Horses are terrible people

Just more evidence of climate change being cyclical. Turns out 1934 is apparently the hottest year on record.

From the article:

1934 is now the hottest, and 3 others from the 1930's are in the top 10. Furthermore, only 3 (not 9) took place since 1995 (1998, 1999, and 2006). The years 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 are now below the year 1900 and no longer even in the top 20.

Like most Americans after 9/11 I've been listening for Muslim denouncement of terrorist. I've heard it from American groups but not much else. Apparently I wasn't listening hard enough or the story wasn't told.

Here is a list compiled by Charles Kurzman of UNC that lists statements by Muslims of note in response to terrorism and 9/11.

This is an interesting site on the topic as well.

On another Islam note, apparently free-speech is bad when it comes to Mohammad as is noted here and here. The comics that have spawned death threats, boycotts, and protests are here.

I found my way on to the mediamatters.org website today from Google news and was initially excited because I thought I found a non-biased site with journalistic integrity that existed to debunk misinformation in the media. I read a few articles, a noticed a slant in the writing so I went to the about page where I found their mission is instead to debunk conservative misinformation.  In response I sent them the following email:

I stumbled across your website today and was happy to find a reference for debunking misinformation sent out from the media.  Unfortunately it seems you're only interested in debunking conservative media statements and not all biased media statements. You'd show much more credibility if you were pointing out the misstatements, lies, and bias on all sides of the political spectrum.

I'm disappointed to find out you're just as biased as the people you claim to discredit. Maybe one day true journalists will step forward and take a truly non-biased, non-opinionated approach to reporting.

When will we find an organization with a similar mission as yours but without a political agenda?  Liberal is just as much a dirty word as you treat the word conservative.  You're not helping media accountability, you appear to be promoting an agenda under the guise of correcting misinformation.

One day both extremes of political thought will understand the need for balance and moderation. Hopefully an organization like yours will wake to it and truly be light for accountability and truth in the media.

Here's a blog entry posted yesterday that I think is very well written by Scott Randolph. I can't help but agree with what he says and how he says it. You mean we didn't go over to Iraq for buckets of desert sand made of gold?

I think that overall people who went in to the debate with a favored candidate will have thought that candidate won. Otherwise I think it was dead even. I know the media favored Kerry, it's not terribly suprising. I think both candidates did well and stuck to their messages. Kerry's closing remarks made me want to like him, it's too bad his senate record sucks and that he would be a terrible president. But hey the French like him so he can't be all that bad, right?

Ever wonder who finances demostrations, or what policitical activist groups are out there? Check out ActivistCash.com Granted these guys on the surface seem to have an anti-lefty bias, but their information sure seems to be well researched and what not. The site is definately worth checking out.

I stumbled across this weblog today which was linked to a comment on /.

This New York Times article speaks for itself. It's almost as if they don't read their own paper. I quote "Congress would never have given President Bush a blank check for military action if it had known that there was no real evidence that Iraq was likely to provide aid to terrorists."

How can their editorial board look at people with a straight face when they make implicit claims such as that, yet in an article on the very front page they write for, they clearly state Saddam's Iraq harbored terrorists?

According to this IWPR article, Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish "Militant Group" has been pushed out of Iraq and has now found refuge in Iran.

Seems that while the media keeps everyone focused on hating George Bush, protesting the war in Iraq and how horrible those prisoners were tortured in Abu Gharib, life in Afghanistan may be better than it was before, but it's not without problems. As I read in this IWPR report, bribery has become a problem of epic proportion. Government corruption seems to be a major problem, and I expect that we should have some hand in helping stop it. It's happening in Iraq too. Is this a statement about the human condition, or just life in that part of the world? Would things be different here if we lived in squalor most of our lives, then were afforded control over our fellow citizens in some way? I guess it's to be expected, but you would think that these new goverments, provisional or not, would want to stamp out such issues.

As reported in this this IWPR report the average Baghdadi has seen an increase in their monthly salaries, raising the standard of living. Doctors during the Saddam regime were earning the equivalent of $20 USD a day are now making 17 times that much. Best I can tell from the article people are making at least 10 times what they use to make, and can now afford the bare essentials in life that we here wouldn't think about living without.

While the mainstream media here in the US is working hard to discredit our President over issues related to Iraq, I'd like to point out a few sources for information that substantiates the connection between Iraq and various terrorist groups. This underplayed or ignored information reinforces that one must do ones own research and not rely on headlines on the newspaper.

On 6/17/2004 the New York Times reports that the 9/11 Commission states there is no Iraq <-> Al Qaeda ties, with the intent of reinforcing the myth that Iraq had no terrorist ties. Here are a few notable reports and interviews that demonstrate this was clearly not the truth:

In this PBS interview, a former captain in the Iraqi military from 1982 through 1992 describes terrorist training camps in Iraq.

On June 12th, 5 days before the NYT article, the Houston Chronical details a report that tells of a US military raid of a terrorist training camp in Iraq.

This GlobalSecurity.org report details information on the Mujahedin-E Khalq terrorist training camp in Iraq and our military taking control of it.

The military's Star's and Stripes newspaper reports of Marines discovering a terrorist training camp near Baghdad.

My point, in pointing these references out is that there was indeed direct connections between Iraq and terrorist groups. These are even apart from the rebuttal by the 9/11 commission stating that there were indeed direct connections between Saddam's Iraq and al Qeada.