Greenland Ice temperature goes from -28 degrees to minus 24 degrees, who cares? It is still freezing. The Antarctic ice cap has been setting new yearly maxima the last two years, so there is no warming for now. There may be an increase in desert regions where there is very low humidity, but those regions are already unfit for inhabitation. (R6)

The 97% consensus among active Climate experts is an old myth. The survey is from a 2000 or so M.Sc. thesis where 10256 questionnaires was sent out and 3146 responded. There was the following qualification “Of all your peer reviewed papers in the last five years, was more than 50% about climate science”. 77 qualified, of which 75 responded positively that climate change is anthropogenic in origin. For most hat was the condition on which they had gotten the grant to produce the paper in the first place. On the other hand, more than 30000 engineers and scientists have signed a document stating that climate science is by no means settled. (R7)

Ocean acidification is mostly due to water pollution from acid rivers and acid rain. Sulfuric acid is more than 100000 times more acid than dissolved CO2. There is plenty of acid rain coming from China that burn 45% of all coal (mostly high sulfur lignite) and developing countries contribute as well. Underwater volcanoes do their part too. (R8)

We must develop alternate energy resources, like nuclear, and wind wherever profitable, continue solar research but refrain from mass production until profitability can be proven. My preference is for Thorium based nuclear power. (R9)

Alternate fuels like ethanol and biodiesel are terrible ideas. (R10)

Approve the Keystone XL pipeline today! (R11)

Fracking is our best way to become energy independent this decade. It is safe and economical and will finally get us out of this jobs recession. (R12)

Approve 400 acres for oil exploration in ANWR! It is Alaska’s oil anyway and by the Alaskan Constitution oil profits belong to the people, and is none of the Federal Government’s business. (R13)

We can be energy independent in less than 10 years if we go full out on fracking, approve ANWR and develop thorium based nuclear power. This will free us from dependence on Mideast, Nigerian, Nicaraguan oil, all countries that are unstable, have a terrible environmental record, and they hate us anyway. (R14)

Recycle whenever economically defensible (R15)

Regulation should be local whenever possible. (R16)

These are some of the differences between Democrat and Republican world views when it comes to energy. There are many more, and I have tried to be as fair as possible. After analyzing the facts I know where I stand, issue by issue. Do you, or do you only listen to and read from only one side of the spectrum prejudicing yourself?

Comments:

(D1) CO2 is a pollutant.

https://lenbilen.com/2013/08/15/co2-is-it-carbon-pollution-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/26/should-the-epa-regulate-co2-at-what-level/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/25/water-the-real-climate-challenge-much-bigger-than-co2/

http://lenbilen.com/2012/01/24/80-reduction-in-co2-emissions-by-2050-is-that-even-possible/

(R1) CO2 is not a pollutant

https://lenbilen.com/2013/03/19/co2-the-solution-to-climate-change/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/30/dihydrogen-monoxide-the-main-source-of-greenhouse-gases-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/31/co2-mans-best-friend/

(D2): The earth is heating up rapidly

IPCC Report AR5 summary for policymakers. http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/docs/WGIAR5_SPM_brochure_

https://lenbilen.com/2013/08/05/obama-the-real-flat-earth-society-spokesman/).

(R2): The temperature of the earth is cyclical. My best take on real climate science looking at what is really happening:

https://lenbilen.com/2014/02/12/great-lakes-ice-cover-now-at-86-7-the-most-since-1994-we-are-in-a-cooling-trend/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/10/18/a-new-little-ice-age-is-looming-ten-days-in-new-all-time-record-for-ice-in-the-antartics-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/08/12/eleven-reasons-we-are-entering-a-new-little-ice-age/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/02/the-cause-of-climate-change-is-still-up-in-the-air/

(D3) The earth is overpopulated with over 7 billion people.

A happy valentines’day massage from Planned Parenthood, Maryland:

(R3) The best way to stabilize the world’s population is by encouraging energy production, which is closely tied to quality of living.

https://lenbilen.com/2013/07/11/go-green-like-spain-obamas-dream-a-limerick/

(D4) Increased CO2 levels may cause the earth to reach a tipping point

(R4) Increased CO2 levels lead to a greener environment

(D5) Storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts floods and all kinds of extreme weather is increasing. The president’s statement, no scientific backup, only an assertion.

https://lenbilen.com/2012/05/05/forecast-of-drought-in-britain-brings-record-april-showers-time-to-change-climate-models/

(R5) With increased CO2 levels, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts are becoming less severe.

https://lenbilen.com/2013/11/18/2013-the-year-with-the-fewest-tornadoes-on-record-and-no-major-hurricanes-making-landfall/

(D6) The coming temperature rise will render large areas of the globe uninhabitable.

(R6) The tropics has found its temperature.

(D7) 97% of active Climate Scientists agree global warming/climate change is caused by human activities. http://www.skepticalscience.com/debunking-climate-consensus-denial.html

(R7) The 97% consensus among active Climate experts is an old myth. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/18/what-else-did-the-97-of-scientists-say/

(D8) Increase in CO2 leads to ocean acidification.

(R8) Ocean acidification is mostly due to water pollution from acid rivers and acid rain.

(D9) We must develop alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal, but not nuclear.

(R9) We must develop alternate energy resources, like nuclear

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/15/nuclear-power-and-earthquakes-how-to-make-it-safer-and-better/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/15/eleven-reasons-to-switch-to-thorium-based-nuclear-power-generation/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/15/eleven-more-reasons-to-switch-to-thorium-as-nuclear-fuel/

(D10) We must invest heavily in alternate fuels like ethanol and biofuel.

(R10) Alternate fuels like ethanol and biodiesel are terrible ideas

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/12/the-malthusian-option-food-or-ethanol-a-limerick-with-explanation/

(D11) Do not approve the Keystone XL pipeline!It’s the kind of scene we’d like to think we’d put behind us.

How would you like to look outside and see masked radicals with torches on your front lawn?
That’s what greeted Mark Maki and his family.
Maki was targeted for this shameful act of intimidation because he is a member of the board of Enbridge Energy Management which works with oil pipelines.
The masked perpetrators refused to identify themselves, or their group, claiming only that they represent “the people.”

https://lenbilen.com/2014/02/14/the-real-reason-obama-wont-approve-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/03/22/obama-in-oklahoma-claims-credit-for-half-a-pipeline-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/01/the-keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-a-view-from-canada-and-rebuttal-from-the-obama-campaign/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/01/obama-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-2/

(R11) Approve the Keystone XL pipeline today!

https://lenbilen.com/2013/07/07/ttain-derailment-in-quebec-and-keystone-xl-pipeline-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/03/the-keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-crony-capitalism-at-work/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/25/warren-buffet-profiting-from-working-on-the-railroad/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/27/obama-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-keystone-xl-pipeline-decision/

(D12) Don’t frack!

(R12) Fracking is our best way to become energy independent

(D13) Keep your hands off ANWR!

(R13) Approve 400 acres for oil exploration in ANWR!

(D14) Energy independence is a pipe dream,

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/03/the-electric-car-is-it-good-or-bad-karma/

(R14) We can be energy independent in less than 10 years

(D15) Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!

(R15) Recycle whenever economically defensible.

(D16) Regulate, Regulate, Federal Regulate!

https://lenbilen.com/2013/09/22/learn-from-the-amish-phase-out-the-cfc-light-bulb/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/04/ban-inhalers-to-save-the-environment-fda-and-epa-gone-mad/

(R16) Regulation should be local whenever possible.

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/29/save-the-chesapeake-bay-a-limerick/

These are assorted observations on the earth’s recent climate.

https://lenbilen.com/2013/12/31/calamity-in-antarctica-global-warming-alarmists-get-stuck-in-ice-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/12/13/snow-and-cold-records-in-the-u-s-and-the-middle-east-baby-its-cold-outside/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/09/30/nine-new-all-time-records-for-ice-in-antarctica-so-far-this-year-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/09/09/shh-dont-tell-anyone-record-ice-growth-in-the-arctic-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/02/13/a-response-to-the-energy-portion-of-the-state-of-the-union-message/

https://lenbilen.com/2013/02/11/crounhog-day-climate-change-and-obamas-inauguration-and-state-of-the-union-message/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/04/30/wind-farms-warming-and-tilting-at-windmills-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/02/18/will-we-pass-an-energy-bill-finally-a-limerick/

No free speech in Australia, Carbon tax rules! A Limerick.

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/31/energy-from-thorium-save-500-million-from-the-budget-now/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/31/job-czar-jeffery-immelt-crony-capitalism-101-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/31/lies-damned-lies-statistics-and-climate-forecasting-a-song/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/30/minnesotans-for-global-warming-rise-up-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/30/climate-change-a-homeland-security-matter-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/30/the-lanthanides-lamentation-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/29/frankly-im-exhausted-is-this-my-new-reality-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/29/climate-change-is-now-global-climate-disruption-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/27/obama-loves-spain-its-hard-to-explain-a-limerick/

https://lenbilen.com/2012/01/27/climate-challenges-the-term-for-today-a-limerick/

Obama also made the following comments about his energy policy

“It’s not just oil and natural gas production that’s booming; we’re becoming a global leader in solar, too. Every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar; every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job can’t be outsourced. Let’s continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that don’t need it, so that we can invest more in fuels of the future that do.

And even as we’ve increased energy production, we’ve partnered with businesses, builders, and local communities to reduce the energy we consume. When we rescued our automakers, for example, we worked with them to set higher fuel efficiency standards for our cars. In the coming months, I’ll build on that success by setting new standards for our trucks, so we can keep driving down oil imports and what we pay at the pump.”

But I guess commenting on this will have to wait for another time.

I welcome comments that tell me where I am going wrong. The research is ongoing, and I am really trying to understand how we shall best live so we can leave this earth a better place than we found it.

The real reason Obama won’t approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Monday, July 29, 2013 ( Skynews)

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says the Gulf Arab Kingdom needs to reduce its reliance on crude oil, because fracking technology under development in other nations will result in less dependency on obtaining energy resources in his homeland.

Global demand for Saudi oil will experience further decline as the U.S. and other nations, including Great Britain and Canada, begin to find their own oil elsewhere.

Bin Talal, who is worth the U.S. equivalent of $20 billion, published an open letter to his government on Twitter, aimed to get the attention of his country’s oil minister, Ali al Naimi, Sky News reports.

He wrote the letter out of concern that the demand for oil from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is “in continuous decline,” and referred to the dangerous nature of Saudi Arabia’s dependence on the exportation of oil.

He also cited financial statistics, showing how much dependence his kingdom has on the oil industry.

“Our country is facing a threat with the continuation of its near-complete reliance on oil, especially as 92 percent of the budget for this year depends on oil,” he said.

Here is the real reason the pipeline is not approved.

Subtle? Diplomatic insult at the torch lighting ceremony in Sochi.

The Winter Olympics in Sochi is by far the most expensive ever, having cost over 50 Billion dollars so far, maybe 60 if one includes the military security preparations, more than three times as much as all previous Winter Olympic combined.

As the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin was to be a monument to the Fuhrer and to the invincibility of the Third Reich, and the superiority of the Aryan Race, so this is Putin’s games. The opening ceremony in the “Fish Stadium”, built only for the opening and closing ceremonies, was magnificent, highlighting the thousand year history of Russia, with all its glory from Peter the Great, their literature, their longing and dreams. Putin want to reestablish Russia as the world leader. After all he has publicly said that the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century was the breakup of the Soviet Union, never mind World War One and WWII, the holocaust, tenths of million people murdered under Stalin and Mao Tse Tung, the killing fields in Cambodia, to name a few. No his ego must be satisfied.

Obama is not going to the games. He claims as one of the reasons Putin’s treatment of gays, but it is probably more their mutual intense personal dislike for each other. It came in full bloom last September when Obama refused to meet with Putin on a personal level at the economic summit in Russia, and went to Sweden instead. He didn’t dare to talk with Putin about Syria and the Middle East and decided to delight the Swedes instead. After all, Sweden is a world leader in alternate energy research, and that is more important than dealing with Syria.

Which brings us to the Torch Lighting ceremony. Everybody wants to carry the Olympic Torch, so it had been to its longest journey in history, there were many at the stadium, and the torch were handed over and over again. The most important person in the hand-off sequence is the one that actually does the lighting, so Putin chose two.

One of the two was Irina Rodnina.

I remember her well from three previous Olympics where she won the Gold medal in pairs figure skating all three olympics, but with two different partners. This was in the days when grace and elegance was the game, and she had been trained in classic ballet and the Soviet athletes were unbeatable. She went on to be a member of the Duma, joining Putin’s party. She made international headlines last September when she sent out a doctored photo of Obama and first lady Michelle Obama appearing to stare at a banana. The photo outraged the Obama administration and prompted U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul to denounce Rodnina’s “outrageous behavior, which only brings shame to her parliament and country.”

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny re-tweeted the photo, with the caption: “Look at the jokes Russian MPs make.”
Rodnina erased the tweet soon after but defiantly refused to apologize.

“Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, and you should answer for your own hang-ups,” she wrote at the time.

But you know, once you have tweeted a photo, it is there forever, and here it is:

By our standards it is certainly racist, but by Russian standards it simply means “stupid as an ape” and means a stupid person. It is meant as an insult, and has no racial overtones. On the other hand, had she tried this with Putin, the result might have been different. Now she got to light the torch; it delighted her leader.

The lies of Benghazi. Ay, there’s the rub.

“My biggest regret is what happened in Benghazi,” Mrs. Clinton said during an appearance at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans, La. “It was a terrible tragedy, losing four Americans, two diplomats, and now it’s public, so I can say, two CIA operatives. Losing an ambassador like Chris Stevens, who was one of our very best.”

This comment revealed more than Mrs. Clinton intended. Her regret is that the terror attack in Benghazi happened during her watch. The comment “now it’s public” revealed much about the callousness of the Obama administration, herself included. On the day of the attack, when the well organized attack was underway, the CIA operators wanted to intervene and save the diplomats but were told to “stand down.” The recent congressional hearings revealed that the existence of the CIA annex was so top secret that even the U.S. military did not know of its existence. Whatever the CIA was doing in Benghazi was so important that it was more expedient to sacrifice the lives of the diplomats than to expose the CIA.

However, the CIA heroes disobeyed the order and went and saved nearly everybody in the mission, but they could not find Ambassador Stevens and another man, so they were left to die at the hands of the terrorists. This exposed to the whole world the CIA annex, so a cover story had to be invented, and thus the lies began.

Who invented the lies about the infamous video clip being responsible? After all there had been a takeover of the U.S. embassy in Egypt the day before where people shouted “Obama, Obama, we are all Osama” and raised the al-Qaeda flag. (https://lenbilen.com/2012/09/20/obama-obama-we-all-are-osama-is-this-rallying-cry-really-the-rage-about-a-u-tube-clip-susan-rice-thinks-so/) That needed a diversion badly and the video clip, which was a secondary rallying cry among the unorganized masses became widely featured in reports. This in turn resulted in multiple protests in many cities by crowds stirred up by agitators.

Obama, Hillary Clinton and the inner circle of the administration had for weeks strongly advocated the U.N’s proposal of religious freedom that would make it a crime to criticize in any way the Prophet Muhammad, so somebody planted the story and link to the U-tube video in a Cairo newspaper. That started the chain reaction.

Now the plot thickens. Who was the “brain” behind this diversion?

Hillary Clinton? Not very likely. She might have been Secretary of State, but as such had very little influence and even knowledge of administration policy. When you want to keep somebody out of the loop you send them to meetings, while important business is being conducted. Hillary Clinton was sent to over 100 countries, and thus being effectively kept out of the loop.

David Petraeus? Even less likely. He was selected CIA director to show the
inclusiveness of the Obama Administration but was kept out of the loop because the administration knew he could not be trusted with this sensitive information, so his role was reduced to a mere administrative role, ready to be jettisoned as soon as the election was over.

Susan Rice? She went to six Sunday morning news shows and peddled the story of the tape. Republicans in general took a dim view of her performance and Dan Pfeiffer of the White House thought they owed her an apology.( https://lenbilen.com/2013/05/19/do-republicans-owe-susan-rice-an-apology-dan-pfeiffer-of-the-white-house-thinks-so-i-think-not/) She is in on the original planting of the video trailer story in the Cairo newspaper, and a willing accomplice in the video diversion conspiracy, but was not part of the decision to sacrifice the diplomats.

Barack Obama? You are getting lukewarm. On a day with fresh news about al-Awlaki, it seemed the president was pondering the drone program that he had expanded so dramatically and with such lethal results, as well as the death of Bin Laden, which was still resonating worldwide months later. “Turns out I’m really good at killing people,” Obama said quietly, “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” Obama is certainly callous enough to tell CIA and the military: You do what you have to do, and then walk away. He is thus implicated by being Commander In Chief and walk away. (no picture here. He was AWOL)

Valery Jarrett? She is the brain behind Obama, born in Iran and well versed in what goes on in the Middle East. She holds a part of the key to the mystery of the CIA annex, but did not give the order to “stand down”.

This leaves us John Brennan, you know, the guy who calls Jerusalem Al-Quds. He was Deputy National Security Advisor, a position which does not require Senate confirmation, but he was the most influential of all his advisors regarding the Middle East. He must have been the one that ran the CIA annex operations in Benghazi, and their actions were more important to keep secret than saving a few diplomats. Therefore, using Occam’s razor, he must have been the one giving the order to “stand down”. By the way, he is the current CIA director.

All of this is speculative, and we may never find out the whole truth, since the CIA annex was scrubbed clean within 24 hours of the terrorist attack. Granted it took three weeks before FBI was allowed to go in and start their investigation. Since then 15 witnesses cooperating with the FBI have been murdered.

To the best of my guesses the diversion to blame the video and apologize to the whole world for it at taxpayers expense was a joint effort between Clinton, Obama, Rice and Brennan, led by Valery Jarrett.

As long as the White House is stonewalling, the guesswork will continue.

SOTU 2014 speech reaction. A Limerick

The SOTU Obama just said

might send us to therapy pad.

I am but a peasant

but it was as pleasant

as if I endoscopy had.

Right to life day. Trig and Tripp Palin.

The time goes all the way back to the surprise nomination of Sarah Palin for Vice President. I got excited about it since I had read about how she cleaned up the corruption in the Government, stood up to the oil industry and that she had just successfully negotiated a contract for building a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48 I watched with interest her debut on the national stage. And there she came, complete with a baby, prominently displayed front and center. Suddenly I saw before my eyes the quote from Isaiah 11:6 (NIV+ Septuagint)
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion will feed together;
and a little child will lead them.
I searched the internet for the importance of this baby. It was already buzzing with information. One of the first quotes I came across was that “she refused proper prenatal care”. This was when I found out this baby had Down Syndrome. Since we are talking health care reform, are we going to force everybody to submit to “proper prenatal care”? I do not know much about this except that three people I know had tested positive for having a baby with Down syndrome. All three chose to carry the baby to term, and gave birth to perfectly normal babies. One of the babies is now in middle school, one is in college, and one, my niece, just graduated from Med School.

From Sarah Palin’s facebook came this report:

Today was the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. The fact that hundreds of thousands of peaceful activists turn up every year in the coldest month in D.C. – despite snowstorms and media indifference – is a testament to their commitment to building a culture of life.As Pope John Paul II taught us: “To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of

the common good. It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop.”I am personally so appreciative of the Right to Life activists who planted that pro-life seed in me as a young girl observing their dedicated efforts to protect innocent life. To them, Trig and our entire family say, “thank you.”

Bristol thanks you, too. Here are our boys.

– Sarah Palin

Both of these lives could easily have been snuffed out before they came out of the womb. we, as tax payers would have helped to pay for it. Thank God, they both have real mothers!!

Funeral selfie. Obama, Cameron and Helle Thorning-Schmidt are having a good time during the sermon part of the memorial service. A Limerick.

Obama, the pre-adolescent

shows spite for the cross, not the crescent.

But a ‘selfie’ is fine

“I look good, it is mine.”

His most nascent descent is indecent.

For some reason President Obama was seated next to the Danish Social Democratic Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and British Prime Minister David Cameron. They seem to enjoy themselves immensely during the ceremony. It was probably taken during the sermon part of the eulogy, after the world leaders Obama and Raoul Castro had made their remarks. It took the U.S. news services over two hours to figure out who the lady in the middle was. Anyhow, she took a selfie of herself with Obama and Cameron. Is this any way for leaders of the free world to behave during a solemn ceremony?

Look, the rest of the people and Michelle Obama look bored listening to the sermon.

This looks interesting. You look pretty good too.

This is hilarious. Where were we?

It is getting funnier all the time. Prince Charming himself succeeds again.

Look there! A fellow socialist!

Forget Michelle. You are my type of girl.

We better behave. She is catching on to us.

Oh, hi there. We are having a good time.

The Nuclear deal with Iran, a bad, bad deal.

To fully appreciate how bad the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers is one must take a look at the process of nuclear enrichment and see how close Iran is to make a bomb, with or without this deal.

Natural Uranium consists of 99.28% of Uranium 238 and 0.72% of Uranium 235, and a trace amount of Uranium 234. To make one pound of pure Uranium 235 one has to centrifuge out 138 pounds of natural Uranium. The first step is to go from 0.72% to 5%. This is 84% of the total job. Next step is to take the 20 remaining pounds of 5% Uranium235 and make it 5 pounds of 20% Uranium235. That is 12% of the total job. The last step, to go from 5 pounds of 20% Uranium 235 to 1.25 pounds of 80% enriched Uranium takes the remaining 4% of the job.

We have acknowledged that Iran has the right to enrich Uranium to the 5% level while negotiations proceed. They can keep half their 20% enriched Uranium “for their research reactor”, and converting the remaining 20% enriched Uranium to yellow-cake (a Uranium oxide) and down-blend it to 5% with (another?) Uranium oxide. This step is reversible in about 5 days.

So after 6 months of negotiations Iran will have vastly more 5% enriched Uranium, which is 84% of the job, the capability to convert their stockpile of 20% enriched Uranium to 80% weapons grade Uranium in about 6 weeks, and in about 2 months they will have enough to make 4 to 10 nuclear bombs.

There is not a peep in the agreement about the 10000+ missiles Iran has, some of which are aimed at Israel and American interests in the Middle East.

Iran is also in negotiations to get booster rockets from North Korea. With lifting of the sanctions they can pay handsomely for those booster rockets.

Lifting of sanctions also means Iran can pay Hezbollah, Assad in Syria, Hamas and other terror organizations to ramp up their activity.

What did we get out of this agreement?

No release of prisoners, no agreement to recognize Israel.

Instead Ayatollah Mohammad Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said this:

“What is visible is that Obama has agreed to include the fake Zionist regime (Israel) in future negotiations, However, we firmly believe [Israel] must be wiped off the face of the earth and we don’t recognize [its existence].” Khatami said according to IRNA, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic.

No wonder Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu said it was a historic mistake.

Secretary Kerry can tell of its virtues all he wants. These are the facts. Look at the agreement for yourselves!

(CNN) — The following is the full text of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers:

Joint Plan of Action

Preamble

The goal for these negotiations is to reach a mutually-agreed long-term comprehensive solution that would ensure Iranˈs nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful. Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek or develop any nuclear weapons. This comprehensive solution would build on these initial measures and result in a final step for a period to be agreed upon and the resolution of concerns. This comprehensive solution would enable Iran to fully enjoy its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the relevant articles of the NPT in conformity with its obligations therein. This comprehensive solution would involve a mutually defined enrichment program with practical limits and transparency measures to ensure the peaceful nature of the program. This comprehensive solution would constitute an integrated whole where nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This comprehensive solution would involve a reciprocal, step-by step process, and would produce the comprehensive lifting of all UN Security Council sanctions, as well as multilateral and national sanctions related to Iranˈs nuclear program.

There would be additional steps in between the initial measures and the final step, including, among other things, addressing the UN Security Council resolutions, with a view toward bringing to a satisfactory conclusion the UN Security Councilˈs consideration of this matter. The E3+3 and Iran will be responsible for conclusion and implementation of mutual near-term measures and the comprehensive solution in good faith. A Joint Commission of E3/EU+3 and Iran will be established to monitor the implementation of the near-term measures and address issues that may arise, with the IAEA responsible for verification of nuclear-related measures. The Joint Commission will work with the IAEA to facilitate resolution of past and present issues of concern.

Elements of a first step

The first step would be time-bound, with a duration of 6 months, and renewable by mutual consent, during which all parties will work to maintain a constructive atmosphere for negotiations in good faith.

Iran would undertake the following voluntary measures:

* From the existing uranium enriched to 20%, retain half as working stock of 20% oxide for fabrication of fuel for the TRR (Tehran Research Reactor which uses 19.75% enriched Uranium for fuel). Dilute the remaining 20% UF6 to no more than 5%. No reconversion line.

* Iran announces that it will not enrich uranium over 5% for the duration of the 6 months.

* Iran announces that it will not make any further advances of its activities at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (1), Fordow (2), or the Arak reactor (3), designated by the IAEA as IR-40.

* Beginning when the line for conversion of UF6 enriched up to 5% to UO2 is ready, Iran has decided to convert to oxide UF6 newly enriched up to 5% during the 6 month period, as provided in the operational schedule of the conversion plant declared to the IAEA.

* No new locations for the enrichment.

* Iran will continue its safeguarded R&D practices, including its current enrichment R&D practices, which are not designed for accumulation of the enriched uranium.

* No reprocessing or construction of a facility capable of reprocessing.

* Enhanced monitoring:

– Provision of specified information to the IAEA, including information on Iranˈs plans for nuclear facilities, a description of each building on each nuclear site, a description of the scale of operations for each location engaged in specified nuclear activities, information on uranium mines and mills, and information on source material. This information would be provided within three months of the adoption of these measures.

– Submission of an updated DIQ for the reactor at Arak, designated by the IAEA as the IR-40, to the IAEA.

– Steps to agree with the IAEA on conclusion of the Safeguards Approach for the reactor at Arak, designated by the IAEA as the IR-40.

– Daily IAEA inspector access when inspectors are not present for the purpose of Design Information Verification, Interim Inventory Verification, Physical Inventory Verification, and unannounced inspections, for the purpose of access to offline surveillance records, at Fordow and Natanz.

– IAEA inspector managed access to:

. centrifuge assembly workshops4;

. centrifuge rotor production workshops and storage facilities; and,

. uranium mines and mills.

In return, the E3/EU+3 would undertake the following voluntary measures:

– Pause efforts to further reduce Iranˈs crude oil sales, enabling Iranˈs current customers to purchase their current average amounts of crude oil. Enable the repatriation of an agreed amount of revenue held abroad. For such oil sales, suspend the EU and U.S. sanctions on associated insurance and transportation services.

– Suspend U.S. and EU sanctions on:

. Iranˈs petrochemical exports, as well as sanctions on associated services. (5)

. Gold and precious metals, as well as sanctions on associated services.

• Suspend U.S. sanctions on Iranˈs auto industry, as well as sanctions on associated services.

• License the supply and installation in Iran of spare parts for safety of flight for Iranian civil aviation and associated services. License safety related inspections and repairs in Iran as well as associated services. (6)

• No new nuclear-related UN Security Council sanctions.

• No new EU nuclear-related sanctions.

• The U.S. Administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the President and the Congress, will refrain from imposing new nuclear-related sanctions.

• Establish a financial channel to facilitate humanitarian trade for Iranˈs domestic needs using Iranian oil revenues held abroad. Humanitarian trade would be defined as transactions involving food and agricultural products, medicine, medical devices, and medical expenses incurred abroad. This channel would involve specified foreign banks and non-designated Iranian banks to be defined when establishing the channel.

* This channel could also enable:

a- transactions required to pay Iranˈs UN obligations; and,

b- direct tuition payments to universities and colleges for Iranian students studying abroad, up to an agreed amount for the six month period.

• Increase the EU authorisation thresholds for transactions for non-sanctioned trade to an agreed amount.

Elements of the final step of a comprehensive solution*

The final step of a comprehensive solution, which the parties aim to conclude negotiating and commence implementing no more than one year after the adoption of this document, would:

• Have a specified long-term duration to be agreed upon.

• Reflect the rights and obligations of parties to the NPT and IAEA Safeguards Agreements.

• Comprehensively lift UN Security Council, multilateral and national nuclear-related sanctions, including steps on access in areas of trade, technology, finance, and energy, on a schedule to be agreed upon.

• Involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters consistent with practical needs, with agreed limits on scope and level of enrichment activities, capacity, where it is carried out, and stocks of enriched uranium, for a period to be agreed upon.

• Fully resolve concerns related to the reactor at Arak, designated by the IAEA as the IR-40. No reprocessing or construction of a facility capable of reprocessing.

• Fully implement the agreed transparency measures and enhanced monitoring. Ratify and implement the Additional Protocol, consistent with the respective roles of the President and the Majlis (Iranian parliament).

• Include international civil nuclear cooperation, including among others, on acquiring modern light water power and research reactors and associated equipment, and the supply of modern nuclear fuel as well as agreed R&D practices.

Following successful implementation of the final step of the comprehensive solution for its full duration, the Iranian nuclear program will be treated in the same manner as that of any non-nuclear weapon state party to the NPT.

—————————————————————————————

(Footnotes)

(1) Namely, during the 6 months, Iran will not feed UF6 into the centrifuges installed but not enriching uranium. Not install additional centrifuges. Iran announces that during the first 6 months, it will replace existing centrifuges with centrifuges of the same type.

(2) At Fordow, no further enrichment over 5% at 4 cascades now enriching uranium, and not increase enrichment capacity. Not feed UF6 into the other 12 cascades, which would remain in a non-operative state. No interconnections between cascades. Iran announces that during the first 6 months, it will replace existing centrifuges with centrifuges of the same type.

(3) Iran announces on concerns related to the construction of the reactor at Arak that for 6 months it will not commission the reactor or transfer fuel or heavy water to the reactor site and will not test additional fuel or produce more fuel for the reactor or install remaining components.

(4) Consistent with its plans, Iranˈs centrifuge production during the 6 months will be dedicated to replace damaged machines.

(5) ˈSanctions on associated servicesˈ means any service, such as insurance, transportation, or financial, subject to the underlying U.S. or EU sanctions applicable, insofar as each service is related to the underlying sanction and required to facilitate the desired transactions. These services could involve any non-designated Iranian entities.

(6) Sanctions relief could involve any non-designated Iranian airlines as well as Iran Air.

* With respect to the final step and any steps in between, the standard principle that ˈnothing is agreed until everything is agreedˈ applies.ˈ