AMERICA - The Right Way!! (Day 1565) [Remember the Trade Center!!]

Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave members of the Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!!

Yesterday, we had quite the debate over global warming and whether it was real or not. At least in this forum, it can be said the antagonists of the theory won the day over the protagonist that tried to press his or her position.

Which brings us to a bigger question, what of environmentalism, and are conservatives inherently against it?

Well, that's sort of asking: "Do you like to breathe dirty air, drink dirty water, and walk through dirty landscapes?" Of course not, that's silly on its face.

Yet, that is the argument that is consistenty and vehemently postulated by the leftists in America--only THEY can protect the environment. Only THEY have the responsibility to protect the non-human species that wander the planet. If it were not for THEM, species other than humans would cease to exist.

Today, there is a story where windmills are being opposed in Wisconsin. Clean energy, right? Taking it from the wind, not burning fossil fuels? Taking a premium off of what nature sends around anyway? What can be wrong with that? Birds--the windmills will kill birds.

Global warming. That debate is less about science than about control, how to run everyone's lives. This becomes evident when you review some of the meetings. New science keeps emerging, and this is probably real science, that forces changes in the "theory" of global warming. But these people don't go "wait a minute, we need to study more to find out what's the best course of action," no, that's already been decided--control of the masses. The theory is revised, but in such a way that still requires draconian people control.

Recycling. A nice hot button here. But, guess what? There's been some information coming out lately that recycling is acutally more harmful than creating the product new in the first place. Seems the radical environmentalists forgot to factor in the transportation of the waste material to recycling places, the chemicals used in recycling, disposal of those chemicals, and so on and so on.

Car pooling, and mass transit in general. Sounds good, move large masses of people with trains and busses. One problem: what happens when that capacity fills up? THEIR answer: build more. All right, where? The problem is, mass transit allowed suburban areas to explode, and in the process pushed land values up like a rocket. Statistics have not been researched for this piece, but it would not be surprising if mass transit was the number one contributor to both suburban growth and property value increases generally. And those people have to be supplied. They are supplied by trucks. Trucks that now fill our Interstates, for which we have no more room to build for them because of the lack of foresight. Traffic is gridlocked with no solution--because the mass transit capacity is choked. Net result? Massive increases in air polution.

Enter the Clean Air Act. Now if there was ever a case in mass hypocracy, this is it. The left creates the urban smog soup from their failed efforts with car pools and mass transit, forgetting about the need to provide pavement (busses have to go somewhere you know) and rail (prohibitively expensive, you should know) in advance, and then they say "clean it up"! HOW? Our cars cannot move, the trucks are stalled on the highways belching soot, and we are told it is our fault.

Baloney. This country is straining under two decades of failed policy efforts on the part of the "green" movement. Our cities were, for a while, becoming "green", but are now, once again, moving to brown. Yet governments persist in the failed policies. The Commonwealth of Virginia, for example, has (finally!) authorized two more lanes for Highway 495. Sadly, they are to be "High Occupancy Toll" lanes. Have three or more souls, free, otherwise you get socked.

Having witnessed these lanes in both New York City and Georgia (although you don't have to pay a toll there), they are abject failures. No one is using critical concrete, and the allowable lanes are clogged with cars and trucks, continuing to contribute to the smog overhang. Georgia is more liberal than the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway--you only need two people. And yet, during my trip to Alanta I could observe they were essentially EMPTY during rush hour.

High Occupancy Vehicle programs have been pursued for almost three decades. Isn't it time to say "ENOUGH" and accept THEY ARE NOT WORKING!?

We need to find ways to get cars and trucks moving, and that means concrete. Will the areas around the new pavement grow, certainly. But isn't that how we manage to prosperity? Isn't staying stagnant a recipe for ultimate demise: "a man who stands still is bound to be run over."

Indeed, the procurment and placement of asphalt would lead to the environmentalist's mantra: the solution to polution is dilution. Spread it out. Move the cars and trucks, then the exhaust won't turn to brown soup.

But that leaves the question, is the right "right" on environmentalism? Well, we don't hate the environment. Indeed, we honor a quaint old idea: husbandry. Use what God provides, and make sure we leave it in a state where it is usable.

This can be leveraged. It has been shown that when a company is given exclusive rights to an area, they manage it well. Tree farms are cut appropriately because the paper company wants to stay in business. The fisheries that are given regions to work in the sea strive to protect fish to the extent it allows their business to flourish. These work, they should be pursued.

The problem is, it turns the locus of control to individuals, and that the radical environmental movement cannot allow for it forces them to concede both that they were wrong and their power they wield.

Dawn patrol blubberings:

A U.S. official said newly captured Abu Farraj al-Libbi, the #3 man thought to be al-Qaida's operations commander, has been talking, but “nothing he has said so far is fascinating.” Pakistani security forces have rounded up some two dozen suspects around the country in raids using information from the senior leader. Officials told Reuters that al Liby was in a good position to disclose the whereabouts of leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. President Bush yesterday hailed the arrest by Pakistani authorities

Tony Blair talked of a "tough and tight" battle, while Michael Howard predicted a Conservative victory. Polling booths open across the nation on Thursday at 7am BST. Two small explosions in midtown Manhattan shattered windows, and coincided with elections in England;

Some environmentalists are trying to fell the notion that all logging is abhorrent. They say that cutting some trees can boost a forest's overall health, promoting regeneration and improving wildlife habitat

It's back to the drawing board for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero. Gov. Pataki yesterday ordered up a complete redesign of the planned signature skyscraper in the wake of Police Department warnings about security risks.

Vietnam's prime minister announced on Thursday that he plans to become the communist country's highest-ranking leader to visit the United States since the Vietnam War ended 30 years ago.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday in the Michael Jackson trial after more than two months of dramatic testimony in which they sought to prove that the pop star molested a teenage cancer patient and conspired to hold his family captive at his fairytale estate.

Donald Trump's New Jersey-based casino business is now expected to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 12,

For tens of millions of baby boomers and younger workers, the basic long-range financial plan is simple: accumulate stocks and bonds while working, then slowly sell them off to keep up a comfortable lifestyle in retirement. But, in speeches and a new book, Jeremy Siegel (well-known until now for recommending stocks as a long-term investment) is warning that a flood of boomer retirees with trillions of dollars of assets to sell over the next 20 to 40 years threatens to crush stock and bond prices. He says it will take a massive investment in U.S. stocks by people in India, China and other developing countries to prevent a market meltdown.

Some environmentalists are trying to fell the notion that all logging is abhorrent. They say that cutting some trees can boost a forest's overall health, promoting regeneration and improving wildlife habitat.

The Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has declined to endorse a Democratic request that the State Department turn over documents related to a long-running dispute between John R. Bolton and American intelligence agencies over assessments about Syria and its weapons program, Congressional officials said Wednesday. The move was a blow to Democrats on the panel

Spring is the season for shooting Syrian television dramas for broadcast during the critical Ramadan holiday viewing season in October. That's when the Arab world rolls out its best new shows, and many Middle Easterners indulge in a month-long TV binge. In a major market like Egypt, as many as eight in 10 households with TV sets watch them nightly during Ramadan. "This is prime time," says Hussein Amin, head of the media and communications department at American University of Cairo.

ABC, in a special edition Wednesday of Primetime Live, devoted an hour to investigating the Fox show and the personal relationship between Season 2 contestant Corey Clark and Idol's most contestant-friendly judge, Paula Abdul. Clark, 24, says he and Abdul, 42, had a secret sexual affair. He also says she helped him through the competition, giving him her prescription cough syrup to soothe his throat and cash to buy clothes, and helping him pick the song that got him into the final 12.

Islamist groups in Zanzibar are worried by what they see as increasingly inappropriate behaviour by Western tourists, saying their actions offend the Indian Ocean islands' conservative Muslim culture. "Tourists should not indulge in sex acts or kiss openly, this is not something that people can accept," Farid Hadi, chairman of the Zanzibar Imams' Association (Jumaza), said on Wednesday. "Every society has norms to be respected. We want a law that stipulates that while tourists are accepted, there are standards that forbid wearing very short dresses in public.

The United Nations is investigating whether a senior official at one of its agencies, Justin Leites,violated U.N.rules and the organization’s spirit of international neutrality by taking a paid leave of absence last year to work as a Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign official in his home state of Maine.

A Defense Department policy analyst has been charged with disclosing classified information related to potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, the Justice Department announced yesterday.

In what military legal experts describe as a "shocker," the judge put the case of former Abu Ghraib prison guard Pfc. Lynndie England back at square one. Col. James Pohl tossed out the plea agreement that the reservist reached with prosecutors after Pvt. Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of the abuse, testified Wednesday on her behalf

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