Where did Global Warming Go?

With the record cold temperatures recorded across the nation this past week, there's only one thing I can think of: Global Warming. Farmers of strawberry, peach and citrus crops are devastated by the not-so-much unusually late, but unusually cold and long cold snap we've been trudging through. I know that the strawberries at my house have never looked worse, except back in January.

I rather enjoy it when someone poses the argument to me that this cold snap is temporary and normal, but all and all we're getting warmer. I ask them: If the cold is temporary and normal, how come when we have heat waves it's global warming and not temporary and normal? How come you say that there are natural fluctuations in temperature when your view is threatened and it's cold, but go deaf and dumb when the tables are turned?

I read this week that Hawaii had freezing temperatures last week. Hawaii! I see each and every day more and more stories of record cold, devastating frost on crops, gas bills growing again, yet I turn on the Weather Channel the other night, and for five minutes. . . five full minutes. . . I stared, gape-jawed at the TV with my wife patting my back, trying to keep me from snapping like the fragile twig that I am, because for those five minutes, all that was covered on The Weather Channel was global warming. It was snowing outside and my furnace was running here, the second week of April, yet here were two smiling faces talking about how troubled the world is, and how we're not doing anything to help, and basically, "we're all gonna die".

The TV magically changed channels (my wife may have had something to do with it) and life went on, until last night, when I hear some moron ranting on about how in 'x' amount of years we will be OUT of water. That's right, global warming will dry up all the usable water on earth and we will all die of thirst.

Now, I seem to recall learning in science when I was in grade-school that the water that is here is the same water that the dinosaurs were drinking, and that water never really goes away, it is merely recycled. Huh. Physics must have changed in the past 15 years, oh, wait, that's right. Now it benefits the Doom and Gloomers to say that there won't be any water for their children.

Before we were out of water, the terrible heat was going to wipe out all crops on the planet and we were going to starve, but since it's cold, now we're going to die of thirst. Gotcha.

I rather like these arguments. The most recent, I'd like to ask: Where is the water going?

The first argument (where the heat will devastate crops) I'd like you to ponder this: Wouldn't shorter winters and longer summers mean longer growing seasons and more food? On the topic of food supplies, since many of the tree-huggers want a full switch to bio-diesel, which takes food from the mouths of livestock, us, and (gasp) the children to produce it, isn't that an issue? I'm not making that up. Cattle farmers are distraught because feed prices are going up for them because everyone is selling their corn to bio-diesel plants, which increases demand, which drives up prices. Welcome to the free market system of supply and demand.

If the environmentalist are concerned about hunger and thirst as they claim, wouldn't they hop off the bio-diesel bandwagon? Nope, because it's not about hunger, thirst, fuel or anything like that, it's about their own narrow view of things. Remember the hole in the ozone layer that they couldn't make up their mind if it was causing global warming or was caused by it?

Now don't get me started on all those touting how 'green' we should all be living while flying around in their jumbo-jets and limos, while living in several multi-thousand square foot houses (Al Gore, Madonna, John Edwards, Bono. . . I could go on).

I don’t know about you, but my rose bushes and I could go for a little warming right about now.

Required Read: The Supreme Law

As seen in:January 19th, 2007 Record Herald

The United States of America's Constitution sets forth the duties and limitations of the government over the people and is the oldest constitution for a federal system still in use.

Do you know the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Do you really? Not many Americans can honestly say that we do. This is a document that's going on its 220 th birthday and is over 7,000 words long, including the Amendments (Bill of Rights). I'm sure even those who study it for a living would have a hard time honestly saying they "know" the Constitution, yet we always hear people's description of it; and, oh, how they love to quote their "First Amendment Rights", especially when they perceive them as being violated.

The First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Now, how many times did you read the word "from"? None? Really? Now that's odd, because what I hear more often than not in the news is people wanting freedom "from" religion, not "of" it. We hear the battle cry each year around Christmas, and how there's no Christ in Christmas anymore, blah, blah. I tune it out every time I hear it now, because I'm just so tired of the same argument that we are guaranteed each December. I do take notice, however, when I hear atheists saying that our money, our pledge, and therefore our Constitution are all un-Constitutional because they all reference God.

Well, it doesn't say that you have to reference God. In fact, I interpret the First Amendment as saying they can't keep me from referencing God. That is freedom OF religion on my part. If they are atheists, they are using their freedom OF religion by being atheists; but the Constitution doesn't protect them from hearing the words "Jesus" or "Church" or "God" anymore than it protects me from hearing their rants against religion. If they must be shielded from my religion, I should be shielded from theirs. (Even if they don't admit atheism is a religion).

Who can read from memory the 9th Amendment?

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Wouldn't that protect my freedoms in the first Amendment?

Okay, now lets move on to anther: Amendment II, who can name it? Any takers?

Right to Bear Arms; A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Second Amendment was birthed from the anti-federalists who feared that a government-controlled military was a sure path to tyranny. What is now the Second Amendment was proposed by James Madison, the leading Federalist, as an insertion to the Constitution itself as a compromise between the anti-federalists and the federalists. You'd never know that by just reading the words of the Constitution, you'd have to know the history of it, and that is a very important history lesson! The anti-federalist wanted the right to bear arms to keep the government from getting too big. They wanted to make sure that when, not if, the government became more of a tyrant than a democratic-republic, We the People could take it back, and put it back the way it was. See if you hear that the next time you see someone pushing for more gun control.

“Being necessary to the security of a free state” That sounds pretty clear to me. I hear it like this; Take away our guns, and the government is free to do as it pleases.

I like how Robert Heinlein put it: “An armed society is a polite society”

The Constitution should be thought of as a living document that changes with the times, just as people do. This is very evident in the 18th Amendment abolishing liquor, later repealed by Amendment 21.

Who wants to take a jab at the 10th Amendment, the last in the Bill of Rights?

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

That's right, folks. It's not the government's Constitution; it's ours.

Now, to keep you interested enough to go look up something: How many Amendments are there to the US Constitution?

It Doesn’t Matter What We Do:

They’ll hate us anyway.

As seen in: November 6th, 2006 Record Herald

"A deliberate mockery of Muslim faith." "A blatant insult." "Clearly meant to provoke Muslims." That's what some Muslims are saying about the Apple Computer store on Fifth Ave. in New York City.

Why would they say such things? Because the Apple store is an underground retail store and iPod bar (the "bar" is where you can download music to your iPod.) with an above-ground entrance consisting of a 30ft tall clear class cube. You should do a search of " Apple Store Fifth Avenue", it's quite impressive. While you're at it, look up "Kaaba", which is a 49ft x 34ft x 39ft masonry structure in the center of Mecca, and apparently has quite significant meaning to the Muslim community. Enough significance to allow only Muslims to have cubes.

The Kaaba is a large, concrete cube, shrouded in black cloth. The Apple store is a large, clear glass cube, lighted at night to a brilliant glow, and has a large, stainless steel Apple in the center. Yeah--clearly the same thing.

Muslim leaders are saying that the cube was built to mock Islam. Oh, great, now they have rights to the cube. Better throw away all of your kid's building blocks. Uh, oh, Legos are blocks, the Kaaba is made of blocks, better throw those out too; and don't let them know about Rubik's Cube.

Heads of some websites are making claims that they built the cube to insult Muslims and to further rub it in, "serve alcoholic beverages inside". No, the only thing being served in this bar is music. They also show the Apple cube shrouded in black, much like their cube, and say that this is how it is represented. Nope, wrong again. This is what it looked like when it was under construction, not now. They are clearly misleading their readers to invoke anger, and have even called upon Muslims in America to help "bring down" the cube.

They are insulted by a glass box? Are you kidding me? Do you know what I'm insulted by? Do you know what makes my blood boil? Here's a short list of what insults me:

• Killing a nun after the Pope quoted someone else's writings that Islam is violent. (Nothing like killing an innocent person to prove that you are not violent)
• Cutting off the heads of captured Americans and broadcasting the footage on TV.
• Passing out candy on the anniversaries of 9/11 and dancing in the streets in celebration.
• Calling us the Great Satan and vowing to destroy us.
• Strapping bombs to children to kill innocent people.
• Flying jets into buildings and killing 2,998 people in one day.

This is what offends me, but I still don't want to go out and blow up their markets and shopping malls. The fact that you and I are alive is enough for them to hate us and want us dead. In their minds, we are not worthy to breathe the same air as them.

Everyone is afraid of these people, and that is what they want. Where do you think the word "terrorist" came from? Take out the "i-s-t" and what do you have?

In France, Muslims are running the show in many towns. The police are even afraid of them, yet they don't even call them Muslims, terrorists or gangs, they call them "youths" so not to offend them.

Stop being afraid! Stop giving them what they want! Do you think if we don't offend them we can all get along? The Apple store is a perfect example that they will never leave us alone! We can't even have a big box anymore without insulting them. If it wasn't the cube, it would be something else. Don't people see that there is always something to offend these animals?

Things like;
• Cartoons of Mohammed.
• Police enforcing law.
• The Pope, telling the truth.
• A cube in New York.

It's always something. We can't walk on egg shells around these people because they would jump to say we are thinking of breaking a shell and cut off our heads.

You cannot co-exist with that kind of mentality, you have to destroy it.

Not all Muslims are terrorists, but so far, nearly all terrorists are Muslims. It’s time we address the 900 pound gorilla in the room, and it’s name is Islam.


The Kaaba
The Apple Store

The Enemy Within

Links supporting the statements in my column:

Study confirms prisons are being used to recruit "homegrown" terrorists

Study: U.S. prisons terrorist hotbed

Citgo is owned by the enemy

Chavez using Citgo as a tool

As seen in the September 29th, 2006 Record Herald.



America is the greatest country in the world. Yes, my opinion is biased and I know that. I don't want to lose what we've got, but some days I feel like we're losing a war waged against ourselves. It's like a Cold Civil War.

Hugo Chavez was in New York last week, and he spoke to the UN General Assembly where he called our President, "the Devil," and he got away with it. Chavez then moved on to speak at a church in Harlem where he denounced capitalism and spoke of how great socialism and communism are. Now, do you think he will be inviting President Bush to speak in Venezuela? Do you think he will allow him to speak to the people about how great capitalism is and how bad socialism and communism are? Nope. In fact, even though Chavez said that America is afraid of free speech, he made it law in his country that if you speak out against the president and/or any government, you are sent to jail for three years. He actually did this to one of his cabinet members who spoke ill of Chavez's administration, yet we let him into our house to try to convert our people?

Chavez went further, offering discounted heating fuel to the poor families of Harlem. The oil will come from Citgo, of course. Citgo is wholly owned by Venezuela , a country whose leader has joined forces with Iran, Cuba, Russia and many more with all intents and purposes of eliminating America, or as he calls it, "The American Empire," which means whenever Citgo makes money, Chavez makes money. Chavez has made it abundantly clear that he is our enemy, yet we let him in to speak his indoctrination within our own shores. Where does he go for such an anti-American speech? Directly to the poor and impoverished, the ones most desperate for something to change, so anything must be better than this. I know if my children were cold, I would probably be willing to get cheap heat no matter who it came from. Chavez knows this—he is not stupid.

Moving on: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gets his people really worked up by heading chants such as "Death to America" and "Kill the Jews", yet he comes to the US and says his is a peaceful nation and only wants peace. Don't be fooled. He laughs in the face of negotiations, refers to us as "the Great Satan," Israel as "the Little Satan," yet when he is here, he says he loves the American and Israeli people but not their governments. Guess what, Mahmoud? We are a nation "Of the people, by the people and for the people." We choose our government, so if you don't like it, you probably don't like us. Ahmadinejad is trying to come off as poor-little-Iran--"Everyone is picking on me, and I only want peace."

He knows exactly what he is doing and so do the clerics that are pulling his strings.

Next, enemy prisoners: A study has been ongoing for years showing that Islamic extremists are being trained and recruited right here in America. Yes, prisoners. Everything the bad guys want in a person is there: Contempt of the US, a thirst for revenge, cooped up with nowhere to go, not much to do, so they are very eager to listen to almost anyone. Our prison system still allows freedom of religion, so we can't stop them from seeing their "spiritual advisor," a.k.a. terrorist training team.

Why isn't anyone saying anything? America cannot be conquered, but we can be collapsed.

The University of Harvard not only allowed the former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, speak to their classes, but they invited him. This is another man bent on American's demise.

We are at war. Instead of being invaded by the enemy, Americans are being recruited to the other side. These folks in Harlem, now, don't think Chavez is such a bad guy. Hey, he gives away free fuel to keep families warm, why doesn't the government like him? They don't know that he is creating contempt against our government. Did you know that Chavez led a (failed) coup against the Venezuelan government before he gained power? Looks like he's trying to do it again.

The enemy is forcing us on ourselves. They know that we cannot be defeated militarily, so they are getting us from within.

"Knowledge is Power" has never been so true.

Remembering September 11, 2001

As seen in:

September 4th, 2006 Record Herald
September 11th, 2006 News Journal


There was a day not too long ago that you and I weren't Republicans or Democrats. We weren't white, black, Asian or Hispanic. We weren't conservatives or liberals. We were just people. Good people. We were Americans and that was enough. One day made us put aside our differences and stand up for the common good.

You know what day that was. It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Don't forget that day. You promised you wouldn't. We all did.

Remember the video of the towers where people were jumping to their deaths because that was better than being inside the raging inferno. Remember the horror of the first tower falling, when all eyes went to the other tower knowing it wouldn't be far behind. Remember the Pentagon burning. Remember the fear of what was coming next. Not knowing if they were done yet. Remember the rescue effort last lasted for days and weeks.

We had to take DNA samples of family members to identify the victims. We need to remember. The terrorists were happy to see that. They were thrilled to see that there was nothing left of our loved ones under the rubble. This enemy is evil.

9-11 bonded us. It bonded the good together and made us impenetrable. United we stand had a whole new meaning.

We helped. We gave. We shared. We cared for one another. We spoke to strangers on the street. We could relate. Each and every one of us could get along.

We all looked to the President and his cabinet to see what they would say. When he spoke, we didn't scoff because we didn't agree with him on certain issues. You and I were ready to hear what he had to say, to put an end to the rumors, lies and fast growing conspiracy theories what were popping up. He wasn't George W. Bush that day. He wasn't a republican or a conservative. He was the Commander in Chief. He was the President of the United States of America, the best country in the world. We all agreed to that.

We were glad to hear him say we would hunt down the terrorists who were behind this. We wanted them to pay for killing 3,000 of our family and friends.

We all know that it was around 3,000 lives that ended on that day, but that wasn't the number of lives destroyed. That number is much, much larger.

Tens of thousands lost someone. Everyone is the most important person to someone. The number people who lost their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and friends cannot be counted; but it is certainly no less than a six digit number.

Imagine telling your son or daughter that their mom or dad is not coming home because there are people in the world who don't like us being here. The fact that we exist is enough for them to want to destroy us. An eight year old can't comprehend that. I have a hard time with that one myself.

9-11 divided our state of mind into three groups:

· September 10 Americans: Didn't care about the world as long as it wasn't affecting us, why should we care?

· September 11 Americans: Angry, shocked and scared. We were ready for answers. We all had the same question on our mind: "Why?"

· September 12 Americans: The best we can be. Kind and understanding. Patient and strong. Ready to help in any way we could. We gave our blood, money we couldn't really spare and our time. We understood why we were such a great nation.

Afterwards, we took our time. We didn't mind getting stuck in traffic. We helped folks who needed it. We literally gave our blood, sweat and tears for this country, without question or second thought. We were filled with pride, we waved the flag, wore it on pins, shirts, hats. Everywhere you looked you saw red, white and blue.

We volunteered, from fire fighters, doctors, police and rescue workers right down to serving those helping in the recovery with food and water.

9-11 really changed me. It made me a patriot. For the first time in my life, I went out and bought a flag. It made me pay attention to the news, made me read the paper, care about elections, but it also made me talk to my neighbor, and reminded me to help folks whenever I could, not when it was convenient. 9-11 made me want to be a better person.

Now, as we approach the five year anniversary, we see the documentaries all over TV. We finally see the images again. We do need to see these, but not too much. We need to be reminded of that clear September day when the world came crashing down around us, but we don't need to get numb to it. If we overdose on it, we forget the significance of the pain. To me, 9-11 is still an open wound, not a scar. As soon as it becomes a scar, it stops hurting. This still hurts.

We must remember the way we felt. We can't slip into being September 10 Americans again. We owe the victims that much. I remember 9-11 every day, just as I try each and every day to be a September 12 American.

Where are the Hurricanes?

As seen in:

August 11th, 2006 Times Gazette
August 15th, 2006 Record Herald


Note: Here are links about last years claims.

Hottest summer on record: 1930

Claim: Worse than normal in 2006?

2005 Hurricane Season

Claim: 2006 Worse than 2005

Hurricane Researchers back down claim

Claim: A worse Season (2006)

Claim: Hurricane ‘Expert’ that 2006 can be worse than 2005

Rita not as strong as reported

Research: It’s happened before

Claim: Hurricanes will continue to be more frequent

Claim: Hurricanes far from over

Claims reduced:

Al Gore's Education does not include Meteorology, or anything weather related.


Remember last year as the record-breaking hurricane season was winding down, the Doom and Gloomers were telling us that next year (this year) would be worse.

We were promised that due to global warming, 2006 would be much worse than 2005, which we are constantly reminded was the worse year ever. . . since we started recording, that is. There could have been a hundred hurricanes in say, 1850, but we weren't counting. Here we are in August, 2006, and we have yet to see a hurricane make landfall. Last year at this time, we had nine named storms already: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey and Irene. Five of these were tropical storms, four hurricanes. This year, we've had none hit land yet. They haven't even come close to us. How is that worse?

Now, I'm not saying I want to be hit by hurricanes that would beat last year's, but I do want to know why no one is calling these people out on their claims! Imagine if your financial advisor told you that next year profits would go up from this year's nine hundred thousand at this time, and it only went up 3 hundred thousand. You probably wouldn't have him on the payroll anymore, because he clearly didn't know what he was talking about.

We cannot predict the weather like some people think we can. Is it going to rain a week from Tuesday? No one is really sure. Some things we just don't know.

We also hear about how the storms are getting stronger and lasting longer than they have in the past. Well, that claim is also false. We have better technology now, so we can better read the storm. They were always very strong; we just weren't able to see it from the ground. Now we have better satellites, so the storms look stronger, but actually we're just now really seeing them.

I want to hear what my favorite meteorologist; Al Gore has to say about this. After all, the poster for his documentary about the theory of global warming is a hurricane being produced out of a smoke stack, implying that man-made industry is causing hurricanes. If that were true, wouldn't this year be worse than last?

Most global warming activists are loving this heat wave we've been having; breaking records, that's what we hear. 1930 was actually the hottest summer on record. These are daily records, not yearly. These get broken almost every year, be it rain, dry, heat or cold, we're almost always breaking some record. Earlier this year Florida recorded a record low, and in Florida, it really hasn't been that hot. An area in South Africa just reported snowfall. Not unheard of, but uncommon. Global warming? More like local.

I recently read an article about an interesting light show in the Arctic sky similar to the Northern Lights. The headline read that it was due to global warming, but upon reading way down in the sixth paragraph, I learned that it was due to extreme cold temperatures, negative 112 Fahrenheit to be exact. Global warming, huh? Sounds cold.

If I make ten predictions and three come true, does that mean I'm a psychic? No. I was wrong 70% of the time. The fact that I was right the other 30% means that I made a lot of predictions and some were right.

More than I would like to hear the Doom and Gloomers talk their way out of this mess they've talked themselves into, I would like to hear those who back them up explain to me why they are listening to people who are not only wrong, but they're wrong more often than not.

History of Ol' Glory

As seen in:
The June 12th, 2006 Record Herald:
The June 15th, 2006 News Journal:


Everyone assumes that Betsy Ross designed and created the first U.S. Flag; however, it is most likely to have been congressman Francis Hopkins who designed it and Betsy Ross, the Philadelphia seamstress, who actually made the first flag. Like much of America's history, it is not a hundred percent certain but widely accepted.

The Look of the Flag:
The Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act on June 14, 1777, which stated: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." This is why June 14 of each year is set aside for Flag Day.

Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state, signed by President Monroe.

June 24, 1912-an Executive Order was signed by President Taft, directing how the stars and stripes would be arranged on our nation's flag. Until then, it was left to the discretion of the flag maker.

August 21, 1959-another Executive Order, signed by President Eisenhower, provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizontally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.

Old Glory:
Around 1830, Captain William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts, was presented a flag as a birthday gift, bearing twenty four stars, (the number of states at the time) just before one of his voyages. When the flag was raised, he cried, "Old Glory!" and the nick name stuck, and has remained for almost two hundred years.

The Pledge:
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy but was not officially recognized as the official national pledge until June 22, 1942, and not until it was modified somewhat from its original form.

April 22, 1951-the Knights of Columbus added the words "Under God" to the pledge and it spread like wildfire to all of the Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. Many who were not members of the Knights began adding "Under God" to the pledge even though the Knights failed on convince congress to officially add the words to the pledge.

It wasn't until Flag Day, 1954, that Congress passed legislation to add "Under God" due in no small part to President Eisenhower.

Before WWII, one started the Pledge with the right hand over their heart as they said, "I pledge allegiance," then extended their arm toward the flag, palm up as if to raise the flag, and continued the pledge with the arm extended. Since this gesture was very similar to the Nazi salute, it was changed so that the hand remained over the heart for the entire pledge.

We take the pledge for granted because it is pounded into our heads from an early age. Think of each of the words. It is quite meaningful. We should take pride when we say it. We owe it to all who have fought to defend her, our Flag, Old Glory.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Millions have died defending our flag and all that it stands for. This Flag Day, please be sure to show respect for our flag. It was there in the beginning, and I hope it will never see an end.