Hurricanes and Global Warming

Well it seems the environmental alarmist will take anything and try to convince us it's caused by global warming. Everyday there are news articles concerning this subject. Of course these groups have come out and said that this so called "unprecedented" hurricane season is caused by, you guessed it, global warming. They could never believe that nature (and maybe even God) in itself is strong enough to create this much havoc and that this is not the first time we've had a healthy hurricane season. Below is an exert from an article about this subject.

At the 27th annual National Hurricane conference, University of Colorado
atmospheric scientist, Dr. William Gray explained that nature, in the form of
periodically changing ocean circulation patterns, not humans, is responsible
hurricane cycles including the cycle of increasing hurricane activity that the
world is currently experiencing. According to Gray, the number of Atlantic
Hurricanes during the last decade, including 2004's above average season, is
part of a completely natural, not at all unusual, multi-decadal cycle that
scientists have monitored for more than 100 years. For approximately the
past 25 years, the U.S. has experienced a relative lull in hurricane
activity. Unfortunately for those living near the coasts, we recently
began to come out of that cycle and into an active cycle like those experienced
from approximately 1930 through 1950. Indeed, in the 1940's 23 hurricanes,
eight of them category 3 or higher, hit the U.S. mainland

Katrina Commission?????

The city of New Orleans is still under several feet of water and many democrats are calling for a Katrina Commission. Michelle Malkin puts is best when she calls this a "Bush Bash". These politicians don't want to "figure out what went wrong" they want to make the president look bad. If they really wanted to prevent this from happening again they would be asking the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana some serious questions.

Cole will most likely be leaving today to help out with hurricane relief. He flies helicopters and will be running missions for the relief efforts. Please pray for his safety and for those that need him and his unit.

Neal Boortz was in Austin to sign his new book, "The FairTax Book". Of course since he is one of my favorite radio personalities, I had to go see him!

An Exercising President

The LATimes has an editorial article chastising the president for exercising, for doing something good for his body (my thinking, if it's good for the president it's good for America). This guy is obviously not a big fan of Bush and will take anything (and I mean anything) to cast a negative light on him. In a country where more than half of its populace is overweight, I think that Bush is a great example. Here's a guy with a super busy schedule (no one can refute that) and he still finds time to exercise, what a role-model! I say to President Bush, keep running, cycling, and lifting and ignore these negative comments.

For those that don't know, this is Cole!

Jamie, Me, and Sarah sharing good food and good times!

Chilling on the lake!

Our annual Peachtree Road Race after run brunch and picture!

Me, my Nanny, and Jamie.

Sisters, Sisters, there were never such devoted sisters!

Jamie, Becky, Collin and Me on my recent trip home.

The Farce of Live8

For the past several months the focus of the entertainment world has been on the Live8 concerts and their great cause. Wow, simultaneous concerts with some of the world's biggest entertainers all giving their precious time and talents to help those in Africa. For a split second (then I came to my senses and realized who I was dealing with) I thought, what a great idea, private citizens raising money to donate privately to help needy people out. But as I realized later that the Live8 concerts were not to raise money to send to Africa, it was to prompt people to get their governments to send money. Here is Jonah Glodberg with an explanation:

You may be wondering how much money this intercontinental jam session
[called Live8] raised for the sick and dying of Africa. Alas, not a farthing.
Sir Bob Geldof was very explicit about this point. Live8 was intended to raise
consciousness and exert political pressure on the G8 summiteers. No one was
allowed to actually raise money for the masses of starving people in Africa.
None of the dollars spent on the concert by fans, corporate sponsors, or
television networks will reach Africa. Charities couldn't rattle tin cups
outside the porta-potties and concession stands. This was solely an effort to
prod the West to get behind the slogan, 'Make Poverty History.' ... Very smart
people have been trying really, really hard to make poverty history for a long
time. Heck, they've been working very hard to make Africa just ever-so-slightly
less hellish for a very long time. Debt relief is probably part of a potential
solution, but without ending Africa's tendency to produce horrible, greedy
dictatorships, debt relief is more akin to paying off a drug addict's credit
cards. Even if the concert-goers were speaking with a single voice, they weren't
saying anything of much use, except 'we care' -- and aren't we special people
for it? Geldof summed up the attitude perfectly when he said, 'Something must be
done, even if it doesn't work.' This concert was an exercise in boosting the
self-esteem of the audience." --Jonah Goldberg

Connections

Why does this have to be explained to some people? Why does this connection between 9/11 and Iraq have to be spelled out in simple terms for those on the left? It makes perfect sense to me, terrorist were responsible for 9/11 and terrorists were being trained and harbored in Iraq. Here's a great article that explains it in simple terms for those that may be a little slow.

Moral Priorities?

Many on the left like to call Christian conservatives hypocrites because we don't seem to care about giving health care to everyone or ensuring fair wages for workers. This article about setting priorities gives a thoughtful analysis of why most evangelical Christians tend to lean to the right on the political scale.

He [Christian] might have a fundamental moral objection to the welfare
state per se. Compassion, after all, is voluntary by definition; coerced
compassion is a contradiction in terms. He might believe it’s an injustice for
the state to seize money from some people against their will so that others can
use it — a violation, in fact, of the Commandment against theft. He might
believe it’s even worse when an elected government does this, because that just
corrupts the people, drawing an ever larger number into complicity with what
19th-century writer Fredric Bastiat called “legal plunder.”

The Ultimate Culture War

Have you ever driven down a street in a major city and realized you were a little out of place or you were interrupting a special event. Last weekend, a friend and I were driving around Austin, TX getting a feel for the city and noticed there were more people than usual standing on the side of the streets and that they all seem to be holding hands with the same sex. Of course we had stumbled upon a "Pride" (picture the letters in a rainbow) festival. So as we quickly ended our tour of the city, I begun to think about any instance when heterosexuals marched because of their sexual orientation and why homosexuals insist on reminding everyone they are proud they are gay. Could it be they are trying to convince themselves that they are indeed proud of their choices (yes I believe it is a choice)? Could that also be the reason that the homosexual agenda is being pushed into public school sex education? If it's taught in government schools then it must be right, right.

New Favorite Website

I have found a new favorite website. Because of my conservative ideals, I have often been considered an oddball with fellow classmates and/or colleagues. You should have seen my thesis professor's face when I told him I was voting for Bush. You think I had just told him I had just run over his dog. (BTW, for those that don't know me, my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in environmental and occupational health) I have shot back at all my critics saying that I am a common sense environmentalist. ABetterEarth.org is a website that offers a view of conservation without all the wacko ideas that are so often associated with modem day environmentalism.
The following idea may shock some of you, but here it goes "wealthier nations and peoples improve environmental quality rather than degrade it." This article explains this concept and gives some really good points on how to improve the environment in poorer countries by helping them become wealthier (and it's not just giving them aid checks).

Atomic Power, The Answer to our Energy Needs?

America's "energy crisis" has become a big topic in both politics and the media. I have always been a big fan of nuclear energy as a (or the) major source of energy here in the US. Disasters like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island have produced in many people's mind a false idea that nuclear power plants are too dangerous to be in large scale use. We are far behind most countries when it comes to nuclear power. Although our energy needs have increased dramatically, there has not been a new nuclear power plant built in our country since 1973. This is due partially to the initial start-up costs, but most are impeded by government legislations and the NIMBY (not in my backyard) mentality. ABetterEarth.org has a three part series on the positive aspects of nuclear power and how it could be a long-term answer to our energy woes. I, II, and III.

Honoring Soldiers this Memorial Day

As we take our time off work to enjoy the freedoms we have, let us not forget those that have come before us and given their lives in pursuit of that freedom. Let us also remember those serving right now in Iraq and across the world. As Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address, "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." I would like to personally thank all the soldiers I know for their sacrifices.

Think-Tank gives Props to Bush

The London-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies is saying that Bush's policies of promoting democracy in Iraq and elsewhere look "increasingly effective. They even say the threat from terrorism abated slightly in 2004. Now don't expect this to get much press time from the MSM, but it's nice to hear some good news occasionally.

"Even though the Bush policy was bold, controversial and
sometimes divisive, his aggressive global agenda of promoting freedom, and
democracy appeared increasingly effective," the IISS said in its 384-page
"Strategic Survey 2004-05".