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Monday, September 30, 2013

Faithful Muslims: Faithful Christians.


People who frequent this Tavern are sometimes called intolerant. Or worse. But many have a clear eye for hypocricy. True, some are not very faithful themselves; even the Tavern-Keeper has had his unquality-time.
 
The media however is in a constant unquality. And it is in denial too.
 
The past week has seen carnage out in the world. The media report some but ignore a lot. And they divert attention by their mis-use of words. They sell mendacity.
 
The 'War on Terror' for example focused attention on 'Militants', differentiating them from 'Moderates'.
 
Moderates stand in Mosques and preach hatred and mayhem. Militants do it.
 
Bill M had a few things to say and so did the Head of the Vatican Court.
 
First Bill Muehlenberg:
 
Jihad: Muhammad Did It, the Koran Says It, So Muslims Do It   
http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2013/09/30/jihad-muhammad-did-it-the-koran-says-it-so-muslims-do-it/ 
A good Muslim not only obeys the Koran to the letter, but he also sees Muhammad as the perfect example. Thus if he killed for the faith, then so should they. So when we see Muslims killing non-Muslims today, they are simply being true and faithful Muslims. 
They are not extremists or fundamentalists, as the media likes to call them. They are simply being true Muslims.  

The so-called moderate Muslims are the ones who are not being true Muslims, as they disobey their own Koran, and do not follow the example of the Prophet. 
So when we read about 50 students killed as they slept in their dormitories, and their college set alight in Nigeria – just after the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall slaughter of last week - this is just normal practice for normal Muslims.  
It is not an aberration,  
but common Islamic practice. 


As Pam Geller puts it concerning this latest massacre, “The devout Muslim group, Boko Haram, gunned down dozens of students as they slept in dormitories, and torched classrooms. Boko Haram means ‘Western education is sinful’ or literally, ‘Books Bad.’ 
“The media's use of the word 'militants' for these devout savages is particularly despicable.  
The media is aligned with the jihad force.  
Well over 12,000 Christians have been slaughtered by Muslims in Nigeria.  
Despite the daily attacks from this Muslim group, Boko Haram, Obama continues to refuse to designate them a terrorist group.” 
Violence in the life of Muhammad and in the Koran 
Muhammad himself engaged in numerous religious wars, acts of violent jihad, and bloodletting. Of course while he was in Mecca for 12-13 years he did not resort to violence. But with the refusal of the people to embrace his new religion he was forced to flee to Medina. 
It was there that he said Allah revealed to him that he must fight for the faith, and that he did. He led raiding parties, ordered revenge attacks, engaged in the torture and killing of his enemies, and commanded massacres. His last 10 years at Medina cemented his record as a warlord, a man of violence, and a promoter of bloody jihad. 

And all this is fully enjoined in the Islamic holy book as well. I will not here look at the hadith as well, but just offer a sampling of passages from the Koran. These suras (chapters) make it quite clear that the devout Muslim must kill for the faith, just as Muhammad did:
“Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them.” Koran 2:191 
“Muslims must not take the infidels as friends.” 3:28 
“Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable.” 3:85 
“Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam” 5:33 
“Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.” 8:12 
“Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels.” 8:60 
“The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.” 8:65 
“When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them.” 9:5 
“The infidels are unclean; do not let them into a mosque.” 9:28 
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.” 9:29 
“The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.” 9:30 
“Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.” 9:123 
“Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies.” 22:19  
“Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them.” 47:4
 
Thus all the horrific acts of butchery, barabarism, and horror just witnessed in Africa and Pakistan in the last week alone all come straight out of the book – and out of the life and example of Muhammad. Muslims kill today because Muhammad killed – and because they are ordered to so in the Koran. 
Muslims terrorise and slay innocent men, women and children because Muhammad did – and their sacred writings command them to. So who is being the true Muslim here? It is quite clear. The “moderates” are not being true to their own faith and their own heritage. The jihadists are. 
That is why we should not be asking the question, “Are there moderate Muslims?” of course there are. Perhaps the majority of Muslims are. But that is not the issue.
The real issue is, “Is Islam moderate?”  
And the answer to that question is,    
'Absolutely not’. 
Islam is not just another religion. It is at heart a political ideology and a cult of death. It brooks no rivals, and it followers are ordered to kill all infidels. Everyone must submit to Allah, or face the sword, or live as dhimmies. There are no other options in Islam. 
That is why we must not appease those who have sworn to kill us. We must not compromise with those who have vowed to annihilate us.  
While we seek to pray for, love and win for the gospel individual Muslims, we must never capitulate to the political ideology of Islam. 
It is every bit as horrible as Communism and Nazism were. And even worse yet is the sheer silence of Western Christians about the slaughter of our brothers and sisters elsewhere. As Kirsten Powers asks, where is the outcry from believers in the West? 

“Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The silence has been nearly deafening. 

The West needs to wake up to the ugly reality of Islam. And Western Christians need to repent of their utter lack of concern about the millions of Christians who have been persecuted and slaughtered by the ‘religion of peace’ over the centuries.
 
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/09/jihadists-murder-over-50-college-students-in-nigeria-.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/27/a-global-slaughter-of-christians-but-america-s-churches-stay-silent.html


The leaders of Christian Churches plead a very different Creed.

Silently.

They say 'Love the sinner'. And they do quite well at that. Perhaps a bit too well.

Loving well but not wisely in many cases.

Recently the Leader of the House in American politics went on her usual excuse-filled orgy of support for the murdering of babies. She claims to be a catholic.

She is not.



She is no more a Catholic than the average 20 year old girl who falls for the smarmy charms of a Muslim bloke and converts. She wears her Burka like a teenage badge of defiance. Pelosi wears her religion to deflect criticism. And so far it has worked.

if you think it a stretch to compare moderate and militant Muslims to Nancy Pelosi, just think....

Pelosi sits atop a pile of 50 Million murdered American babies,

and Christians need to repent of their utter lack of concern about  that too. 

Pelosi smiles like a true

Princess of Lies.

It has worked because no Prince of the Church has called her out on it.

Until now.

Vatican Chief Justice: Nancy Pelosi Must Be Denied Communion 
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/vatican-chief-justice-nancy-pelosi-must-be-denied-communion

Because of her longstanding support for abortion, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic, must be denied Communion under the law of the Catholic Church, said Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the highest court at the Vatican.

 
Cardinal Burke referenced his remarks about Pelosi to Canon Law--the law  governing the Catholic Church--and specifically Canon 915, which says those Catholics who obstinately persevere "in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion." 
"Certainly this is a case when Canon 915 must be applied," said Cardinal Burke in an interview reprinted on Sept. 5 in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly.  

"This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin--cooperating with the crime of procured abortion--and still professes to be a devout Catholic." 

"This is a prime example of what Blessed John Paul II referred to as the situation of Catholics who have divorced their faith from their public life and therefore are not serving their brothers and sisters in the way that they must--in safeguarding and promoting the life of the innocent and defenseless unborn, in safeguarding and promoting the integrity of marriage and the family," said the cardinal. 
In mid-June at a Capitol Hill press conference, Pelosi was asked if there is a moral difference between aborting a baby at 26 weeks and what Dr. Kermit Gosnell did in Philadelphia in delivering babies alive at 23 weeks and then severing their spinal cords to kill them?
 
Pelosi did not answer the question directly but said,
 "As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this. I don't think it should have anything to do with politics, and that's where you're taking it and I'm not going there."
It was in reference to that quote that Cardinal Burke was asked, "How are we to react to such a seemingly scandalous statement? Is this a case where Canon 915 might properly be applied?" Burke replied: "Certainly this is a case when Canon 915 must be applied." 
The cardinal went on to say: "What Congresswoman Pelosi is speaking of is not particular confessional beliefs or practices of the Catholic Church. It belongs to the natural moral law which is written on every human heart and which the Catholic Church obviously also teaches: that natural moral law which is so wonderfully illumined for us by Our Lord Jesus Christ by His saving teaching, but most of all by His Passion and death." 
"To say that these are simply questions of Catholic faith which have no part in politics is just false and wrong," said Card. Burke. 
 

"I fear for Congresswoman Pelosi if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is. I invite her to reflect upon the example of St. Thomas More who acted rightly in a similar situation even at the cost of his life."

 

St. Thomas More (1478-1535) was Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII. When Henry VIII broke with Rome and declared himself head of the church in England, More refused to swear allegiance to the  king's Oath of Supremacy.  
As a result, Henry VIII had More beheaded.  
More's last words were, "The king's good servant, but God's first." 
Pelosi has a long history of supporting abortion and has a 100% rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America. 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says,  

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law." 

The Catechism further says:  
"From its conception, the child has the right to life.  
Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a `criminal' practice (GS 27 3), gravely contrary to the moral law.  
The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life."

I have previously called for Pelosi to be excommunicated.

Forgiveness of sins is dependant on repentance.

Love the Sinner, but hate the Sin.
 
 
Pray for Grace. We live in a Vale of Tears.

We NEED MILITANT CHRISTIANS.

Not the wishy-washy protestant Church of England that started off this watering-down and trivialisation and whose rationale is Protest AGAINST true Christianity as Established by Christ.

Being a Catholic is the most difficult and challenging way to be of all. Just look at how Nancy Pelosi makes a mockery of it.

We need Militant Catholics like this:


There are MANY Catholic leaders and Priests who are in the same boat as Pelosi. make no mistake about what this Old and Grumpy Knight is saying.

I would take small issue with Michael Voris in that the World and its Spirit is God given. We human being are the flowering of the Spirit of the World. It is a flower beset by bugs. The Spirit of the World is in dire need of redemption. Recognition of the Sins of the World start with an examination of the Individual Conscience.

We need more Thomas More.

Few of us are so strong. Including the knackered old Knight in the Tavern.

But we can try.
 
Pax Dei Vobiscum

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Worst Religion in the World ?


The question was asked: Which is the most reviled? Well, the answer is clear as a bell. The only question is why?

Religious sensitivities are human. Every culture, every tribe, going back to the beginnings of recorded history, have had some form of religious feeling. And many have been suppressed or fought against by equally strong antipathies with the same religious fervour.

It is topical in the Western world  to decry and dismiss religions. All of them.

Whoops, that isn't right, is it? They are all the same, Equally valid. The Law says so. Our Politicians say so.

We must be 'Tolerant' of 'Diversity'.  Or else.
 
 
Even no belief at all has to be tolerated.

Indeed, the Professor Dawkins brigade get centre stage.

Even Hypocricy is a Religion today.
 
 
Richard Littlejohn propped up the bar and told us of the State of British hypocricy and its devastations.
 'Celebrating diversity' is Britain's  new State religion. But don't praise the Lord!

The persecution of practising Christians in Britain has been a recurring theme in places. Publicly-funded bodies seem to take a perverse delight in targeting staff with a strong Christian faith. 
‘Celebrating diversity’ is our new State religion.  
We must accommodate all beliefs and, in the case of extremist Islam, tolerate practices which most people in this country find alien and abhorrent. 
If you’re Muslim, special prayer rooms will be set aside for you.  
Hospital canteens will force everyone to eat halal meat. Feel free to wear the veil, madam.  
If you’re a Pagan, you’ll be granted time off work to celebrate the Summer Solstice. 
But if you’re Christian,  
you praise the Lord at your peril.  
Take that crucifix off now, or find another job. 

This week, a Christian doctor lost his appeal against dismissal for sending a prayer to his colleagues by email.  
Consultant paediatrician David Drew thought the 16th century prayer, To Give And Not To Count The Cost, by St Ignatius Loyola, would be motivational. It reads: 
 Teach us, good Lord
To serve as You deserve,
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds,
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labour and not to ask for any reward,
Save that of knowing that we do Your will.
The prayer might not be to everyone’s taste, but I can’t understand why anyone would be remotely offended by it. What if Dr Drew had sent round a copy of Kipling’s inspirational poem: 
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you ....
 
Would that have been a hanging offence? Of course not. 
Dr Drew was hauled before a disciplinary committee and told to keep his religious beliefs to himself. When he refused, he was found guilty of committing ‘gross misconduct and insubordination’ and sent packing with his P45. 
You don’t have to be a Bible-bashing Godbotherer to feel disquiet over an industrial tribunal’s decision to uphold his sacking. 
Dr Drew claims that his bosses at Walsall Manor Hospital were looking for an excuse to get rid of him because he had consistently accused them of putting patient safety at risk. 
He’s almost certainly right, so why did they choose to sack him over his ‘motivational’ email? Simple:  
they knew that a devout Christian doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of convincing a tribunal that he’s been the  
victim of religious discrimination.  
The corridors of the industrial tribunals system are littered with the corpses of Christians sacrificed on the altar of ‘diversity’. 
Members of tribunals are trained to be concerned only with upholding the rights of perceived ‘persecuted minorities’.  
Their verdicts are guided by the doctrines of ‘sexism’, ‘racism’ and a litany of fashionable ‘phobias’. 
Adherents of ‘minority’ religions will always get the benefit of the doubt.  
But Christians are on a hiding to nothing,  
since they represent the ‘oppressors’. 
An old trades union friend of mine who until recently sat on an industrial tribunal in London explained to me how it works. 
If a woman or a member of an ethnic minority is sacked for whatever reason, their lawyers will always advise them to claim ‘sexism’ or ‘racism’. Employers will be considered guilty as charged unless they can prove their innocence.  
Take the case of 21-year-old call centre worker Elizabeth Cowhig, from Liverpool, who was this week awarded £13,000 after alleging that she had suffered unwanted sexual advances from her male boss.  
There doesn’t appear to be any evidence to support her claim. It was her word against his. Miss Cowhig’s boss said she’d been sacked because she wasn’t up to the job. 
But employment judge Dawn Shotter decided in her favour ‘on the balance of probabilities’. Maybe the judge suspected her boss of being a Christian. 
Please don’t delude yourself that industrial tribunals are neutral courts designed to give redress to those who have been unfairly treated by their ruthless employers.  
Their primary purpose, like that of every other State institution, is to enforce the official cult of ‘diversity’ and to further the cause of aggressive secularism. 
Justice doesn’t enter the equation. Dr Drew’s religious beliefs may not be everyone’s cup of meat, but he hasn’t killed anyone. 
Up the road from Walsall, at Mid Staffs Hospital Trust, 1,200 NHS patients died because of a culture of neglect, incompetence and callous indifference. Not a single doctor or manager responsible has been sacked, arrested or jailed.  
Yet Dr Drew, who has been  caring for patients for 37 years, has been stripped of his career for sending a harmless prayer to his colleagues and standing up for his Christian beliefs. 
Praise the Lord.
 

Now I am an old Knight who has been through much. I am not only a Christian but a Catholic.

Catholics aren't burned at the stake anymore in Britain. But hey... old traditions die hard. It just might come back into fashion.

Catholics in Modern Britain are still forbidden to hold specific Offices of State.

A Catholic who renounces his belief and his religion could be considered for the posts of Consort to the Monarch or even Monarch him/herself. And Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Chancellor or the Exchequer and Prime Minister even. But he/she would still fall at the hurdle for having 'tainted blood'.

And we call Britain, Modern !!


The sun is setting on Britain.

By the way. How's your neck of the woods going?


Have a drink.


Pax Dei Vobiscum





Guns and Nuts.... and dancing girls.


Another mass shooting in America the other week. More discussion in the quieter and safer Tavern.

Every year for the past how many has seen a massacre of innocents by a gunman. Every year for the past how many, a President has led a demand for
 
more gun control.

Hey guys. The latest was in the most gun-controlled city in America.

Washington.

On a military base.

On a military base where the soldiers and sailors are not allowed to have live bullets.

Hello !

The news show pundits all screamed 'right-wing nut'. We could hear them right over here.

Hey guys. Every one of the last lot, including the latest, going right back to the nutter who shot the senator lady Gabrielle Gifford, was known to be a left-wing voter and supporter of Obama. But heck, let's not shout that one around.

And were the gunmen the sort of people you would consider sane? 

Sane people don't go around shooting innocent bystanders going about their lawful occasions. (nor do sane people vote socialist, for that matter)

So why call for a ban on sane, reasonable people having guns?  Those millions of sane people don't go around shooting innocent bystanders.

And let's be clear ... there are millions of sane people with guns who have never let a thought of mass murder (on their part) enter their minds.

Let's hear from some clear minds stumbling over the rocky problem.



OK. Distasteful, isn't it. Not the three speakers, but the need to call a spade a spade.

Meanwhile in another country in a distant continent far, far away, more nutters invade a shopping centre.

And who is the hero of the day?

Why, its a chap with a gun.

HEY, ANTI-GUN IDIOTS: Off-duty soldier with handgun saved 100 lives as Muslim terrorists ran amok in Kenyan Mall 
A former (British) marine emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives. 
The ex soldier was having coffee at the Westgate mall when it was attacked by Islamists on Saturday. 
With a gun tucked into his waistband, he was pictured helping two women from the complex. 
His story emerged as sporadic gunfire continued to ring out from inside the mall early today as Kenyan security forces battled Al Qaeda-linked terrorists into a fourth day. 
Despite Kenyan police assurances that they had taken control of the building, a security expert with contacts inside the mall said at least 10 hostages were still being held by a band of attackers, possibly as many as 13. 
The former soldier is said to have returned to the building on a dozen occasions, despite intense gunfire. 
A friend in Nairobi said: ‘What he did was so heroic. He was having coffee with friends when it happened. 
‘He went back in 12 times  
and saved 100 people'.  
Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside.’ 
Read more: dailymail.co.uk

Enough to sully the mind and damage the soul. Or lift it up.

So, while the three above - and we -  go back and forth over the problem, tip-toeing through the minefield, let's have some healing balm. Ladies going back and forth on tip toe.



Let's drink to the ladies. Keep your guns holstered.

Let me hear your considered view over a long, cool, one.



Friday, September 27, 2013

Yes, Jackie, there are Princesses and Angels..


The Music Room drew the customers in tonight. A rare Princess.

An Angelic little girl with matching voice.

Enough said.

Just watch and listen.   Jackie Evancho



Pray the 'Industry' does not destroy her.

Drink deep.



"Encore", they called.

And she sang again, very simply, with her brother.






The World is not all dark, is it.



Thursday, September 26, 2013

Dealing with False Prophets of Doom.


"Love thy Neighbour" does not mean hanging on the word of every looney that shrieks out doom while nicking the coins from your pocket. In my experience there are more con-men than evil folk and more stupid folk that intelligent ones.

Unfortunately the first three still vastly outnumber the last. So, we have to shove a bloody big Pin in their fat Balloons.

Allowing stupid people, bigots, scare-mongers, etc to say their piece at least enables us to hear them coming. In 'set-up' TV audiences they make a lot of noise and as statistically every second person is on the dim side of average, they can very often be found on the TV.

And where are the Good? We have to look for and emphasise them.

Last week saw one con-man, 'Professor' Tim Flannery, get deafened by the almighty 'BANG' when his balloon was burst and that will leave more money to spend in the Tavern helping people 'get good'.

We cannot sit by and let the False Prophets of doom make Profits from our pockets.

James Delingpole, who can spend up well buying Grace by the bucket, introduced Jo Nova to the bar customers with this:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100236795/australia-shows-us-all-the-way-by-sacking-its-useless-pointless-climate-commissioner-tim-flannery/
As Jo Nova notes, while it may be a good day for the Australian taxpayer, it is far too late now to recoup the Billions which have already been wasted on the "expert" advice of Flannery and his alarmist chums David Karoly and Will Steffen.

        (Jo)   This agency propped up billions of dollars in pointless futile government spending trying to change the weather. Nothing will bring back money spent on desal plants that were mothballed when the floods came that real scientists predicted. Likewise the money burned on solar panels and windfarms is gone for good too, and still going.

As you'll see  one of the few things that Flannery is indisputably brilliant at is making idiotic statements and alarmist, pseudo-scientific predictions which seem to bear no relationship whatsoever to observed reality. So what, exactly, were his qualifications for taking on this supremely well-paid gig?  
We-e-ll, Flannery is that most dangerous of things – an English literature graduate.  

Yes, I know I'm an English literature graduate too, but I'm the exception to the rule: on the whole, it would not be unfair to say, English literature graduates have done more to promote the cause of climate alarmism than any other category with the possible exception of "University" of East Anglia environmental "science" graduates.

Now, as it happens, I consider the cult of credentialism one of the curses of our age.

Just because you've got some initials after your name  
doesn't mean you're not a pillock. 
And as we saw with the Climategate emails, being a qualified "climate scientist" is no guarantee of expertise on – or even entry-level understanding of – the science of climate.
No argument from me about any of that. But Australia has not been cursed only by the home-grown Flannery et al. We import them too. And pay taxpayer-coerced funds to them. And they can be even thicker than Flannery and spout the 'overseas persons' flannel that too many little-ozzers bow to.

Joanne Nova is 'home-grown' climate skeptic and is a more than welcome guest here at the bar. She can hold an audience like a Queen. When the Tavern boasts that it is a place fit for Heroes and Saints, Jo is right up there on the top shelf.


Not that she always was. Jo used to be a Greenie.

Yup! A genuine tree-hugger and whale fancier. She still likes trees and whales - and why not - but she ceased worshipping them some years ago when the Beam and Mote blinkers fell from her eyes and she exclaimed "WTF !" or perhaps some slightly more well chosen words.


Since that moment of conversion, well known to Christians who suddenly discover what it is really all about, she has become a zealot. And a damn fine one too. She is noted as one of only a few people who make it to the right column of this blog where you can see her blog continually updated.

(I will leave a note about her and her blog at the end).



Here is some of what she told us when Canadian 'Environmental Super-Star'
David Suzuki
was treated like a Messiah on the ABC's Q&A program the other night.

He is a multi-millionaire
from his many films and documentaries, TV shows and writings. He is 'Famous'. He is quoted and cited and his face and sound bites turn up supporting any green of climate change nonsense around.

So the ABC invites him, at public expense (although they won't say what they paid him from our pockets) to be a guest - the SOLE guest- on a program that usually has a panel of five or six people. The 'one-person' slot is usually only for Heads of State.

Suzuki is Global Warming Royalty.
David Suzuki bombs on Q&A, knows nothing about the climate
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/09/david-suzuki-bombs-on-qa-knows-nothing-about-the-climate/#more-30839


David Suzuki’s performance on Q&A last night was extraordinary.    (Said Jo)
I was knock-me-over amazed that he has not heard of UAH, GISS, HADcrut and RSS, and knew nothing of the pause in global surface temperatures that even the UK Met Office and IPCC lead author climate scientists like Hans von Storch are discussing. 
"Watch me gaze into the dismal future that's ALL YOUR FAULT, -
for just $30,000 an hour."

How afraid is Suzuki about man-made global warming? So afraid, it doesn’t occur to him to check the data, incredibly he doesn’t even know what the data is. Tony Jones had to rephrase the questions to explain them to Suzuki, who doesn’t even understand them. 
How much is his reputation as a scientist worth when he doesn’t even bother to check the evidence for a cause he stakes his reputation on? 

"I can look like I know stuff. See the leaves?"

Three times in Q&A he admitted he didn’t know — he didn’t know there was a pause in warming for the last 15 years, he didn’t know how global temperatures are measured, and he didn’t know that cyclones were not increasing over the Great Barrier Reef. He wants politicians jailed for “denying the science”. “You bet!” he exclaims, but then admits he hasn’t thought that through either. 
The cartoon-like responses were incongruous. Should we go nuclear to reduce emissions? Suzuki tosses numbers, evidence, and cost-benefits down a deep well of ignorance: “It’s just crazy”. “What the hell is going on”. “You’ve got sunlight!” “Solar farms could be spread everywhere”.  “There is plenty of sunlight beyond anything humanity needs”. The audience member who asked then pointed out we don’t have the batteries to cope with sunless cloudy days.  
Even Tony Jones asks how realistic solar is. At this first prod, Suzuki throws his hands up in the air, “I don’t know”. 
The man is emphatically an activist who might as well be innumerate.  
He is unburdened by data, evidence  
or logic.  
Why is the ABC giving him such a hallowed space, which is usually only given to PM’s? 
One can whistle for info on how much he was paid for this gig. He certainly does not care about the carbon footprint of flying from his multi-million dollar home although he is happy to excoriate others with homes larger than their grand-dad's and who drive a car.  'Don't know - Don't care, just gimme your money'.
Credit to the ABC for allowing Bill Koutalianos and Professor Stewart Franks to ask the first two questions and to respond. The event quickly became the “Professor Stewart Franks versus Professor Steve Sherwood Show”, because it was obvious it was a waste of time asking Suzuki a scientific question.  
The two of them, for a short while, were debating by proxy, and Suzuki was sidelined. He simply didn’t know enough to keep up. Even Tony Jones knew more about climate science than Suzuki did. 
Suzuki’s research on our atmosphere amounted to reading Naomi Oreskes, Jim Hoggan and DeSmog.  
"Look up there at the Atmosphere, while I pinch your wallet and frighten your kiddies."

He promotes the smear campaign  
against senior scientists but apparently has never read anything those senior scientists have written.  
This is living in a fishbowl, where Suzuki made a religious decision years ago to believe in the evil of corporate polluters and only ever reads people who agree with him.  
It leaves him completely naked in any science debate,  
knocked over by the average reader of any skeptical blog. 
Credit to Tony Thomas for asking if Suzuki still thought politicians should be jailed for denying the scientific consensus, thus exposing the inner-totalitarian.  
For a man who argues that consensus is a reason to be alarmed about the climate, it’s a tad hypocritical that Suzuki later discussed GM, where he disagrees with the consensus. He later  talks about how the Canadian government is building new jails and seems to be afraid of being jailed himself:  
“I’m wondering whether our Prime Minister thinks he is going to be creating new categories of crime, like eco terrorism or, as he calls us, environmental radicals, radical extremists.”  
Righto. Talking power to truth again David. He hasn’t noticed that all the power and money is on the climate consensus side.  
His principle seems to be “jail them if they disagree with me”. 
Suzuki’s world view is simplistic: “Government good, corporations bad”.  
He says ” …big corporations are bigger than most governments on the planet, they have the ability to fund political campaigns…” .  
There go the numbers again. The US Government has a $4 trillion annual budget, while the largest corporations in the world have less than $500bn annual revenue each. The US Government also has that slight military advantage over those scary corporations, who may wield malevolent cheques, but not so many missiles. 
When I was a student of science communication we were wheeled out to see David Suzuki speak as a  
hero of the field.  
That says it all really.


Andrew Bolt stepped manfully in while Jo took a well deserved deep draught of gin and tonic.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/suzuki_revealed_as_complete_know_nothing_by_very_first_question_on_qa/
Challenged from the floor by Professor Stewart Franks, Suzuki admits he might have been mistaken in claiming global warming was causing more cyclones,  
which he blamed for killing the Great Barrier Reef.  
He blames some Australian for “suggesting” it to him. The truth, as I’ve noted before, is easily found on the Bureau of Meteorology website:

A researcher into GM bananas, putting in more eyesight-saving vitamin A for countries where bananas are a staple, asks again about Suzuki’s irrational attacks on GM crops.  
Suzuki now denies this is “bad science”. But keeps saying we don’t know enough. “What’s the rush?” he demands.  
It’s been driven by money, complains multi-millionaire Suzuki, who charged a college more than $30,000 to give a speech 
Something tells me no information whatsover would ever be enough for this alarmist. Let the kids go blind.  
The Professor says this “rush” is actually 30 years. He then whacks Suzuki on his DDT alarmism.  
Suzuki again trots out his old conspiracy that the GM crops are just about money and are too expensive and are not developed to do good.  
The Professor whacks him again, noting several examples of GM technology being given away for free to feed poor countries.  
“I don’t know,” says Suzuki.  
In my opinion he is a complete phoney.

 
 Mollie also had a say:

I was struck by the worshipful expressions of the audience.  They regard suziki as some sort of high priest whose every word is a golden drop of wisdom.  a very select and worshipful audience.
 And John from Canberra piped up with...

I am reminded of a certain religion which has to remain nameless where the mantra is “there is no god but one god and Mohammed is his messenger”, What Suzuki showed last night was an inability to deal with an audience which was other than sycophantic.


The question is:  If Suzuki doesn’t know what HadCRUT, GISS, RSS and UAH are when they are cited to support the assertion that the world hasn’t warmed in 15 years, what exactly are his references to say the opposite?
 Clownfish also was unimpressed.

I’ve forced myself to watch it, and I’m just gobsmacked at how appallingly bad Suzuki was.

He repeatedly demonstrated utter ignorance of the current state of climate science, touted studies into GMOs that have been repeatedly debunked as scientifically worthless, and every time he was cornered, retreated into a mealy-mouthed argument from ignorance - hand-waving away challenges to his claims with, ‘oh, we just don’t know enough about that yet’.  
Suzuki is a disgrace to the word ‘scientist’.

Now. I said I was going to leave a note about Jo and her blog. Here goes, in her own words:

http://joannenova.com.au/2013/09/10-million-pageviews-1-6-million-visitors-new-media-reaches-an-influential-audience/
Statistics show 1.67 million unique visitors from 225 countries have come to the site.  From the extraordinary comments on Monday’s thread many readers are highly qualified in Engineering, Geology, Physics, Law, Medicine, Accounting, Architecture, Agriculture, Chemistry, Ecology and Education. From personal contact I know readers also include three national cartoonists, several members of the Australian and British Parliaments, State MPs, staffers to elected representatives, IPCC lead authors, journalists and at least six well known columnists. Readers include a professional full time carbon trader and several major investors, at least one of which I know has made quite a lot of money shorting renewables in Europe. I feel honored. humbled and grateful. Thanks to all who have supported me this year, to make this work possible. I still owe many of you a personal email. 

And my thanks to her splendid work.

Now that the intelligent skeptics, the evidence-demanders, the scoffers at mendacious thieves who steal from the public purse and curse the good and the faithful, have got the Global Warming Scammers on the run, perhaps we can turn some attention to the even more scurrilous wreckers of society and bane of taxpayers everywhere -
the man-hating, family-destroying, baby-murdering FEMINISTS.

Raise your glasses.

By the way, the Tavern is fortunate in that very few of the really stupid make their way up the hill to our doors. It is usually quite 'switched-on' and knowledgeable, even sceptical folk who know of this place.  They leave comments. But who knows, those that are not, - the thick and cons and even the really bad- might make it here and might leave a comment too.

Look out for them.


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The University 'Experience'.


A sound education is a jolly good thing. The extraordinary advances in knowledge over the past 100 years has ensured a need for old and hoary theories to give way so that the light of reason and evidence can these days shine through all the superstition and old-wives tales of past eras.

No longer is blood-letting taught as a useful medical procedure, although there are still leeches around: some with tenure. Alchemy has been brought into the Modern Era with the far better spent tens of billions of dollars being sunk into finding quarks and bosons, giving fresh hope for fame and fortune-telling to many bright students who would otherwise be engaged in astrology.

Transmutation of base metals into gold has done an about face with gold being transmuted to base metals which can at least be used for modern communications.

The traditional discourse has continued thank goodness, facilitating Professorial challenges to ideas and efforts and honing the best minds. Self-criticism is practiced, usually using other people's selfs when the odd perfect professor needs insight. There are still odd professors. And wearing odd socks.

One such came to our attention in the Tavern recently. This perfect Prof at the University of North Carolina had offered a small criticism to another presumably imperfect Professor who comes here for a pint every so often.

Apparently my good customer has offended grievously and had 'embarrassed' the Profession and the UNC, not just the Professor.  The critic, ever mindful of maintaining standards had even suggested a remedy, which fell just a bit short of defenestration.

The criticised chap with the odd socks had made what appears to be an old -fashioned, pre-enlightenment statement about old wives, and indeed old husbands, which could not be let past the Diversity-Uniform-socks goalie.

The 'traditional' Professor Mike Adams penned a reply, which fell into the hands of a customer.

Professors prefer writing, so that others may 'cite' them. The Citation Index is a measure of academic success, so quite a few academics were very happy to see their activities mentioned.

Dear Edward: 
I want to take the time to thank you for writing and telling me that I should be fired from my position as a tenured professor because I am “the biggest embarrassment to higher education in America.”  
I also want to thank you for responding when I asked you exactly how you arrived at that conclusion.  
Your response, “because you insist that marriage requires one man and one woman,” was both helpful and concise. 

Well, I think we can all agree that harking back to the bad old days could ruffle a few modernist feathers. And boy do they like feathers. Peacocks in particular.
While I respect your right to conclude that I am the biggest embarrassment to higher education in America, I think you’re wrong. 
In a Uni, that is 'fightin' talk'.
 In fact, I don’t even think I’m the biggest embarrassment to higher education in the state of North Carolina. But since you’re a liberal and you support “choice” – provided we’re talking about dismembering children and not school vouchers for those who weren’t dismembered – I want to give you some options.  
In fact, I’m going to describe the antics of ten professors, official campus groups, and invited campus speakers in North Carolina and let you decide which constitutes the biggest embarrassment to higher education. 
In the spirit of open classrooms, and bars, you are invited to decide from the options too. You can send your preferred one in as a comment.
1. In the early spring semester of 2013, a women’s studies professor and a psychology professor at Western Carolina University co-sponsored a panel on bondage and S&M 
The purpose of the panel was to teach college students how to inflict pain on themselves and others for sexual pleasure.  
When you called me the biggest embarrassment in higher education, you must not have known about their bondage panel.  
Maybe you were tied up that evening and couldn’t make it. 

2. At UNC Chapel Hill, there is a feminist professor who believes that women can lead happy lives without men. That’s nothing new.  
But what’s different is that she thinks women can form lifelong domestic partnerships with dogs and that those relationships will actually be fulfilling enough to replace marital relationships with men.  
I can’t make this stuff up, Ed. I don’t drop acid. Well, at least not since the late 1980s. But I promise this story is real and not an LSD flashback. 

3. At Duke University, feminists hired a “sex worker” (read: prostitute) to speak as part of an event called the Sex Workers Art Show.  
After his speech, the male prostitute  
pulled down his pants, got down on his knees, and inserted a burning sparkler into his rectum.  
While it burned, he sang a verse of “the Star Spangled Banner.”  
I believe that stripping incident was almost as embarrassing as the other one involving the Duke Lacrosse team. 

4. A porn star was once paid to give a speech at UNCG.  
The topic was “safe sodomy.”  
After her speech, the feminist pornographer sold autographed butt plugs to students in attendance.  
I’m not sure whether the ink could contribute to rectal cancer. I’m no health expert. But I do know it was pretty darned embarrassing when the media picked up on the story. 

5. A few years ago at UNC-Chapel Hill, a feminist group built a large vibrator museum in the middle of the campus quad as a part of their “orgasm awareness week.”
Is anyone beginning to notice a pattern here? Where is a dot-joiner when you need one?
I think that was probably the climax of the semester, academically speaking. But they certainly weren’t too embarrassed to display a vibrator that was made out of wood back in the 1920s.  
Keep your batteries charged, Ed. We’re about halfway done.


6. A feminist administrator at UNC-Wilmington sponsored a pro-abortion event 
During the event they sold tee shirts saying “I had an abortion” to students who … well, had abortions.  
That’s right, Ed. The students were encouraged to boast about the fact that they had killed their own children.  
That’s how the UNC system is preserving the future of our great Tar Heel state. 

7. The following semester, that same (feminist) UNCW administrator sponsored a workshop teaching students how to appreciate their orgasms.  
I learned art appreciation in college. Today, college kids are taught orgasm appreciation.  
I will let you decide whether that’s an embarrassment to higher ed., Ed. 



8 A few years ago, a UNCW English professor posted nude pictures of under-aged girls as a part of an “art exhibit” in the university library.  
You might wonder if this was a feminist professor just in English disguise. Read on.
The Provost then ordered the nude pictures to be moved away from the library and into the university union.  
This decision was made after several paedophiles had previous been caught downloading child pornography in the university library just a few yards away from the location of the display.  
The English professor was incensed so she asked the Faculty Senate to censure the provost for violating her “academic freedom.”  
The faculty senate sided with the feminist professor. The provost was later pressured to leave the university. 
I guess that puts paid to the wondering.


9. A different feminist professor at UNCW accused a male professor of putting tear gas in her office.  
She was later caught putting her own mail in a microwave oven.  
She did this because she thought people were trying to poison her with anthrax and that the oven would neutralize the toxins.  
She was not placed on leave for psychiatric reasons.  
Instead, she was designated as the university’s official “counter terrorism” expert. 


10 And then there is Mike Adams. He thinks marriage is between a man and a woman. 

So those are the choices, Ed. You can simply write back and tell me which of these professors, groups, or guest speakers has caused “the biggest embarrassment to higher education” – either in North Carolina or in America altogether.  
Or you can just concede that our system of hire education is the real embarrassment because it has been hijacked by radical feminism. 
And please pardon any puns – especially those that take the form of ms-spelled words.

I am not too sure just how much education young people get at University these days, but I have a good idea of just what it is they are being force-fed.

There are Feminists occupying Professorial positions in Oz Universities, but most do not go in for the sort of lunacy shown above. Well, not often. We did have a 'program' run by a feminist in Melbourne that had young women stripping to the buff for invited photographers so that they could 'earn' money for the Department.

And a feminist Professor up in Queensland recently made the papers for her outrageous remarks. But I will save those for another time.

What we do have however is rampant Marxism of the 'Cultural' sort, complete with such intellectual 'tools' as Deconstruction' and 'Critical Analysis' boiler-plated from the Frankfurt School. Virtually the entire 'Humanities' in Oz is a left-wing dictatorship, feeding into the Media.

The Universities in the US are funded differently from Oz Unis. Here the vast amount of Public Monies coerced from the unwilling pockets of taxpayers fund most academic positions. Hundreds if not thousands of highly paid academics reef Billions from 'research grants' handed out by a left-dominated, Government overseen Bodies.

It is a rort of immense dimension which even feeds into the Sciences.

Oz is the only country that can outdo America in 'False Prophets' in the Global Warming Scam. They have had a far greater economic impact on the country, propelling scare-mongering, wasted taxes and financial penalty on the public and opportunity for 'Green subsidies' that would make your eyes water. Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore would be green with jealousy.

And the Black-armband 'Indigenous' scam is alive and well here. At a rough guess there are more 'white' academics feeding off the indigenous teat than there are indigenous folk here getting a brass razoo.

Young people get more an Indoctrination here than anything one could call an education.

There is far better food and drink for the mind and soul in this Tavern, and we don't even get a taxpayer subsidy nor send a student an enormous bill.