As everyone outside of the liberal establishment has already figured out, the anthropogenic global warming (AGW)/Climategate scam has nothing to do with “saving the planet.” Instead, it serves the interests of:

• Corrupt public figures such as Al Gore, who profit from government support of dubious “green energy” initiatives;
• Socialists who work toward a collapse of all western economies, hoping to gain power after the collapse as the new apparatchiki;
• Our jihadi enemies, who stand to lose if the US or any western economy becomes energy-independent.

Because it serves his interests, and ignoring the fact that the basis for it has been thoroughly debunked, Obama is still pushing the cap-and-trade legislation. This, in itself, is enough to show whose side he is actually on, not that there was ever any room for doubt.

On my other blog, 1389 Message Blog, I have collected a wealth of links to blogs, articles, websites, and other information sources that debunk the AGW/Climategate/cap-and-trade scam.

Here’s the link:

Climate information on 1389 Message Blog

Here you can arm yourself with the information you need to refute the nonsense that is still being repeated on this topic.

Have at it, everyone!

The problems with the grotesquely misnamed Human Rights Watch extend far beyond this closet Nazi fetishist.

The entire organization is corrupt, and the same is true of Amnesty International.

Read these articles to find out why:

• Nazi scandal engulfs Human Rights Watch
• Just the place for a lover of Nazi gear

Also see:

• Lock up the Gitmo lawyers – but put them somewhere other than Gitmo
• Amnesty International excludes film showing persecution of Serbs in occupied Kosovo
• Amnesty International reveals whose side it is on
• Other articles about Amnesty International

A Letter to the Hebrews from Nanoc the REMF a/k/a Fastac_6:

I was looking at the post on B. Hussein’s latest appointments, and something that had been troubling me deep down leapt forward. I considered a herem, but decided my standing is such that it would cause more trouble than good. So, I will post a simple plea:

The charge to the Jewish people through the millennia has been simple. At its core, Torah is a simple business contract between G-d and the Jewish people. “Follow My Laws, and I will grant you these rewards.” Implicit in the agreement is the idea that in following the Law, Jews become a light for the world, a living Testament to G-d and all about Him that is Good. Work hard, care for one another, always be learning, and do not do to others that which is hateful unto you. In following this path, Jews have become subject to much painful persecution, for being different. Yet, through the millennia, enough Jews have stayed on that path that, for the most part, a Jew of 2,500 years ago would recognize the rituals and many customs of Jews today.

In our course through History, we Jews have freely given much to the world and continue that through today. Science, literature, religious philosophy, the arts………Occasionally we stumble, and give you a Karl Marx. Marxist thought leads to the destruction of all that is good about humanity- incentive, creativity, worship of G-d, the entire concept of individuals having worth. I call upon all my fellow Jews, in the Honor of All that is Holy, to immediately distance themselves from the administration of Barack Hussein Obama and all participation in Marxist thought and activities. Your continuing participation is a חילול השם, and can only bring tragedy and disaster upon yourselves and all Jews. I am an old Cold Warrior, and lived with the history and reality of how Jews fared in the old Soviet Union. It did not go well.

-Rabbi Mair ben Baruch haCohen.

Is central US prepared for a major earthquake?

While earthquakes sometimes kill people directly through mudslides and flooding, most earthquake deaths are actually caused by collapsing infrastructure; hence the oft-repeated statement, “Earthquakes don’t kill people, bad buildings do.” The earthquake body count, and the depth and breadth of hardship and economic disruption, depend on the level of earthquake preparedness. Up-to-date and well-enforced building codes, appropriate infrastructure, and well-equipped disaster response teams minimize the impact of earthquakes.

Windybon recently commented on another forum, comparing the January 12, 2010 magnitude 7 earthquake in Haiti to the February 27, 2010 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile:

Yes, that’s huge, but you’re going to see the difference between a country that is prepared for earthquakes (Chile) and one that isn’t (Haiti).

I replied:

The central U.S. isn’t.

I’m wondering what will happen when stresses that have accumulated around the New Madrid fault zone erupt again, either directly on the fault itself or elsewhere in the central US.

The central US terrain transmits seismic forces a considerable distance, so that any major earthquake could cause widespread destruction. There are natural gas pipelines, densely populated areas, and busy transportation corridors, including the Mississippi River itself, close to the fault zone. Much of the infrastructure has not been earthquake-hardened.

The 1811-1812 earthquakes were fearsome, but caused comparatively little damage, owing to the sparse population and almost nonexistent infrastructure in the region at that time.

New Madrid Seismic Zone

1812 New Madrid Earthquake

Uncovering Hidden Hazards in the Mississippi Valley

St. Louis University Earthquake Center

Southern Illinois University New Madrid Earthquake Information Pages

Fastac 6‘s reply was telling:

Say goodbye to Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. None built for quakes, whatever that really means.

New Madrid fault is the basis for the 2011 national disaster drill. As a planner, let me be the first to say: we’d all be f—-d. A “Katrina level” event, and then some.

The lessons of history

Indeed, Chile has made the effort to prepare itself for seismic activity following the catastrophic magnitude 9.5 Valdivia earthquake in 1960, which is the strongest earthquake yet recorded. The epicenter of the Valdivia quake was not far from that of the 2010 quake, which was just offshore of the Maule Region.

When it comes to earthquakes, history does tend to repeat itself, though not always on a predictable time frame. There is evidence of a previous severe earthquake and flood in Valdivia in 1575, and of several subsequent, somewhat lesser earthquakes.

“What, me worry?”

It’s human nature to look for excuses to ignore situations that are difficult to deal with. The Cleveland Plain Dealer article, New Madrid fault no problem, geophysicists Seth Stein and Eric Calais say, reports that these two scientists claim that the New Madrid fault is shutting down, so that it isn’t worth the expense to strengthen the infrastructure in the fault zone. But other scientists warn that Stein and Calais base their conclusion on too little evidence:

“Politicians don’t get re-elected spending lots of money on an event that may not happen in the next 50 years — until Katrina,” said geologist Gary Patterson of the University of Memphis’ Center for Earthquake Research and Information, known as CERI. “That absolutely changed the paradigm.”

The New Madrid situation is further complicated by the lack of scientific agreement on what the new findings mean.

“I’d hate to stick my own neck out and say there’s not going to be [another] earthquake” in the fault zone, said seismologist and CERI director Charles Langston. “That’s really a radical statement, based on a piece of data that has other interpretations.”

…

Other scientists aren’t convinced Stein and Calais are right about the New Madrid. Several note that GPS readings in China showed similarly slight intraplate movements before the devastating Sichuan quake last August, which killed 69,000.

Yes, worry!

A careful reading of that same article reveals that Stein and Calais never actually claimed that there is no earthquake risk, but rather, that the seismic action could occur in the nearby Wabash fault zone instead of on the New Madrid fault itself:

Assuming Stein and Calais are right, where might the New Madrid strain migrate? What fault system would be the next to switch on, and when? The researchers don’t know.

“One would think that the most likely place is to move up north into either southern Illinois or southern Indiana,” Stein said. He and Calais are working with other researchers on a computer model that may help show what’s going on.

As the above map suggests, that’s certainly close enough for discomfort to major populated areas and transportation corridors. I am not a seismologist, but I would suggest that the seismic risk warrants further investigation in both the New Madrid and Wabash fault regions.

So any way you slice it, there’s a significant seismic risk in the central US, and residents and business owners in those states need to think about how to cope with it.

Federal boondoggles bleed money and attention away from real priorities

Not long ago, the New Madrid fault enjoyed a brief flurry of attention in the media and the trade press. I remember seeing a very informative show, part of the Mega-Disasters series on The History Channel, about present-day seismic dangers in the New Madrid fault zone. But as of this writing, only a cursory mention of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquake – and no mention of the Mega-Disasters episode – is on their website.

The July 2007 issue of TVPPA News, which describes itself as the magazine for electric system management in the Tennessee Valley, featured an article entitled “New Madrid: Is the Valley Quake-Ready?”

When Don Drumm and several of his TVA colleagues dealt with a New Madrid fault earthquake late last year, it was only a drill. The consequence of the real thing, he said, could be described with one word. “I wouldn’t call it catastrophic,” he said. “I’d call it cataclysmic.”

As far as I have been able to determine, earthquake preparedness in the New Madrid zone has departed from the public’s radar screen. Little or nothing is being said about it at present. One obvious reason is that the pre-Climategate campaign against “global warming,” the current economic depression, and the misnamed “economic stimulus” tax-and-spend program, have bled away both attention and available funds.

With all the deceptive fanfare about the “economic stimulus money” that was supposed to be spent on “shovel-ready infrastructure projects” throughout the US, I have heard absolutely no mention whatsoever of any plans to strengthen the buildings, highways, rail corridors, fuel pipelines, and other infrastructure in the vicinity of New Madrid. Taxpayers’ money is being squandered on all manner of ridiculous, irrelevant, and counterproductive causes and beneficiaries – everything from bailing out Wall Street arch-criminals to nonexistent “green jobs” to crippling what’s left of domestic industry by enacting draconian regulations against “global warming.” There was never any intention of allowing states and cities, much less private companies and organizations, to set their own priorities regarding how best to prepare for the future.

Crying wolf

As readers of my other blog already know, the recent “Climategate” scandal has eroded the credibility of the scientific community in general. The long and the short of it is that the “powers that be” in the scientific community have been caught “crying wolf” for several decades. So when scientists tell us to account for seismic risks in our plans to build or upgrade infrastructure in the central US, it’s no surprise that financially beleaguered cities, states, contractors, utility companies, and other corporations and organizations ignore their warnings and go on with “business as usual.”

The answer? State sovereignty and local privatization

We need to oust the federal government from control over our finances, our commerce (including, but not limited to, health care), and our disaster preparedness. At the VERY least, we need a Constitutional amendment to repeal the flagrantly abused “commerce clause.” I do not believe that this is enough. I see the need for dismantling the federal government once and for all, in much the same way as the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The federal government has failed in all of the duties for which it was originally formed. Even the smallest of the individual States are big enough to take care of themselves. It’s time for a new “velvet divorce” – stateside version. The way to get there without bloodshed is by educating people, and that is what this blog aims to do.

Watch this space for more on this topic!

Dixie flag flies as a symbol of liberty as the Berlin Wall comes down

Added 11/27/2007:
Click here for more articles about LGF

Click the above image for current Alexa stats for Little Green Footballs.

1389 was banned from Little Green Footballs as of November 24, 2007

No explanation was given, nor is any explanation needed

I could read the handwriting on the wall. Since the onset of the huge feud that Charles Johnson deliberately started with Gates of Vienna and the rest of the antijihadist blogosphere, which involved Charles hurling very thinly substantiated accusations of fascist links to European antijihadist organizations, I could see that LGF had changed, and not for the better.

Six or more degrees of politically incorrect = BANNED

Ever since then, no one has been free to speak his or her mind as a commenter on LGF without fear of being viciously ridiculed and then banned. Nor could anyone feel free to post links to other sites without having to worry about being banned for linking to something that is “six degrees of politically incorrect.”

Anybody who reads the comment threads can observe what the remaining members of LGF feel that they must do to prove their loyalty. They search constantly for any evidence of LGF members or ex-members expressing any support for, linking to, or communicating with anyone on Dear Leader’s ever-growing disapproved list.

The old sense of camaraderie at LGF has long since vanished, along with most of the people with whom I would have wanted to exchange messages. There is nothing left but paranoia and a competition for who can launch the most mean-spirited ridicule against Charles Johnson’s latest batch of officially-designated enemies.

Everyone who wants to remain an active member of LGF must fall in line, because if they don’t, sooner or later they’ll be banned too!

No Stalinist purges for 1389 Blog

I do a great deal of blogging and commenting that has nothing to do with LGF. Just for starters, I am primary admin for 1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech and for 1389 Message Blog. I post occasionally on Fort Hard Knox* and Screw the UN. I am a content creator on IMVU and am fairly active on Twitter. I have a gallery at deviantART. I comment regularly on many other sites.

To remain a member of LGF, I would have had to drop all of the officially designated “nonpersons,” especially banned former LGF members, from the blogrolls and link lists on my own blogs. I would have had to be careful not to link to news stories from any proscribed persons or organizations in my own blog posts. I would not have been able to review those stories or mention them on Twitter or other sites I frequent.

In other words, I would have had to surrender my own freedom of expression and association. This I was unwilling to do. True, I miss what LGF once was, or perhaps could have been, but I am realistic enough to see it for what it is. And it’s none of Charles Johnson’s business who else I cite or associate with.

Why send LGF any more traffic?

The conflict still continues at LGF. The last few remaining dissenters on LGF are speaking up, though not for long. After this blog post has been up for a little while, no doubt someone will post snarky comments on LGF about the infamous banned user 1389, same as they do with everyone else. But I have no intention of lurking on LGF to ego-surf for remarks about me. I have also removed the LGF news feed reader widget from the sidebar. If you still want it, you can get it directly from them. But why send LGF that extra little bit of traffic?

LGF has joined the dark side

LGF is no longer an antijihadist site, if it ever was. Whether Charles Johnson is consciously aware of it or not, LGF has gone over to the other side, or perhaps it has always been there. It is covertly helping our enemies by sowing dissention and by muzzling genuine antijihadist voices everywhere.

LGF takes no part in activism against jihadism. Nor does it make any effort to help any other antijihadist sites or organizations. I have become convinced that LGF never had any intention of doing anything effective to begin with, and that this was the real reason for its boycott of Counterjihad Brussels 2007. LGF merely wishes to appear to be an antijihadist site, and to that end, it posts a sprinkling of terrorist news stories to draw readership. In other words, LGF is nothing more than a disguised version of Daily Kos or the ACLU. I don’t know who has bought out LGF, and I don’t even care at this point. Their declining traffic figures are already rendering them irrelevant.

Tragic irony: the censored has become the censor

The saddest thing of all is that, some months ago, I helped LGF by launching a campaign to get them, and other sites, unbanned from various “censorware” blacklists. Before that, I had worked hard to promote LGF stories on Digg, against the efforts of the infamous “Bury Brigade.” Now LGF has retaliated, if that’s the proper word, by banning me.

It is time to punt littlegreenfootballs, once and for all.

Addenda

Looking for former LGF members? Check out 2.0 The Blogmocracy.

We get hate mail! See Little Green Footballs – Hitting New Lows, One After Another.

*Update 11/26/07, by Jenn Sierra who is an author here and admin of the Ft. Hard Knox project, with the permission of 1389:

The opinions of our authors, expressed in their posts on FHK or elsewhere on the web, do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FHK. We do, however, thank our authors for their contributions and their widely-varying perspectives on an impressive variety of topics.

Remember the Nancy Pelosi hijab flap?

Pelosi had no business going to Syria, undermining Bush Administration foreign policy, and giving an undeserved PR boost to Bashar Assad in the first place. She had to compound that error by wearing the symbol of a religion that she (supposedly) does not believe in, and by embracing a symbol for the oppression of women. But then, tasteless behavior and bad judgment is exactly what one would expect from a liberal Democrat, especially one from California. (See Syrian Reformists: The Damage from Pelosi’s Visit Will Be Felt for Years.)

Covering the cranium to cuddle up to CAIR

Bush officials don the hijab for the rededication ceremony of The Islamic Center in Washington June 27, 2007. They took some heat in the blogosphere for that. Here again, they had no business attending such a gathering at all.

Did Laura Bush get the take-home lesson?

Photo op: Touring the Middle East for breast cancer awareness

Laura Bush plans six-day tour of the Middle East; spokeswoman says she won’t wear abaya

Laura Bush departs Saturday on a six-day tour of the Middle East, with stops planned in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. The White House says the first lady plans to meet with government officials and leaders of medical and women’s groups during her overseas trip.

Given that the first lady wore a headscarf when she visited a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem and a mantilla when she met with Pope Benedict XVI, we asked if Bush will be wearing some sort of abaya while she’s in Saudi Arabia. “No,” Sally McDonough, the first lady’s spokeswoman, tells USA TODAY’s David Jackson, adding: “they do not expect nor encourage it” of Western visitors.

There’s nothing wrong with working for improved detection and cure of breast cancer, or any other type of cancer. I’m all for that, and you may recall that I have blogged about cancer both here and on the 1389 Message Blog. But some have questioned Laura Bush’s priorities in taking that quest to the Muslim world, where there are more severe and immediate threats to females’ health and survival. To put it bluntly, too many girls will not live long enough to be at much risk for a disease that mainly afflicts mature women.

But that’s not all: Laura Bush went back on her word about not wearing the abaya, as you can see from the photo above.

“So she’s wearing an abaya. Why does this matter?”

Why does breast cancer goes untreated in the Middle East?

See Breast cancer often untreated in Mideast, Lifting the Veil From A Deadly Disease, and Cancer in Saudi Arabia.

Evidently, Laura Bush donned the abaya because it was a gift and she felt that it would be appropriate to be photographed in it. Unfortunately, this was a setup that sends exactly the wrong message, on so many levels!

In a nutshell, when women are veiled and kept in seclusion according to Islamic principles, how likely are they to go out and get proper medical care, which would include screening for, and treatment of, breast cancer? In Saudi Arabia, women still aren’t allowed to drive. Many Muslim women are unwilling to be examined by male doctors. Girls are too often discouraged from becoming educated in medicine or anything else.

And don’t forget that the country that is responsible for the bulk of the advances in medical treatment in the Middle East is, of course, Israel. But Israeli physicians are not welcome in the Muslim Middle East.

Poor Longevity for Saudi Women

Stein hoist to mean Gene on LGF for the above link and for these statistics:

I often use the CIA World Fact Book’s stats about demographics.

In regards the “kingdom,” the stats show an incredible drop off in women after age 15….

0-14 years:
male 5,369,285
female 5,162,585

15-64 years:
male 9,316,694
female 7,089,370

What does this picture reveal?

In this picture, Laura herself is unveiled, but she is seated between two veiled breast cancer survivors. If women like these were free to seek whatever medical care they needed, without the necessity of wearing veils, of finding a male relative to drive them, and finding a female doctor to examine them, wouldn’t their chances of early detection and remission be far better?

It’s about CANCER, not photo ops and protocol!

By wearing an abaya to meet with dignitaries, Laura Bush is promoting the anti-woman Islamic ideology that is causing the problem in the first place!

Updated 10/27/07:
Accepting such “gifts” means accepting Islamization!

Hanging Tough in Oklahoma

The handlers for the Bush entourage should have made it clear, before the trip, that gifts of an Islamic nature should not be given and cannot be accepted. The Saudis don’t even allow Christian or Jewish items into the Tragic Kingdom at all!

Update (10/28/07): Laura Bush missed a great opportunity to keep quiet

LGF: Laura Bush Defends Saudi Misogyny

“They do not see covering as some sort of subjugation of women:” Laura Bush defends the hijab.

Note: wearing the abaya in Saudi Arabia is not a “choice.” It’s mandatory for all women when they are in public. If they show even a little bit of ankle, they’re subject to being beaten and arrested by the Saudi religious police (mutaween).

Does Laura Bush really think those women will be honest about their opinions on this misogynistic practice?

Republican Riot: The Ghost of Ramadan Future

More bizarre pix!

Updated 1/1/08:

GOV: Burqas are Bad for Your Health

Lack of sunlight is unhealthy for women, unborn babies, and nursing infants.

How many find the below picture a bit “Pointless”? Repressive?

Technorati : Bush, Islam, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, breast cancer, cancer, enemy propaganda, health, political correctness, women
Del.icio.us : Bush, Islam, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, breast cancer, cancer, enemy propaganda, health, political correctness, women
Ice Rocket : Bush, Islam, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, breast cancer, cancer, enemy propaganda, health, political correctness, women

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Ever wondered what 1389 is all about?

Note: Since this post was written in October, 2007, Little Green Footballs has devolved from what was once a fairly reasonable center-right/counterjihad political forum, to a paranoid and sinister hard-left online cult, and one heavily infested with malware at that. Practically none of the same people from 2007 are there now. I no longer recommend that anyone visit or link to Little Green Footballs.

This question came up on October 13, 2007, in the Little Green Footballs: Saturday Afternoon Open thread, and I gave a brief answer there. Fellow Lizardoids followed with comments that added a broader perspective to my answer.

#14 1389

Why the rash of Houston-area school bus thefts?
A bizarre mystery that may be linked with plans for terror attacks on schools.

#23 Ma Sands

re: #14 1389
What happened in 1389?

#96 1389

re: #23 Ma Sands

1389 was the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The Serbian army, along with some allies, under the leadership of Prince Saint Lazar, knowing that they were about to die, sacrificed themselves to fight the Turkish invasion to a standstill. Their sacrifice prevented much of Europe from being overrun at that time. In their honor, I have chosen 1389 as my nom de guerre.

We are still fighting the same fight, but the weapons are more complex these days. 1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech is a team blog, whose purpose is to offer hard-to-find news, along with Web 2.0 and tech savvy, to the antijihadist community.

I also have another, less formal, blog that offers links and notes that others can use for their own blogging; look for it here: 1389 Message Blog.

#110 cpuller

re: #96 1389
Many different battles over the years have stemmed the attacks of Muslims.

• 732 Battle of Poitiers
• 1529 Battle of Vienna
• 1683 Battle of Vienna

Good work. It is helpful for us to realize that since the 7th century, Western civilization has been under almost uninterrupted attack by Muslims.

#128 dentate

re: #110 cpuller
Battle of Talas, 751. Chinese lost, but cost the Arabs enough to stop them there. As in Europe, Islam continued to spread, but as a trickle instead of a tsunami.

#196 Thanos

re: #128 dentate
There were also the back and forth battles of the 1460′s — eventually the Prince of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes III, aka Dracula lost, as you can tell by the blood libels heaped upon history afterwards.

#218 cpuller

re: #196 Thanos
And also, one must wonder how Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks. One definitely wonders. =)

#262 Spiny Norman

re: #218 cpuller
Partly because help from Rome (Catholic Europe) depended on the Orthodox Church renouncing their “error” and recognizing the authority of the Pope.

And a Hungarian selling his new-fangled cannon to the Turks.

Politics, money and treachery. Nothing ever changes…

Well, yes, but there are always saints and heroes, then as now…

Food for thought…

Rodan says:

June 28, 2011 10:07 am

I would add Malta 1566 and Lepanto 1571 as battles that also stopped Islam cold.

After Lepanto, Spain was planning a Balkans invasion. The Turks weakened after those battles, sent gold to the British and Dutch. They began attacks on the Spanish Empire who then had to divert their Armies to Northern Europe.

Once again, Western powers backstabbing fellow Christians to help Muslims.

Some things don’t change.

How Serbs honor the memory of Saint Lazar

The Battle of Kosovo took place on June 28, 1389 (according to the Julian Calendar, still used for liturgical purposes by the Serbian Orthodox Church). Each Serbian Orthodox family and church parish celebrates a patron saint’s day; this traditional celebration is called the Krsna Slava. According to Wikipedia:

Many Serbian communities (villages, cities, organizations, political parties, institutions, companies, professions) also celebrate their patron saint. For example, the city of Belgrade celebrates the Ascension as its Slava.

Because the Battle of Kosovo and the death of Saint Lazar took place on the feast day of Saint Vitus, June 28 is often referred to as Vidovdan (Serbian Cyrillic: Видовдан), which means “Saint Vitus’ Day.”

Learn more:

• Saint Tsar Lazar:

  • Lazar of Serbia – OrthodoxWiki
  • Lazar of Serbia – Wikipedia
  • Лазар Хребељановић – Википедијa (Serbian-language Wikipedia)

• The Battle of Kosovo, and its meaning for all of us today:

  • Kosovo (online book by William Dorich)
  • 1389 Blog: The Battle of Kosovo Was Fought in 1389 A.D.
  • Projekat Rastko: The Battle of Kosovo (Serbian Epic Poems)

• About the Krsna Slava:

  • East European Food: Krsna Slava
  • Wikipedia: Slava (Крсна Слава)
  • St. Nicholas Center: Krsna Slava
  • OrthodoxWiki: Slava
  • Serbian Orthodox Slava Service (English-language)

…To visit these other sites!

Antijihadist 24×7: We need a break, but we never get to take one.

Are you a blogger? Do you suffer from blogger burnout?

• Blogging: Worse than transfats? has a funny PSA on what to do about it!
• Here is the original, low-res version of this comical, yet oddly true-to-life, e-pamphlet. It appeared on the nonist, which is a beautifully designed art/photo/history site. But if you’re afraid of spiders, the nonist blog post for 9/15/07 is about a giant spider web!
• Also see Are You a Blogaholic?

Hungry for inspiration?

• Read Miracle in Lebanon – High Holidays with Aish, and you’ll see some of the reasons why we have so much respect for Israel and for the Jewish people. It’s an amazing story.

Just plain hungry?

• The Fresh Loaf is a huge website all about bread and baking. Yum! They have a news aggregator, bread baking lessons, all sorts of things. Their email address is at the very bottom of their webpage.
• Hmmm…that gives me an idea. Since The Fresh Loaf is a news aggregator, would any of you readers like to write to The Fresh Loaf and tell them about the problems with SonicWALL censorware on the Panera Bread WiFi?

Into geography? The Northwest Passage may exist after all.

• The explorers of old searched for centuries to find the fabled Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia by water. They never found it, because no such passage existed at that time. But that’s about to change.

  What we call “global warming” is part of a natural cycle, and it isn’t all bad. This article, Northwest Passage Ice Shrinks to New Low, explains that melting of the Arctic ice pack will soon allow ships to make the passage during the summer. It will also open up a potentially oil-rich region for exploration.

  When that happens, be prepared for a showdown here in the US. You can expect that left-wing environmentalists will render aid and comfort to the jihadists by doing all they can to stop any exploration for oil that could lessen our dependence on sources in the Middle East.

Still keeping up on the counterterrorist beat…

• “Jihad by Telecommute” shows evidence that e-jihadis are becoming more active all the time. Fortunately, the authorities are beginning to catch them. You can help by reporting anything suspicious that you see or hear.
• Key Lockerbie witness admits to perjury – I wonder whether we will ever get to the bottom of this.
• Michelle Malkin gives us an update on the Goose Creek pipe bomb boys, Yousef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, who were caught with explosives near a South Carolina naval base. Visit her site and find out what their bizarre plot was all about!
• Good news: The DHS is investigating ways to strengthen bridges against attack.

• Evil jihadist “allies” that the US and EU inherited from Bill and Hillary Clinton: This article offers massive evidence that the Albanian KLA/UCK – not the Serbs – were responsible for the tide of Kosovo refugees during the 1999 NATO bombardment. The KLA has used many names for itself, but it continues to be a savage jihadist/narcoterrorist mob that is also the local branch of al Qaeda.

Need something to write about for your own blog?

• 1389 Message Blog is 1389′s other blog. It’s a place where 1389 puts links to interesting articles and news stories, both for future reference and for everyone’s use. Raid those links to your heart’s content!

Freedom of speech in the blogosphere

• If you are uncomfortable with the use of the word evil, be advised that there is a difference between good and evil. The attack on September 11, 2001, was, and is, evil. It is not “hate speech” to label evildoers and evil deeds for what they are.

  Society can survive only as long as enough people know good from evil and protect that which is good. We are not motivated by hatred, but by love for the Lord and for all His creation, especially our family, home, neighbors, friends, and country. Refusing to recognize evil when you encounter it will only leave you defenseless against it.

• Why do we have to explain such a simple thing? By choosing to go up against jihadists, we have made some enemies, exactly as we expected would happen. Our adversaries are trying to shut down access to this blog, and other antijihadist/counterterrorist blogs, by falsely reporting it to content-filtering or “censorware” vendors as containing “hate/racism/violence”. This sharply reduces the number of places from which our audience can access our sites.

  But if you look at 1389 Blog, you will find that there is no hate speech on this blog. No trash talk. No incitement to violence. No mention of anything pertaining to racial issues. No ad hominem attacks. No bloody pictures. Comments are moderated, and we don’t even allow swear words.

  Any site that does not go along with the prevailing left-wing “political correctness” – especially sites that expose jihadist acivities – is at risk for the same type of de facto censorship. Follow this category link to keep track of our efforts to preserve freedom of speech in the blogosphere.

Technorati : Goose Creek, Homeland Security, Israel, PSA, Panera Bread, SonicWALL, blacklisting of antijihadists, climate change, cyberjihadism, e-jihadisblogging, energy, food, geography, humor, incident tracking, sites we like
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If you saw the earlier article in this blog, Greek Wildfires Blamed on Arson – Evidence of Terrorism, you might be wondering whether the same thing could be happening in the U.S.

After all, we have had a serious problem with fires in the U.S. earlier in 2007 (see Florida Drought, Wildfire, and Storm Preparedness News Roundup and Storm and fire updates).

According to this article, the answer is yes.

In 2003 an FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that an al-Qaeda terrorist being held in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.

It was reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.

“The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies,” the memo said.

(Quoted from National Terror Alert Response Center: Pyro-Terror: Are Greek Wildfires An Act of Terrorism?)

From a firefighter’s perspective, with some spectacular photos, see:

Greek Wildfires: Terrorism or Lack of Firefighting Resources?

This site makes the valid point that, as with Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., the disaster revealed poor emergency preparedness. Inadequate firefighting equipment was a major factor in the delay in bringing outbreaks of fire under control.

Update 9/2/07:

• Greek fire toll rises to 64, as PM urges revamp

Update 9/17/07:

• Pyro-Terrorism – The Threat of Arson-Induced Forest Fires as a Future Terrorist Weapon of Mass Destruction
• The War Against the Greek State
• Greece: The Political Fall Out Begins

Update 10/24/07:

• Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?

Technorati : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
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For quite a while, I’ve been keeping a separate “scratch pad” blog, called 1389 Message Blog. Throughout the day, I post various links, along with comments and messages, sometimes through the blog editor, but mostly by cell phone. I use this later on as raw materials for other writing that I do, including articles on 1389 Blog, the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki, and other places.

Well…I finally realized that I am not going to get around to using all of this material myself, so I’ve decided to open it up to public viewing.

Please don’t expect anything fancy! I treat 1389 Message Blog as a workspace, so it’s always “under construction.” The posts that come directly from my cell phone might not have titles or tags. If I happen to be testing something new, I might change or delete a blog post. If I’ve used the material in an article, I may move everything to another blog or to a Wiki page and link to the new article from the post in 1389 Message Blog, so that I don’t have to update it in two places.

Thus, if you find a link on 1389 Message Blog to something interesting that you want to do some serious writing about, I suggest that you link directly to the source, not to the post in 1389 Message Blog.

Here’s the 1389 Message Blog feed.

Other 1389 Message Blog features:

• Both 1389 Mobile Blog and 1389 Message Blog are on Technorati. However, individual posts on 1389 Message Blog are not tagged or labeled by subject matter. In fact, the subject matter on that blog can be literally anything at all!
• Comments on 1389 Message Blog are open, so feel free to communicate!

Technorati tags:
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“What’s an RSS feed, and why should I care?”

Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”

One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.

You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”

Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

“That is cool! Umm… What’s RSS?”

All right! Now we’re ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

“What’s a feed reader?”

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

“Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a feed?”

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!

Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.

Learn More

• How to use the little orange square to get your news anywhere!
  
• What Is RSS: A Guide To Really Simple Syndication Benefits, Best Uses And Applications

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