Happy New Year!

Earth could plunge into sudden ice age

And it's still your fault:

In the film, "The Day After Tomorrow," the world gets gripped in ice within the span of just a few weeks. Now research now suggests an eerily similar event might indeed have occurred in the past.

Looking ahead to the future, there is no reason why such a freeze shouldn't happen again — and in ironic fashion it could be precipitated if ongoing changes in climate force the Greenland ice sheet to suddenly melt, scientists say. Starting roughly 12,800 years ago, the Northern Hemisphere was gripped by a chill that lasted some 1,300 years. Known by scientists as the Younger Dryas and nicknamed the"Big Freeze," geological evidence suggests it was brought on when a vast pulse of fresh water — a greater volume than all of North America's Great Lakes combined — poured into the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

This abrupt influx, caused when the glacial Lake Agassiz in North America burst its banks, diluted the circulation of warmer water in the North Atlantic, bringing this "conveyer belt" to a halt. Without this warming influence, evidence shows that temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere plummeted.

...This kind of scenario would not discount evidence pointing toward global warming — after all, it leans on the Greenland ice sheet melting.

"We could say that global warming could lead to a dramatic cooling," Patterson told LiveScience. "This should serve as a further warning rather than a pass."

A pass on what? Kyoto, "Cap and Trade", Copenhagen?. If only cavemen had climate scientists they could have been warned about the dangers of cooking meat.

What a racket. Our modern soothsayers have now predicted our SUV's will lead to Global Cooling or Global Warming - whichever comes first. Send more money and remember, when the future happens - they predicted it.

Addendum: If you are worried about the ice sheets of Greenland melting, read this to see what passes for science among the Anthropormorphic Global Warming crowd.

Cross-posted at Anatreptic

HHS Death Panels

Who ya gonna believe?

... The Department of Health and Human Services recommended women not get mammograms until age 50, and then only every two years.

It's a stunning reversal and a break with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position. What's more, the panel said breast self-exams do no good, and women shouldn't be taught to do them.

Dr. Brett Parkinson, the medical director of the Breast Cancer Center at IMC, says, "I think the important thing women can do is to look to the organizations that have proven trustworthy." At Intermountain Medical Center, 20 percent of their breast cancer patients are between the ages of 40 and 49; that's the age the new guidelines discourages from getting mammograms. That's the big reason why the medical director of the Breast Cancer Center at IMC does not agree the new recommendations.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government panel of doctors and scientists is getting swift pushback:

The recommendations were based on commissioned studies, but Parkinson says, "not one breast cancer expert was on the panel. Nobody in the imaging world, the people who work with mammography, was involved in this project.

...For most of the past two decades, the American Cancer Society has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40, and it reiterated that position on Monday.

...Susan G. Komen organization and the American College of Radiology agree with the American Cancer Society.

With government controlled healthcare on the horizon, one won't be sure if a government recommendation is for your health or their budget. But hey, everyone else is doing it:

The panel's new recommendations are more in line with international guidelines, which call for screening to start at age 50; the World Health Organization recommends the test every two years, and Britain says every three years.

How's that working for Britain?

Politically this has got to be a bonehead move on the part of HHS. Didn't anyone tell them that the boss is trying to get socialized medicine through Congress. Ixnay on anything that smacks of death panels until it's a lock.

UPDATE: HHS's Sebelius finally gets the memo.


Cross-posted at Anatreptic

The Non-Combatant Status of Major Nidal Malik Hasan

After the Fort Hood massacre, one of my friends was surprised to learn our military bases are actually gun free zones. Another irony of military life. Chances are, if Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire off post, there might have been a concealed weapon available. In 1991, a gunman did open fire in a Luby's cafeteria in Killeen - the town outside Fort Hood - and killled 23 people. Suzzanna Hupp, a patron who lost both her parents in that massacre, had left her gun in her car because she did not have a concealed carry permit. As a result of the Luby massacre, Texas reduced the restrictions for concealed carry permits.

Another thing that non-military experienced folks might not be aware of is that as a medical officer, Major Hasan is considered a non-combatant. Despite the image of Frank Burns brandishing a firearm, medical personnel may not use arms against enemy forces acting in conformity with the law of armed conflict. Of course there is that caveat "acting in conformity with the law of armed conflict" - since when has America had an enemy oblige? Nonetheless, the U.S. conforms to the law. Speculation that Major Hasan was conflicted about fighing Muslims is baseless. He wouldn't have been permitted to even if he desired.

Cross-posted in Anatreptic

Nothing to do with Islam

One day after the Fort Hood massacre, my local TV station, KSL, is telling us nothing to see here, move on:

Reaction from Utah's Muslim community to Thursday's deadly shootings at Fort Hood is one of sadness and regret that the gunman is of their faith. Their leaders are anxious for people of other faiths to understand what he did has nothing to do with Islam.
(emphasis added)

Many devout Muslims are horrified about the Fort Hood massacre, but the idea that violence has "nothing to do with Islam" is fiction. Just in 2009, the world has endured at least 1673 incidents of terrorism, honor killings, and religious executions - all in the name of Islam.

7,869 deaths and 15,394 injuries. This year.

Ignoring Iraq and Afghanistan still leaves 4,046 murders in 36 countries. The level of violence associated with Islam dwarfs that associated with the world's other leading religions. Despite KSL's report, there are many adherents who do find violence an acceptable expression of Islam. To state or imply otherwise is misleading.

Cross-posted in Anatreptic

Sure Iran can't be trusted

A reader at Instapundent comments about Iranian duplicity with the Obama administration:

Now we know why Obama turned his back on Iranian protesters. Note that the secret negotiations began in June. What else went on in June in Iran? Oh yeah… those pesky election results protests.

Basically, he turned his back on the Iranian people because that whole free election fight of theirs wasn’t nearly as important as the nuclear deal he was working out with Iran’s regime. Too bad the regime couldn’t be trusted to actually live up to its end of the bargain. Big surprise there, that you can’t trust political leaders who believe in silencing their own people…

Maybe that should serve as an object lesson to us about Obama…

Object lesson noted, however, when the President is willing to mislead Americans (deficit neutral health care comes to mind) and renege on allies (Eastern Europeon missile protection anyone?) why would Iranian leadership be expected to trust Mr. Obama?

Cross-posted at Anatreptic

Europe's "Free" Healthcare

A letter to the WSJ editor illustrating Europe's "free" health care:

Regarding "Mrs. Pelosi's VAT" (Review & Outlook, Oct. 8): Several years ago when our children were very young, my wife and I hosted a different European au pair each year for six years. During the course of their stay in America, each au pair proudly commented that in their respective European country medical care was free.

When their time with us came to an end, each au pair went to the Mall of America and purchased several pairs of jeans, as well as other clothes, before returning home. At the time, jeans cost between $15 and $30 each. I asked these young women why they were buying so many jeans before returning to their country. With some astonishment at my lack of understanding, they explained that the same jeans in their country retailed for between $80 and $100. The price differential, of course, was due to the value-added tax and the higher costs of doing business in European welfare states.

I thought to myself, "Ah, but your medical care is "free."

Mark Douglass

Minneapolis

Cross-posted at Anatreptic

Why are we all Catholic and Speaking Spanish?

Mexican little tykes won't find the answer at school:

A new sixth-grade world history textbook is causing a stir in Mexico because it leaves out any mention of the Spanish Conquest.

Few events have shaped Mexico's culture, ethnicity and history more than the 1521 conquest.

But it doesn't appear in the government-published world history text, which ends in the age of exploration with a reference to the rising world powers of Spain and Portugal.

Assistant Education Secretary Fernando Gonzalez told the Mexican newspaper El Universal on Monday there was no intention of covering up the Spain's brutal conquest of indigenous societies.

File this with the Japanese kids wondering why the United States declared war on their country.

Cross-posted at Anatreptic

Life imitates snark

Another day, another Dem talking point discredited.

Lisa Benson channels an AARP townhall meeting. Meanwhile footage below shows a busload of seniors, paid by the insurance industry... or is that AARP paid by the insurance industry?

___________________________________________________________________



h/t Redstate

cross-posted at Anatreptic

Ministry of Truth

I bet the Whitehouse would think "Ministry of Truth" would be a catchy name for this:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

They want something fishy on health reform? Send them this link.

Originally posted at Anatreptic