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

The Great Lakes ice cover now at 77%, the most since 1996.

The Great Lakes are freezing over at a rapid rate. These are the numbers for the ice cover as of Feb. 4:

Lake Superior 91.6753%

Lake Michigan 56.3514%

Lake Huron 84.5919%

Lake Erie 92.6251%

Lake Ontario 30.7342%, the weighted average 76.93%

The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are already at the greatest ice cover since 1996 with a good part of the winter still left to go. The average for the last 40 years is an ice maximum of 51.4%. See fig:

Here is a picture of the ice cover for Feb 4. Brr, and arctic blasts keep coming!! It will take a long time to melt all this ice come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) so you can take a dip.

Updated as of Feb 11: https://lenbilen.com/2014/02/12/great-lakes-ice-cover-now-at-86-7-the-most-since-1994-we-are-in-a-cooling-trend/

The four chaplains day, Feb. 3, 2014.

Feb. 3 is “Four Chaplains Day” in America by unanimous act of Congress in 1988, under President Reagan. I had never heard of it until pointed out by Rees Lloyd, but their story is truly inspiring, and ought to be taught in school, printed in newspapers, and retold in radio and TV.

On Monday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m., ceremonies will be held dedicating a permanent plaque at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial honoring the selfless heroism in World War II of the Four Chaplains – Rev. George Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alexander Goode, Father John P. Washington (Roman Catholic) and Rev. Clark V. Poling (Dutch Reformed).

Times have changed. This is the same Mt. Soledad which cross has been deemed offensive by a Federal Judge in Dec. 2013

The judge said it’s “unconstitutional.”
Todd Starnes at FOX News reported:

A cross atop Mount Soledad in California is an unconstitutional religious display on government land and must come down, a federal judge in San Diego ruled late Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ordered the cross, which honors veterans, must be removed within 90 days — a decision that could result in the case being sent back to the U.S. Supreme Court. Burns immediately stayed his order pending an expected appeal.

The original lawsuit was filed in 2006 by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Jewish Veterans of the United States of American and several other Southern California residents.

“We support the government paying tribute to those who served bravely in our country’s armed forces,” the ACLU’s Daniel Mach, said in a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. “But we should honor all of our heroes under one flag, not just one particular religious symbol.”

Bruce Bailey, president of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association, expressed disappointment in the ruling.

“It is unfortunate that the Ninth Circuit left the judge no choice but to order the tearing down of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross,” Bailey told Fox News. “However, we are grateful for the judge’s stay that gives us an opportunity to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Now back to the story of the four chaplains:

It was on Feb. 3, 1943, that the troop ship Dorchester, with 900 soldiers and the Four Chaplains aboard, was torpedoed in the dead of night on its way to Greenland. The explosion ripped through the Dorchester from below the water line. Many troops drowned below decks as the Dorchester flooded and swiftly began to sink in the frigid sea.

The Four Chaplains acted to calm and aid the troops, in part by distributing life jackets to those who became separated from their own in the chaos and darkness created by the torpedo blast. When there were no more life jackets, each of the Four Chaplains, knowing that it meant certain death, took off his life jacket and put it on a soldier without one. They continued to help troops into lifeboats, until no room was left.

Then, as surviving soldiers who witnessed it later testified, the Four Chaplains went to their deaths together, their arms linked, praying for the troops and singing hymns, until the Dorchester sank and they disappeared beneath the sea, selflessly sacrificing their lives “so others may live.” in so doing “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11, KJV)

It was and is an awe-inspiring, magnificent act of quiet heroism, of selfless service and sacrifice for others, of faith and love lived, an example to be celebrated, commemorated and emulated, and never to be forgotten. (The Four Chaplains story in more detail is available in this previous column of Rees Lloyd.)

Congress awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross to the Four Chaplains in 1944. The Medal of Honor was proposed but was not awarded due to the requirement that it can only be awarded to combatants. In its stead, Congress later created a Four Chaplains Medal and an unprecedented Congressional Medal of Valor in 1961. The American Legion continues to advocate that an exception be made and the Medal of Honor be awarded to the Four Chaplains.

A measure of how the Four Chaplains are honored and revered by veterans of today is expressed in statements issued by two of America’s greatest living military heroes, to be delivered on their behalf at the ceremonies dedicating a plaque to the Four Chaplains at Mt. Soledad on Feb. 3.

Retired Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady, Medal of Honor (Vietnam), considered America’s most decorated living veteran, who has described the generally unknown or ignored humanitarian acts of American troops while in war in Vietnam in his book, “Dead Men Flying: America’s Battlefield Angels” (WND Books), issued this tribute to the Four Chaplains:

“As one who has been honored by many great men up to and including the president of the United States, no honor has been more satisfying than my Humanitarian Award from the chapel of the Four Chaplains. Their legacy of courage and sacrifice is vital for our nation’s survival. Our youth need to know that courage is the key to success in life and that God will give us all we ask for. You can’t use it up – and their faith is the foundation of their courage. Sacrifice is love in action, the source of happiness and our eternal inheritance from the Four Chaplains.”

Retired Adm. Jeremiah A. Denton, seven years and seven months a prisoner of war in Vietnam, later U.S. senator (Alabama) and author of the classic book on the tortures inflicted on American POWs by their communist captors, “When Hell Was In Session” (WND Books), issued this statement on the Four Chaplains:

“The Four Chaplains proved their faith with ultimate sacrifice – not in a flash of combatant action – but with peaceful discernment, humble devotion and extraordinary valor. They lived this life knowing God’s real presence and eternal promise. Blessed with men of this caliber, our nation must do the same.”

These tributes of Gen. Brady and Adm. Denton will be included as other veterans and patriots honor the Four Chaplains at Mt. Soledad, beneath the cross there honoring veterans – which the intolerant secular extremists of the ACLU, which has become the Taliban of American liberal secularism, have been suing to destroy in an abusive and fanatical litigation attack now in its 24th year.

For more information about the Four Chaplains Day ceremonies, which are open to the public, and all are invited to attend and honor the Four Chaplains at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m., read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/four-chaplains-day-dont-expect-the-aclu/#RAEdTVojRzpclswv.99

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.

More than 60% ice cover on the Great Lakes. And half the winter left!!!

The Great Lakes are freezing over at a rapid rate. These are the numbers for ice cover for Jan. 23:

Lake Superior 57.2062%

Lake Michigan 37.7962%

Lake Huron 75.7721%

Lake Erie 94.8880%

Lake Ontario 42.9223%, the weighted average 60.02%

The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are already there with half the winter yet to go. The average for the last 40 years is a max. of 51.4%. See fig:

Here is a picture of the ice cover for Jan 23. Brr, and a new, longer lasting arctic blast is under way!! It will take a long time to melt all this ice come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) so you can take a dip.

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!!

The Fiscal condition of all 50 States.

The Mercatus Center of George Mason University has come out with a study of which states are most fiscally solvent. These are their rankings of all 50 states. The best fiscal status in enjoyed by states ruled by a Republican governor, Republican legislature. There are 24 of these with an average score of 1.02

1. Alaska 8.80

2. South Dakota 2.79

3. North Dakota 2.75

4. Nebraska 2.53

5. Wyoming 2.23

6. Florida 1.99

7. Ohio 1.71

8. Tennessee 1.71

10. Alabama 1.25

11. Utah 1.03

12. Oklahoma 0.93

13. Idaho 0.70

15. Indiana 0.53

17. Wisconsin 0.12

19. Mississippi −0.14

20. Texas −0.18

21. South Carolina −0.19

27. Kansas −0.40

28. Georgia −0.45

30. Michigan −0.51

31. Arizona −0.51

33. North Carolina −0.57

34. Louisiana −0.60

42. Pennsylvania −1.31

Next in line for fiscal responsibility is to have a Democrat Governor, Republican Legislature (4) Avg 0.38

9. Montana 1.66

14. Missouri 0.60

25. Virginia −0.28

29. Arkansas −0.47

Then comes a Republican Governor, Split Legislature. There is only one of those:

18. Iowa 0.09

Now we are getting into negative territory for fiscal solvency. That is to have a Republican Governor, Democrat Legislature. There are four of those with an average of -0.92

16. Nevada 0.49

26. New Mexico −0.34

36. Maine −1.00

50. New Jersey −2.81

Only slightly worse is to have a Democrat Governor, split Legislature. There are three of them with an average 0f -0.98

22. New Hampshire −0.21

40. Kentucky −1.26

43. Hawaii −1.46

And finally, worst of all is to have a Democrat Governor, Democrat Legislature. The fourteen of them have an average score of -1.31

23. Washington −0.23

24. Colorado −0.24

32. Oregon −0.57

35. Minnesota −0.87

37. Delaware −1.14

38. Vermont −1.17

39. Rhode Island −1.18

41. West Virginia −1.30

44. Maryland −1.59

45. New York −1.78

46. California −2.01

47. Massachusetts −2.23

48. Illinois −2.42

49. Connecticut −2.48

This helps to explain why Democrats want the Federal Government to handle everything for them since their states are hopelessly irresponsible with their states affairs, while Republicans as a rule tend to want to have every state handle their own affairs as they see best fit.

One further startling observation is that New Jersey under Governor Chris Christie came in dead last. This helps to explain the reluctance of the more conservative (or fiscally responsible states) to endorse him for President.

On the other hand, Alaska came in first, not in small part due to the heroic efforts of Sarah Palin during her 31.7 month reign as Governor, where she managed to get the Credit Rating for her state to go from AA to AA+ and then raised again to AAA shortly after her resignation. She accomplished more in this short time than most governors do in two terms.

This also helps in part to explain the irrational hatred for Sarah Palin. She did clean up the graft and corruption in Alaska, and they are afraid she would do the same on a national level should she become President.

IRS harassment. A Limerick.

The IRS targets Chuck Neath

And dogs as they are show their teeth.

But they did come up dry,

Though six times they did try.

Harassment the cause underneath.

Chuck Heath, Jr. wrote on Facebook that his father had never heard from the IRS before 2008. Since then, he said, the IRS has tried to “dig up something on him but he’s always operated above board.”

“Coincidence? You decide,” he wrote.

He continued:

My father, who worked multiple jobs and faithfully and honestly paid his taxes for fifty years, had never heard a word from the IRS. In 2008, his daughter was tapped to run for vice president of the United States. Since that time, he has been, in his words “horribly harassed” six times by the agency. They’ve tried to dig up something on him but he’s always operated above board. Government and politics are ugly. Kudos to the few that are trying to clean it up.

Hmm. Let me see. There is less than one chance in 100 that you are “randomly” targeted for an audit. To be targeted six years in a row and still finding nothing the odds are less than 1 divided by 100x100x100x100x100x100 or less than 1 in a trillion that is was not on purpose.

My guess is that it was the people that used to sue Sarah Palin 20 times while she was Governor, losing every time, acting as informants, thereby triggering the audits. Or, it could have been IRS itself acting on order from the political wing of the government. (I don’t have the faintest idea who that may refer to, the corruption is endemic)

To add insult to injury, it was reported this week that the government has decided to sweep Obama’s IRS scandal under the rug. Move along, peasants, nothing to see here.

The Obama administration chose an Obama campaign donor to head the targeting investigation.

Hillary’s enemies list. A Limerick

She’s making a list, and is checking it twice

Of who has been naughty, and who has been nice

It’s an enemies list,

vintage Hillary’s twist.

’tis evil personified, – that will suffice.

In the 2008 campaign the Hillary Clinton campaign staff kept a spreadsheet, an enemies list if you will, where people were given points, from 1 to 7 where 7 were the most hated ones.

The list read like a who’s who among democrats. These ate the ten sevens:

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Ted Kennedy (D-Mass), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Claire McCaskill(D –Mo.), as well as Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Rob Andrews (D-N.J.).

A sign of God’s hand in the sky. A Limerick.

The heavens declare from on high
a sign of God’s hand in the sky.
When we ask for a sign
of His favor divine.
A wonder, I can’t explain why.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
Isaiah 49:14-16
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.