CIA's Secret Prison in Lithuania

It was located 15 miles from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

GOP Looks Forward to Gains Next Year

As a result of recent victories in the Virginian and New Jersey gubernatorial races, the GOP will soon control 24 of the nation's governorships.  Next year, 37 gubernatorial races will be held.

Obama Administration's Newest Bad Idea

The Obama Administration is insisting that a terrorist responsible for the 9/11 attacks must be tried by a civilian court.  Leaving aside the virtual certainty that he will simply abuse the forum to spout anti-US and pro-al Qaeda propaganda, leaving aside the perversity of providing a forum for such a mass murderer, the civilian court system is simply not designed for such cases.  No doubt his lawyers will soon be demanding bail, change of venue, and file a hundred other motions that will stretch the trial out for years.  I'm sure his lawyers will have a field day demanding witnesses.  Let's not even start talking about the fact that by the standard of the civilian courts, he is innocent until proven otherwise.  Furthermore, the Obama Administration's claim that an acquittal won't free him will make a mockery of the justice system.  If he is acquitted, he should be free to go.  Otherwise, US courts will be nothing more than kangaroo courts, free to be ignored at will by the executive branch whenever it renders an inconvenient verdict.

Obama's Kissing Up to China Annoys India

The Indian government on Thursday had reacted strongly to the US suggestion of China playing a greater role in the region. But Washington immediately went on into damage-control mode.

ELCA's Split

Conservatives withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after they began ordaining homosexual clergy.

Chinese Bribery at Issue in Namibia

It's quite impressive to see a democratic African state that has a sufficiently free press to expose such corruption.  The Chinese are well known for greed and willingness to take short cuts.  How long that free press can survive in the face of China's renminbi offensive remains to be seen.

Goldilocks Stars

The “Goldilocks stars” with just the right conditions might be K-type stars, or orange dwarfs, Guinan says. These stars put out less near-ultraviolet energy than sunlike stars, are less likely to flare up than M dwarf stars, and have a habitable zone far enough away that planets in that zone are unlikely to be tidally locked.

K-type stars also live five to six times longer than the sun, giving life more time to develop, Guinan’s team reasons. They’re also more common than suns, making up about 15 percent of the stars in the galaxy.

Another Obama Nominee With Tax Problems

President Barack Obama's choice for a top job in the Treasury Department did not disclose all of her late tax payments until she was repeatedly prodded by Senate investigators....

Obama's Fake Jobs

More than ten percent of the jobs the Obama administration has claimed were "created or saved" by the $787 billion stimulus package are doubtful or imaginary, according to reports compiled from eleven major newspapers and the Associated Press.

In fact, Obama is even inventing fake Congressional districts.  There are more reports of fake jobs in Massachusetts.  Needless to say, the Obama Administration want to enlarge the sphere of their incompetence and downright fraud by demanding federal oversight of subways.

STD Patterns in the US

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported:

Blacks, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for about 71 percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all chlamydia and syphilis cases in 2008.

.....

63 percent of syphilis cases were among men who have sex with men.

Glencoe Massacre Order

The slaughter of 38 members of Scotland's McDonald clan occurred in 1692.

Alcohol Reduces Risk of Heart Disease

It works better for men than for women.

Gender and Personality Differences

Men tend to develop a stable personality very early while women's personality is more changeable.

Lincoln's 1861 Letter

The only letter written to a child by the late president.

Vitamin D Lowers Risk of Heart Disease

[R]esearchers looked at tens of thousands of healthy adults 50 and older whose vitamin D levels had been measured during routine checkups. A majority, they found, were deficient in the vitamin. About two-thirds had less vitamin D in their bloodstreams than the authors considered healthy, and many were extremely deficient.

Less than two years later, the researchers found, those who had extremely low levels of the vitamin were almost twice as likely to have died or suffered a stroke than those with adequate amounts. They also had more coronary artery disease and were twice as likely to have developed heart failure.

Failure of Government Health Care from Around the World

Another week, more reports on the failures of government health care.  The pharmaceuticals industry is responding to the Democratic government health care plan by raising drug prices by 9%, the largest increase since 1992.  A new report shows that the federal government paid more than $47 billion to suspicious Medicare claims.  Finally, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid reported that the Democratic government health care plan will increase health care costs by $289 billion over 10 years.  Furthermore, it also noted that the Democratic plan of raising hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes still cannot pay for the increased expenses.

Over in Britain, changes in assisted suicide rules will result in the elderly and the disabled being pressured to commit suicide.  The British government's adviser on the elderly reported that old patients think that their National Health Service is confusing, neglectful, and practices age discrimination.  Finally, in Australia, there is a scandal involving patients being exposed to unsterilized medical equipment.

A Word About the Tea Party Movement

Professor Paul Rahe faults political scientists for ignoring the tea party movement.  I feel compelled to speak up on behalf of my fellow political scientists.

It should be very clear to anyone following this blog that if anything, I'm sympathetic to the goals of the Tea Party movement.  The reason why I never noted their existence is because it's far from clear whether they are indeed an elephant.  So far, it seems to me that they bear greater resemblance to fleas than elephants.  The good professor failed to point to any concrete evidence that the Tea Party movement is responsible for Republican victories in the gubernatorial elections of Virginia and New Jersey.  One can easily argue that other factors such as the economic depression, the well-known Virginian pattern of voting for the opposition party, and fatigue on the part of New Jersey voters as a result of 8 years of Corzine were responsible.  Even assuming that the Tea Party movement played a part, it's far from clear that it was an important part.  In other words, it's unclear that the results would have been reversed if the Tea Party movement did not exist at all.

The professor is quite right to point out how impressive the movement has been with little to no institutional support.  I readily acknowledge that political scientists tend to be blind to mass movements.  Political scientists spend too much time studying power that we tend to be focused on the institutions of power.  Hence our unfortunate tendency to be taken by surprise by popular movements that proved to be much more powerful than we ever anticipated.

The professor is quite right to note how the Democrats successfully bribed or neutralized any institution that might threaten their government health care plan.  That is to say, any institution, except the people.  But even here, it's hard to discern this movement's accomplishments.  The fact of the matter is that the House of Representatives recently passed their government health care plan.  Unless this train wreck can somehow be stopped, otherwise the most notable feature of this movement is its failure.

Ukrainian Famine Diaries

Welsh journalist uncovered the Ukrainian famine during the 1930s.

The Coming Human Evolution and Devolution?

British evolutionary theorist suggested that in the future, the human race will be separated into 2 species.

2 WWII Japanese Submarines Found

One of the Japanese craft, the I-201, was capable of speeds of about 20 knots while submerged, making it among the fastest diesel submarines ever made. Like other Japanese subs, it had a rubberized coating on the hull, an innovation intended to make it less apparent to sonar or radar.

The other, the I-14, was much larger and slower and designed to carry two small planes, Aichi M6A Seirans. The aircraft, which had folding wings and tails and could carry a torpedo or 1,800-pound bomb, were housed in watertight hangars inside the submarine. They could be brought onto the deck and launched by a catapult. (The only existing Seiran is in the hands of the Smithsonian.)

Party of Corruption, Part 85

A [Nevadan] architecture firm that recently won an $8.3 million federal contract to redesign a U.S. border crossing in California is being investigated by the Federal Election Commission for irregular campaign contributions to Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who is up for re-election next year.

Catholic Church Taking a Stand

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island said that Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D. Rhode Island) should not receive communion because of his support for taxpayer funding for abortions. In related news, the Catholic archdiocese of Washington D.C. warned that unless the city grants an exemption to religious organizations with regard to same-sex weddings, they will have to terminate social services in the city.  Catholic Charities serve 68,000 people in the city.

Let Them Rot

I am delighted to report that Gov. Carcieri (R. Rhode Island) vetoed legislation that would give homosexuals the right to claim the bodies and make funeral arrangements for their partners.  I seriously doubt those bodies will go unclaimed without this bill.  Even assuming they have no immediate families, they may be taken care of by the state.  Alternatively, they can be used as landfill or fertilizers.  The sanctity of traditional funerals must be preserved.

Venezuela Nationalized Coffee Producers

This kind of government theft is insidious for 2 reasons.  Aside from the initial act of robbery, in the future, when the government runs the business to the ground, it will sell off the company's remaining assets thus making more money from the proceeds of its theft.

Aardonyx celestae

New dinosaur found in South Africa dates back 195 million years and was supposed to be more than 20 ft. long, 6 ft. tall, and weigh half a ton.

China and India's Struggle for Supremacy

India is building a base at Gan, Maldives to counter Chinese construction of a port at Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

GOP is Putting Its House in Order

The Republican Party of Charleston County, South Carolina condemned Sen. Lindsey Graham (R. South Carolina) for supporting the Democratic cap and tax plan, corporate bailouts, and amnesty for illegal immigrants.

A Monarchist's Lament

The British writer Gerald Warner, one of the last of the unreconstructed conservatives, laments the passing of the Habsburg Empire.  Though some of his language goes too far, (Woodrow Wilson had many sins, but calling him the founder of the Third Reich is too much.) the basic point can hardly be disputed.  The Austrian Empire, for all its faults, was far better than what replaced it.  It was called the prison house of nations.  But that Austrian prison house was certainly far better than a Nazi death camp or a Soviet gulag, which was where millions of people who once lived in the domain of the Austrian Empire ended up after the empire dissolved.  In its last centuries, it was an empire with few imperial ambitions.  During the Napoleonic Wars, it fought to preserve Europe's balance of powers.  It lacked the industrial ruthlessness of Germany or the brutish cruelty of Russia.

Ancient Japanese Palace Found

Palace of Japan's Queen Himiko who died in 248 A.D. found.

92.3 lbs. Catfish

Caught in the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky.

Ancient Persian Army May Have Been Found

The 50,000 men army was sent by Persian King Cambyses II and was buried in a sandstorm in 525 B.C in western Egypt.

Trauma and Stress May Change Genes

Stressed mice produced hormones that "changed" their genes, affecting their behaviour throughout their lives.

Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Britain's oldest bell foundry, it was founded in 1570 and was responsible for making Westminster’s Big Ben and Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell.

Gender Imbalance

Study suggests that if a woman is afflicted with cancer, there is a 21% chance that her husband will divorce her.  But if the situation is reversed, the chances of the wife divorcing the husband is 3%.

Obama = Narcissist-in-Chief

Obama decided not to attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall but did go to Copenhagen in a failed attempt to lobby for support for Chicago's bid to host the Olympics and will be going to Norway to receive his Nobel Peace Prize.  Perhaps he also thinks that the wrong side won the Cold War?

Victory in Maine

Last Tuesday, the voters in Maine struck down a law passed by the state legislature legalizing same-sex marriage by 53%-47%.  This marks the 31st state that rejected same-sex marriage by popular vote.  The Catholic Church played an important role in voicing support for the law's repeal and by donating at least $600,000 to fund the repeal campaign.  Just like in California, conservatives are now threatened with death because of our adherence to natural law.  Conservatives should carefully catalogue these threats and use them during a future political campaign.  This is the kind of thing that will help turn moderates against liberals.

Juvenile Life Sentences

The Supreme Court heard 2 cases regarding life sentences for juvenile criminals who committed non-murder felonies.  One of the purposes of imprisonment is incapacitation, preventing criminals from harming innocent people.  Just because the perpetrators are juveniles does not mean that somehow their victims did not suffer from their crimes.  The Court should affirm the sentences passed down by juries.

Britain Helped Prevent Terrorist Attack on NYC Subway

Britain provided intelligence that led to the arrest of an Afghan terrorist who was planning to bomb New York City's subway system.

US's Pot of Gold

US's gold reserve is worth nearly $288 billion.

Vitamin D may Fight Cancer

There have been numerous epidemiological studies finding that people with less of the nutrient circulating in their blood are at an elevated risk of developing cancer compared with those who have higher levels. The list of cancers for which this trend has been observed now numbers 18 and includes some of the most common such as colon cancer and breast cancer. Other research has found that those diagnosed with cancer in summer and fall – when blood levels of the vitamin are at seasonal highs because of sun exposure – have longer survival times than people whose cancers are detected in winter and spring.

8 Cups of Tea/Day can Reduce Heart Attack and Stroke Risk

It can also lower cholesterol level and improve mental function.

Obama's Priorities

Obama decided to go to Camp David for a vacation.  Meanwhile, former President Bush and his wife went to Ft. Hood to visit the survivors of the recent attack.

British Commonwealth During WWII

More than 4.5 million personnel from the Commonwealth served, of whom 360,000 were casualties.

India provided more than 2.5 million, the largest volunteer army in history, while Australia sent over 727,000, Canada 628,000, South Africa 342,000 and New Zealand 150,000.

The author neglected to mention that Gandhi was in favor of a separate peace settlement with the Axis powers.  After all, the enemy of his British overlords is his friend.

"Sudden Jihad Syndrome"

That is the name given by conservatives to uncoordinated attacks by lone Muslims.  The conservative writer Michelle Malkin provides a list of Muslims who had military training and exhibited this syndrome.  The Islamic extremist credentials and motivation of the Fort Hood mass murderer can hardly be clearer:

a) There was the obligatory chant of "Allah Akbar."
b) He was previously disciplined for proselytizing Islam.
c) He was characterized as a very devout Muslim by a local imam.

In related news, Obama doesn't know the difference between the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Grim Milestone

The US unemployment rate reached 10.2%, officially passing the double-digit mark.  This seems like the appropriate time to remind ourselves that Obama's economic stimulus bill only stimulated unemployment.  It is now more than 1/3 higher than it was when Obama came into office in January.  For more examples of wasteful government spending, see Fannie Mae, which is requesting another $15 billion in bailout funds.  The Postal Service also reported that they lost $7 billion.  The Small Business Administration reported that the default rate for its loans is 60%.

GOP Offers Alternative Health Care Plan

The Republican plan does not call for a government insurance plan but rather attempts to reform the system by creating high-risk insurance pools, allowing people to purchase health insurance policies across state lines and instituting medical malpractice reforms.

In other words, the plan is largely consistent with free market principles.  Unlike the Democratic plan, it does not try to raise hundreds of billions in taxes.  It does not try to coerce people into purchasing health care that they don't want.  The Congressional Budget Office reported that the GOP plan will lower health care premiums.  Furthermore, it only costs $61 billion over 10 years rather than the $1.2 trillion House Democratic plan.

Poland Alarmed by Russian War Games

Poland is requesting that the US increase its troop presence in their country after Russia conducted military exercises that simulated a nuclear assault and an invasion.  Considering that Obama is acting like a doormat for all of the US's rivals, there is no way the Polish request will be granted.

Bald Hedgehog

Found in Norfolk, England.

How the USSR Influenced Brtain's Labour Party

During the Cold War, the Labour Party plotted with the Soviet Union to try to remove PM Thatcher from power.  British labor union leaders were paid by the Soviet Union.

Madagascar Pochard

8 of them are being bred in captivity.  The remaining population, which is less than 20, all live on a single lake.

VP Biden = Old Dog Can't Learn New Tricks

That's not what I said.  That's what Obama's campaign manager said.

Obama Continues to Undermine Coalition Mission in Afghanistan

Both the British and French governments are increasingly frustrated about Obama's refusal to make a decision about Gen. McChrystal's troop request.

Iran Tested Nuclear Warhead Design

The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.

The Global Warming Cult

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 10-1 to advance their cap and tax plan.  All Republicans boycotted the vote.  Interestingly enough, Al Gore stands to profit substantially from his fear-mongering about global warming.  Finally, a British judge ruled that belief in climate change is the same as religious faith.  I made the same point several times already.

Nanoparticle Cancer Therapy

It delivers drugs directly to cancer cells while evading detection by the body's immune system.

Smiling Shark

Rather creepy, actually.  Probably thinking about a nice human snack.

Party of Corruption, Part 84

The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Heath Shuler (Democrat, Tennessee) for influencing the Tennessee Valley Authority in favor of a company that he invested in.

Obama Lost the 2009 Elections

Any Democratic spin about how yesterday's elections do not reflect a repudiation of Obama must contend with the Democratic Party's own propaganda, Obama's historic decline, and the Gallup poll's conclusion that if current trends continue, Republicans will retake the House of Representatives next year.  These facts must weigh heavily on those Democrats who entertain dreams of another term.  That in turn will further hamper Obama's radical agenda.

There is no chance for the GOP to retake the Senate next year.  To do so, they must win 11 seats.  My guess is that they will win 4-7.  Even the minimum number should be sufficient for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to filibuster anything that moves.

In related news, the conservative group FreedomWorks is working to purge the GOP of its moderates and liberals.

Federal Government Wastes More Money

The Obama Administration spent $2.3 billion to bail out CIT Group.  The corporation collapsed anyway.  The Senate voted unanimously to extend unemployment benefits for another 20 weeks and to extend more home buyers credits.  The former measure will simply encourage people to stay unemployed and the latter was one of the causes for the housing market collapse.  It represented the naive belief that the government can manipulate the housing market any way it wants.  There are more errors detected regarding the number of jobs supposedly created by Obama's $787 billion pork-barrel spending bill in Colorado and Illinois.  Apparently, some of the fraudulent reporting involved counting jobs that received increases in salary as jobs saved.

Obama is With the Iranian Theocracy

Iranian regime protesters launched their largest public protest against their theocracy in 2 months, chanting: "Obama, Obama, you are either with them, or with us."  Of course, Obama is with the mullahs.  He never demonstrated much sympathy toward the regime protesters when they were brutally crushed 2 months ago.  There is no reason to expect change now.

A Meaningful Verdict

An Italian court sentenced 23 CIA agents for extraordinary rendition.  There is no possibility of the US extraditing the agents for their sentence.  This sentence is meaningful because every time a court verdict goes contemptuously ignored, it undermines that court's standing.  The Italian legal system successfully undermined itself in this case.

Free Speech Clause Triumphs Over the Pro-Abortion Agenda

I am pleased to report that the 3rd Circuit Court struck down a Pittsburgh ordinance that restricted the free speech rights of pro-lifers near abortion clinics.  The Supreme Court precedent mentioned in the article is Hill v. Colorado.  The Court's membership changed since the case was decided and I'm very confident that if the city appeals to the Supreme Court, the precedent will be overturned.  Justice Kennedy is not much of a wordsmith and I have numerous disagreements with his jurisprudence.  But I will always remember his very moving dissent in that case:

There runs through our First Amendment theory a concept of immediacy, the idea that thoughts and pleas and petitions must not be lost with the passage of time. In a fleeting existence we have but little time to find truth through discourse. No better illustration of the immediacy of speech, of the urgency of persuasion, of the preciousness of time, is presented than in this case. Here the citizens who claim First Amendment protection seek it for speech which, if it is to be effective, must take place at the very time and place a grievous moral wrong, in their view, is about to occur. The Court tears away from the protesters the guarantees of the First Amendment when they most need it. So committed is the Court to its course that it denies these protesters, in the face of what they consider to be one of life's gravest moral crises, even the opportunity to try to offer a fellow citizen a little pamphlet, a handheld paper seeking to reach a higher law.

EU Imposes Its Anti-Christian Agenda on Italy

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Italian government must pay damages to someone who dislikes crucifixes in Italian schools.

More Iranian Arms for the Hezbollah Seized

The Israelis seized the Iranian armaments ship.