Democrat Congressman Blames “Global Warming” for Black Hawk Down

Just when you think they can’t get any nuttier:

A top Democrat told high school students gathered at the U.S. Capitol Thursday that climate change caused Hurricane Katrina and the conflict in Darfur, which led to the “black hawk down” battle between U.S. troops and Somali rebels.
 
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, also equated the drive for global warming legislation with the drive for women’s suffrage in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.
 
But one global warming expert from the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) told Cybercast News Service that such a remark reveals Markey’s ignorance on the subject of global warming.
 
“In Somalia back in 1993, climate change, according to 11 three- and four-star generals, resulted in a drought which led to famine,” said Markey.
 
“That famine translated to international aid we sent in to Somalia, which then led to the U.S. having to send in forces to separate all the groups that were fighting over the aid, which led to Black Hawk Down. There was this scene where we have all of our American troops under fire because they have been put into the middle of this terrible situation,” he added.
 
Markey was referring to the battle of Mogadishu in 1993, when 18 members of a U.S. military team were killed in a helicopter crash and a resulting firefight. The battle was made famous by a 2001 Academy Award-winning film, “Black Hawk Down.”

On Markey’s planet, Clinton’s foray into Somalia had nothing to do with a wag-the-dog tactic to draw attention away from his multiple felonies and treasonous activities. It was climate change that made him do it.

Yeah, that’s it.
 

Markey was speaking to 25 students from the World Wildlife Fund’s Allianz Southeast Climate Witness Program. The students had come to the Capitol to brief members of Congress on the risks of global warming. The students were from the Gulf States.

But Myron Ebell, director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI, told Cybercast News Service that Markey’s remarks reveal his ignorance about the science of global warming.

“Yes, that part of the world is subject to drought at times, but it has very little to do with global warming,” said Ebell. “It is subject to drought whether the global average temperature is going up, down, or staying the same. To say you know the conflict was caused by global warming is to show how really ignorant you are of the scientific issues involved.”

Speaking to the moonbat choir:

The students who testified at the event, most of whom had lived in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, described the difficulties they faced after the storm and blamed global warming for the disaster.

“Katrina woke me up and made me pay attention,” said 17-year-old Danielle Wold from Harvey, La. “One of the worst disasters in history made me want to do something. In 100 years, New Orleans could just be another Atlantis.”

Nah, it couldn’t be the fact that hurricanes are a seasonal phenomenon, Louisiana is smack dab in hurricane alley, and below sea level.

Fifteen-year-old Stephen Bordes from New Orleans called on lawmakers to do something to end global warming. “Cutting carbon emissions is mainly in your hands since you pass the laws,” he said. ‘You basically control climate change. We should have changed yesterday, but it’s too late to change yesterday so we should start now.”

Hell, if I had god-like powers over climate change, I’d make Northeast Ohio warm year round. That lake effect snow in the winter is a bitch.

These young, impressionable, brainwashed kids, are gonna grow up to be Democrats one day, with the right to vote. Scary.

……“The same thing is true by the way with Darfur,” Markey added. “Darfur is really about water. This is an issue which really goes to the heart of the incredible impact that climate change is having upon our planet. “

No you moron, Darfur is just like the rest of Africa; all about corruption, oppressive regimes, and tribal warfare.

But Ebell said that droughts in Darfur are probably not an effect of global warming. “In that region, droughts have been going on for hundreds of years and before human beings started to burn coal and gas,” he said. “They will continue because of precipitation patterns. Again, I think Chairman Markey has revealed the extent of his ignorance on this issue.”

Link: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=32291

Ignorance is an understatement.

GITMO Trials Set to Start

HOOAH!

The first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay can begin Monday, a federal judge has ruled, saying civilian courts should let the military process play out as Congress intended.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson on Thursday rejected an effort by Usama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan, to postpone his trial. Hamdan argued he would suffer irreparable harm if his was tried before he could challenge the legality of the process.

Irreparable harm? Shit, I’d have already rendered  irreparable harm to his ass, and it wouldn’t involve a trial.

Robertson’s ruling is a victory for the Bush administration, which plans to use the military commission process to prosecute alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others charged in the 2001 attacks.

The administration suffered a setback last month when the Supreme Court ruled the Guantanamo Bay detainees can challenge their detention in federal court. Hamdan’s attorneys hoped to use that ruling to delay his trial. But Robertson refused.

“Hamdan is to face a military commission designed by Congress based on guidelines handed down by the Supreme Court,” Robertson said.

He said Hamdan can raise any procedural challenges during trial and, if convicted, he can ask military and civilian appeals courts to settle constitutional questions.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,385001,00.html

The sooner they all get convicted and (hopefully) sentenced to death, the better.

Three MSM Obama Groupies to Follow Their Idol to Iraq

After Obama’s initial refusal to go follow John McCain’s example; to go to Iraq and see the success himself:

Via his spokesperson, Bill Burton:

“John McCain’s proposal is nothing more than a political stunt, and we don’t need any more ‘Mission Accomplished’ banners or walks through Baghdad markets to know that Iraq’s leaders have not made the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge. The American people don’t want any more false promises of progress, they deserve a real debate about a war that has overstretched our military, and cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making us safer.”

Link: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_camp_says_no_to_baghdad.php

……He finally relents, and at least 3 liberal network devotees will string along:

The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama’s trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza.

Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play.

John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the past four months, all unaccompanied by a single network anchor.

This cracks me up:

Obama has “proven adept at generating excitement,” says David Folkenflik, media correspondent for National Public Radio. He said the anchors hope “a little bit of that excitement will rub off on their newscasts if they can convey an American phenomenon abroad, if that’s what it turns out to be. Senator McCain is not as magnetic a figure in that way.”

No, Folkenflik (gawd, what a name), you’re all excited because you and the rest of the dimwitted leftwing MSM think he’s the ‘Obamessiah’.

More on the leftwing media’s love affair with Obama:

The senator from Illinois has been drawing far more media attention than his Republican rival from Arizona. With this week’s Newsweek cover story on Obama’s religious beliefs, he has been featured on Time and Newsweek covers 12 times in the past three years, compared with five for McCain. This week’s New Yorker includes a 14,600-word piece on Obama’s political rise in Chicago. Obama and his wife, Michelle, were recently on the cover of Us Weekly……”

When McCain visited Britain, France and Israel in March and met with their leaders, no network anchors tagged along. NBC and ABC sent correspondents; CBS did not. None of the evening newscasts covered his trip to Canada last month. And McCain’s swing through Colombia and Mexico two weeks ago was barely covered, although NBC and ABC sent correspondents.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/16/AR2008071602562.html

There’s just no love in the MSM for John McCain.

Obama’s campaign site conveniently deleted any reference to his criticism and claims about the surge, just in time for his little trip:

……The parts that stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge and his statement that more troops would make no difference in a civil war have somehow disappeared. John McCain and Obama have been going at it heavily in recent days over the benefits of the surge.

The Arizona senator, who advocated the surge for years before the Bush administration employed it, says the resulting reduction in violence is proof it worked with progress on 15 of 18 political benchmarks and Obama’s plan to withdraw troops by now would have resulted in surrender.

When President Bush ordered the surge in January 2007, Obama said: “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse,” a position he maintained throughout 2007. This year he acknowledged progress, but maintained his position that political progress was lacking.

Tuesday, while Obama gave a speech on foreign policy, the New York Daily News was the first to notice the removal of parts of Obama’s campaign site listing the Iraq troop surge as part of “The Problem.” An Obama spokeswoman said it was just part of an “update” to “reflect changes in current events,” as our colleague Frank James notes in the Swamp. The update includes a new section on the rise of Al Qaeda violence in Afghanistan.

Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/obama-surge.html

Updates to coincide with his flip-flops. The liberals can’t harp on Iraq anymore so they have to switch to Afghanistan, where after a good deal of success, American troops have just recently encountered renewed attacks by the Taliban and what’s left of Al Qaeda, who are crossing the border from Pakistan.

Hopefully, the troops will give Obama the same earful they gave Couric:
Link: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/soldiers-set-katie-couric-straight/

Too bad he doesn’t have the guts to take Michael Yon up on his offer:

I hereby offer to accompany any Senator to Iraq, whether they are pro-or anti-war, Democrat or Republican. I will make this offer personally to a few select Senators as well. Our conversations during the visit would be on- or off-record, as they wish. Touring Iraq with me, as well as briefings by U.S. officers and meetings with Iraqis, would provide an accurate and nuanced account of the progress and challenges ahead, so that the Senators might have a highly informed perspective on this most critical issue.

Our civilian leaders need to make decisions based on the best information available. The only way to learn what is really going on in Iraq is to go there and listen to our ground commanders, who know what they are doing. Generals Petraeus and Odierno have years of experience in Iraq, and vast knowledge of our efforts there. But the young Soldiers who have done multiple tours in Iraq also have unique and invaluable perspectives as well. These young Soldiers have personally witnessed the trajectory of the war shift dramatically, and can articulate those changes in concrete and specific terms. It doesn’t matter if a Soldier is only twenty-something. If he or she spent two or three years in the war, that person is likely to have valuable insights.

The best way to understand what is really going on is to listen closely to a wide range of service members who have done multiple tours in Iraq. Some will be negative, some will be positive, but overall I am certain that the vast majority of multi-tour Iraq veterans will testify that there has been great progress, and now there is hope. Combat veterans don’t tolerate happy talk or wishful thinking. They’ll tell you the raw truth as they see it.

Whether any Senators take advantage of my offer, I do hope that the presidential candidates visit Iraq, not just for a photo opportunity, but to spend time with our commanders and combat veterans, who know the truth and are not afraid to speak it.

Links: http://michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1311:an-open-offer-to-us-senators&catid=34:dispatches&Itemid=55

http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/michael-yons-open-offer-to-us-senators/

This upcoming trip will be a media circus and an Obama PR campaign by the media.
With the type of press entourage he’s getting, expect nothing less.

Terrorist Shoots Wrong Target

Oooooops!!!

Jul. 17 - A gunman has shot and wounded six concert musicians in the Jordanian capital Amman before committing suicide.

The shooting took place after a performance by the Amman symphony orchestra with a Lebanese choir at the Roman ampitheatre after the attacker apparently mistook the Lebanese musicians for Israelis.

http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=87117&videoChannel=1

It’s a bitch when muslim zealots don’t double check their intended victims first, and end up killing their own.

Well, at least he took himself out.

U.S. Envoy to Meet With Iranian Nuke Negotiator (UPDATE)

They’re going to do what?!?

…..a top U.S. diplomat will join colleagues from other world powers at a weekend meeting with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator in a break with past Bush administration policy.

……William Burns, America’s third-highest ranking diplomat, will for first time attend talks with the Iranian envoy in Switzerland aimed at persuading Iran to halt activities that could lead to the development of atomic weapons.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5imG-Gmyrfld190llCL7AdcThgngAD91UKMC00

The Bush administration shouldn’t even give the Iranian crapweazels the time of day. I don’t know what they expect to accomplish with this, other than granting Amahdinejad attention he doesn’t deserve.

If Burns has any balls, he’ll tell Iran these terms of “negotiation”; stop producing weapons grade nuclear material, or our B2’s will reduce their facilities to a little glowing stain in the desert sand.

But I won’t hold my breath.

And just to prove my point:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday vowed that Iran would not yield in the crisis over its nuclear drive as world powers awaited a response from Tehran to a proposal aiming to end the standoff.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080723105224.tisqv4n4&show_article=1

Say it ain’t so.