About Me

Name:On the Right
Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Archives

Blog Search

Search

Blog Roll

Peak Oil: An Idea Whose Time Is Up

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:13:59 PM
Analysts have found that investors spooked by the peak oil theory — the belief that crude production has topped out and is in decline — are partly behind the soaring oil prices. Someone should set them straight.

Read Full Article

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

McClellan's Mess

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:10:18 PM
We're no longer surprised when a longtime confidant of a president comes out with a tell-all book. It's almost de rigueur. What's sad, however, is when so much of what the book tells is, in fact, false.

Read Full Article

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

TROP

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 8:18:31 PM
Dhimmi Airlines: Man Removed from Seat for Being Male...

Stabbing Victim 'Wanted to Live Like Other German Girls'...

The Islam Saturation Index

Islamophobia
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Vaclav Klaus On Communism And The Ideology Of Environmentalism

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 7:44:35 PM
The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus,  as show on the web.

I spent most of my life under the communist regime which ignored and brutally violated human freedom, and I remember quite well, wanted to command, not only the people, but also the nature, to command wind and rain is one of the famous slogans I remember since my childhood.  In the past, it was in the name of the Marxist or the proletariat, this time in the name of the planet.  Structurally, it is very similar.  The current danger as I see it is environmentalism and especially its strongest version, climate alarmism.

We are now at the stage where the facts, reason, truth are powerless in the face of the global warming propaganda.  We have probably and regretfully already reached that stage.  Now, the whole process is already in the hands of those who are not interested in rational ideas and arguments.  It is in the hands of climatologists and other related scientists who are highly motivated to look in one direction only because a large number of academic careers has evolved around the idea of man made global warming.  It is fodder in the hands of politicians who, through the manipulation of people, maximized the number of votes they seek to get from the electorate. 

The green movement is trying to dictate, control, regulate, mastermind our lives.  This is what we see every day.  They want to discuss how many children we can have because the man is a creature which damages the atmosphere because of breathing.  They are dictating us what kind of cars we can use, how big the refrigerators we can have.  I speak as someone who lived in a communist era and who knows what it means to eliminate freedom, as someone who knows what it means to eliminate the market economy, someone who knows what it means to regulate, to command, to mastermind the economy from above.

 I don't believe that man is destroying the planet and environmentalism is based not on small issues of saving electricity here in the National Press Club or of greening one pond or lake or water.  That's not environmentalism.  Environmentalism is an ideology which wants to control the world.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Climate Change

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:45:12 PM
What Global Warming? - The planet is heating up as a result of global warming and mankind is facing disaster unless we take on Mother Nature and frustrate her plans to barbecue us all.

How do we know that? Well Al Gore tells us so, and we must pay heed to his warnings because he is a towering figure in climatology, recognized as such by the Nobel Peace Prize committee which awarded him their coveted Nobel Peace Prize, and Hollywood which gave him an Oscar for his doomsday film, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Oh that Al Gore! The allegedly credible Al Gore. (Philip V. Brennan, NewsMax)

New Mexico is being irradiated by WiFi? - Once again, the City Different has made news by becoming a source of amusement for the rest of the country. Sadly, this news illustrates the power of our fears when they aren’t balanced by science. As was first reported by KOB-TV, a group of people in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is trying to get the capital city to ban WiFi from public buildings. They claim they are allergic to electromagnetic fields and suffer an array of physical problems when exposed to wireless technology — symptoms that range from headaches to chest pain, “depending on where their weak spots are.” They say that WiFi in public places discriminates against those with their sensitivity and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Junkfood Science)
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Collective Fears

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:05:31 PM
Those who believe they have electromagnetic sensitivities (ES) and other environmental illnesses experience very real symptoms which tragically illustrate how fears can hurt people. Their fears are driven by a string of misunderstandings of what is happening to them.

The World Health Organization’s position is that “there is no scientific basis to link electromagnetic sensitivity symptoms to electromagnetic radiation exposure” and that electromagnetic sensitivity “is not a medical diagnosis.” Those said to suffer from environmental illnesses such as electromagnetic sensitivity most often follow a belief in chi, a vital energy force. But anyone can be taken in by fears that their food, water or air might be contaminated or cause them harm and experience very real symptoms that can even become debilitating. What’s at work is a very well recognized phenomenon known as the nocebo effect. It’s the flip side of the placebo effect and works much the same way. We can become convinced that exposure to even a minuscule amount of a chemical or contaminant can harm our health, just as a minuscule amount of a healing substance can heal - when neither can. The resulting symptoms can be extraordinary and far beyond anything we might ever imagine the power of suggestion could do to us. And when fears of a chemical, threat or exposure are shared among a group of people, the symptoms can spread.

While her bee-hive get-up was the brunt of endless cruel jokes around the world, these sufferers sincerely believe in their illnesses. And clinical ecologist practitioners and lay support groups are quick to reinforce their anxieties. It doesn’t matter how comprehensive the medical evidence or how many careful studies have been conducted or how many scientific and medical experts have investigated concerns, and found no support for environmental illnesses, such as multiple chemical or electrical sensitivity. Victoria Moore, the Daily Mail reporter, reiterated the lack of scientific support for these sensitivities to modern life:

 Epidemiological research is endlessly easy to manipulate to conclude pretty much whatever a researcher wants to find, and it’s a favorite and fertile technique for just about any entity with an agenda. [Look at the nonstop fears associated with obesity!] “‘Health’ is a surrogate for their real interests,” said Dr. James LeFanu, M.D. in “Body Politics” published in a 1994 issue of GQ Magazine:

As we’ve explored here and here, what’s at work is the nocebo effect. It’s the flip side of the placebo effect and works much the same way. We can become convinced that exposure to even a minuscule amount of a contaminant can harm our health, just as a minuscule amount of a healing substance can heal. Alternative practitioners, including clinical ecologists and energy modalities, largely rely on these very real effects. As House showed, when we understand that there is really nothing to fear, our symptoms will go away and we can keep ourselves from being taken in.

This may sound like an isolated case, but state disability rosters are filled with people unable to work because of chemical sensitivity, “sick building syndrome” and chronic fatigue for which medical experts have determined there is no causative agent. These poor people are really suffering and are very difficult for doctors to treat. But countless experts and well-conducted investigations (such as the scientific expert analyses conducted by the American Medical Association, the California Medical Board and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology already discussed here) have found no support for the explanations made by proponents for the vast array of symptoms experienced by most of these patients.

This is why many in the medical community believe it’s unethical to promote or use alternative modalities that lack a scientifically plausible rationale or to reinforce unsubstantiated fears. Instead, these sufferers need our help understanding that their diagnoses are labels, not actual diseases, and that stress and fears can often lead to symptoms. As doctors Ronald E. Gots, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephen Barrett, M.D., wrote in Chemical Sensitivity:

Clinical ecology patients run the risks of misdiagnosis, mistreatment, financial exploitation, and/or delay of proper medical and psychiatric care. In addition, insurance companies, employers, educational facilities, homeowners, and other taxpayers, and ultimately all citizens are being burdened by dubious claims for disability and damages.

If you know someone suffering from an environmental illness, you know how heartbreaking it is to watch and how hard it can be to help them. Doctors Gots and Barrett advise families and friends to realize the symptoms are the result of stress and not get taken in by them, too, or be led to financial ruin. They suggest helping loved ones get away from clinical ecologists and to a good medical doctor and mental health practitioner.  They advise educators not to make accommodations for children whose parents believe them to have multiple chemical sensitivities because it reinforces false messages to children about their health. The potential for harm to children (and adults) convinced that chemicals or bad foods can make them behave a certain way or get sick, “undermines their self esteem by implanting notions that they are unhealthy and fragile,” isolates them from others, and prevents them from receiving appropriate medical care. They advise insurance companies to not subsidize unsound diagnostic and treatment methods. They advise legislators to stop funding research or practices with hypotheses that are not plausible, testable or likely to produce information that is medically helpful. They advise the media to stop glorifying these sufferers, repeating unsound conjectures and fears, or encouraging readers to see clinical ecologists. Doing so, they said, has “great potential for harm.” They concluded: “Public information should be based on established fact, not speculation.”




Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Lurch Left?

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:34:20 PM

Are you ready for Secretary of State John Kerry?

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (1) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Gas Prices

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:26:37 PM
If members of Congress really want to mitigate the effects of high oil prices as much as they claim they do, they could start by letting oil companies bring America’s vast untapped supplies to market. “Drill, Already”
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Is Michelle Obama Off Limits?

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:23:38 PM
Michelle Obama says some fascinating, substantive things. But if I don’t like what she has to say, I reserve the right to say so, whether her husband finds it acceptable or not. “Spousal Matters”

If he truly finds it “unacceptable” for people to criticize his wife, he might want to rethink sending her out as his chief campaign surrogate, particularly when she has proved to be such a rich source of copy for journalists and barbs for critics.

And just out of curiosity, what does it mean, exactly, when a candidate finds something “unacceptable”? In a democracy, finding criticism unacceptable is a surefire way to drive yourself bonkers. It’s like saying you find it unacceptable that bears use the woods for a bathroom.

I, for one, want to hear more from her, and she seems perfectly willing to oblige. But if I don’t like what she has to say, I reserve the right to say so, whether her husband finds it acceptable or not.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Some Insist On Turning A Blind Eye To The Benefits Of Our Efforts In The Mid-East

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:14:27 PM
These are upside-down times when facts and events on the ground simply do not support the general pessimism of the Western media. “When Success Is The Orphan”
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Law & Order

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 3:52:59 PM
When your life is on the line, you keep on firing until you are damn sure it is safe to stop. “Bullet Counters”
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Gay Pride Stickers In, Pro-Life Shirts And Marine Uniforms Out

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 3:43:49 PM
Michelle Malkin  •  May 15, 2008 01:55 PM

When it rains, it pours.

A federal judge rules that schools must allow students to wear gay pride stickers and clothes.

But wear a pro-life t-shirt to school? Read about the harassment fifth-grader Helena Yoest faced. Hello, ACLU?

And what about a Marine uniform for high school graduation?

No go.

P.C. rules.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Questioning The Timing

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 3:19:04 PM

Heckuva job, Scotty: McClellan writes a book


Michelle Malkin  •  May 28, 2008 01:38 PM [Below]

“…talking about the good old days and his time as the Press Secretary. And I can assure you I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done.”

— President Bush bidding a fond farewell to departing WH press secretary Scott McClellan, April 2006.

Well, I think we can safely say that the Bush/McClellan rocking chair session has been cancelled given the publication of McClellan’s splashy, turncoat tell-all.

One thing missing in all the coverage of McClellan’s fifteen minutes of book fame is proper reflection on how poorly served President Bush has been by his closest advisors.

McClellan was hired by Karen Hughes–the same aide who thought promoting Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court was a brilliant idea.

Imagine how many more like McClellan are serving in the administration today, biding their time, waiting for their turn in the nutroots sun.

Reader Kevin B. e-mails what McClellan said in his press briefing on March 22, 2004 when asked about Richard Clarke’s book blasting the Bush Administration for 9/11 and CIA intelligence failures:

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he (Richard Clarke) had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book.

Pot. Kettle.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Neither Obama Nor The Gray Lady Know Much About History

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 2:52:50 PM

Indistinguishable obfuscation: The NYT and Obama on Iran


After their news desk reported on the IAEA’s conclusion that Iran has acted with malice in hiding its nuclear-weapons program, one might have expected the New York Times editorial board to put the blame on …. well, Iran. Instead, and predictably, today’s editorial blames the Bush administration for not trying hard enough to bribe the Iranians into ending its quest for nukes. Five of its eight paragraphs scold the White House while only criticizing Iran in one

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Video: Rove On McClellan

Posted by On the Right on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 2:31:10 PM
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous123Next »