Here’s a bit of news that you probably won’t be reading on the front page of the New York Times…

The scare over global warming, and our politicians’ response to it, is becoming ever more bizarre. On the one hand we have the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change coming up with yet another of its notoriously politicised reports, hyping up the scare by claiming that world surface temperatures have been higher in 11 of the past 12 years (1995-2006) than ever previously recorded.

Driest-ever autumn to follow wettest summer

Damian Lanigan: The eco-nihilists

Britain’s worst polluters

This carefully ignores the latest US satellite figures showing temperatures having fallen since 1998, declining in 2007 to a 1983 level - not to mention the newly revised figures for US surface temperatures showing that the 1930s had four of the 10 warmest years of the past century, with the hottest year of all being not 1998, as was previously claimed, but 1934.

From the Daily Mail (UK):

At the age of 27 this young woman (Toni Vernelli) at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to “protect the planet”.

Incredibly, instead of mourning the loss of a family that never was, her boyfriend (now husband) presented her with a congratulations card.

While some might think it strange to celebrate the reversal of nature and denial of motherhood, Toni relishes her decision with an almost religious zeal.

“Having children is selfish. It’s all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet,” says Toni, 35.

“Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population.”

While most parents view their children as the ultimate miracle of nature, Toni seems to see them as a sinister threat to the future.

Bryan and I have been in touch, and when his latest prospect solidify, he will let me know and I will pass it on here. 

Meanwhile he left this note at Sound Politics:

You can contact me directly via youtube. Search for KVIBryan. And please enjoy the entertaining videos of my dogs.

In the meantime, I'm going to Montana to shoot a bison. I would love to be back on the air in Seattle again, but the time might be right to bite on some longstanding opportunities elsewhere. Either way, I'll post a note through Karl at leaningstraightup.com

The Thanksgiving holiday is fast approaching. Lately I’ve read blog posts about some disturbing trends, and followed links to stories that verify the post content. It seems that Thanksgiving is under attack.

Apparently the idea of the Thanksgiving holiday that I was raised with is wrong. Thanksgiving wasn’t all about the native Americans sharing the bounty with the pilgrims. At least not quite the way I was taught in school.

The happy myth that they were incapable buffoons that had to be saved by the noble savages and taught the basics of agriculture, animal husbandry and hunting that we were taught in school seems to me to be simply unlikely. A stupid people doesn’t have the capacity to plan and organize ocean voyages with sail powered vessels.

Being a veteran means a lot to me, even though I regard my personal military service as being so mundane as to almost be unworthy of inclusion with so many brave and wonderful men and women who served, and often died in their country's service. Yes I am a veteran, even a disabled one. But my disability, the product of too much lifting and loud engine noises in a maintenance shop, pales compared to that of the veterans who went to war, and came back shot, or having lost limbs to explosions, and especially, to those who never came back.

But I recognize that serving in the military does not always mean fighting wars.  It means much more.

It means giving up a lot of personal freedom to serve a larger purpose then simple self interest or survival.  It means striving to serve so that others might have their freedoms, self interest and survival.

Every now and then I see a news story that just leaves me astounded. Doctors swear to the Hippocratic oath. It’s an interesting read. There are things there that I never realized, and that maybe you didn’t either, or maybe I’m looking at the wrong oath.

So why is this interesting? Well a recent Washington Supreme Court decision came down saying that a "doctor can’t be held liable for failing to stop resuscitation efforts on a baby." That’s right. Can you imagine it? A couple sued a doctor for saving their baby’s life? It’s in the Seattle Times…

A doctor can’t be held liable for resuscitating a baby who was born without a heartbeat and survived with severe disabilities, the state Supreme Court says.

The baby’s parents filed a malpractice lawsuit after the baby’s 2004 birth. They claimed doctors in Vancouver, Wash., were negligent when they continued to resuscitate the baby for almost half an hour, after he was born without a heartbeat.

I offer up front that because of the mail in vote delays, many of these races are not actually certified, so there is a possibility that some results may shift.

I am not betting on it, but it is possible.

I posted my thoughts on Elections in general yesterday, and I still remain somewhat disgruntled.  I was reminded that moving to an adjacent county would offer me my ballot again, and I admit it is tempting, but I do like the area I live in, so no.  And that county also practices Instant Run Off Voting, which I also oppose, and of the two, mail in ballots is the lesser evil.

This election there were sever contentious matters on our local ballot which bear further reflection, because frankly the results were a bit of a surprise.

Today was a bittersweet day.  Before work, I went down to the Issaquah Police Station today.  No, I didn't post bail. 

I voted.  What made it bittersweet to me, is that I voted for what is likely the last time.

No, my commitment to civic responsibility is still intact, so it is not that.  King County, where I live, is moving with most of my state to an all mail in ballot system.

And I hate it.

My opposition to mail in ballots is not absolute, for some people it is a necessary process.  They have situations that demand an absentee process.  But I think for the average person, the 'burden' of driving to a local polling station, signing your name and taking you ballot to a semi private voting table to fill in the ovals, or connect the arrows or whatever, is not such a huge burden.

It is a serious question and one I am admittedly bothered by.  Let me explain, but first I want to make it clear that I abhor Phelps and his protests at Soldiers funerals, and his entire anti gay campaign.

To be double clear, Phelps and his church are among the most vile extremists to ever call themselves Christians.  For those who are not in the loop, Phelps and his church are on a campaign against gay people.  In their infinite insanity, they decided that God hates gays, and there for anything bad in American is God punishing America for tolerating gays.  This includes the war in Iraq, so they put 2 and 2 together, split it 6 ways till Tuesday then multiply the result by the number reasons they think God hates fags, and they take to the streets.  Their goal?  Military funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq.