This is an interesting story courtesy of a certain syndicated talk show host based in Atlanta.  I won’t give his name here because no doubt, some of you won’t read the post if I do.

A guy named Anthony Watts is a former TV weather guy

Watts did what Al Gore never did … he started searching out and looking at some of the 1,221 weather stations that the federal government uses to gather data on temperatures.  That data, of course, is then used to tell us of the threat of global warming!  Government standards say that these temperature measuring stations should be 100 feet from buildings, not on a hot concrete surface, and so forth.  Well, it would seem that these regulations aren’t exactly being adhered to.

This really is interesting stuff.  He’s found weather observation stations where they get jet blast, in parking lots, near cell towers, basically all kinds of places where they’ll be subjected to conditions that skew temperature readings.  Ever notice during a baseball game how the temp on the field is 3-5 degrees hotter than the reported local temperature (or the temp in the stands for that matter?)  Big hunks of metal, like cell towers, or asphalt, or being surrounded by buildings are all things that create false higher temp readings.

Now, these stations used to be out in the middle of fields, adhering to the weather service’s standards – but they were encroached upon by development.  They used to be in a field, now they’re surrounded by a buildings or parking lots or both.  Some have been moved because they were encroached on…but the old data continues to be used.

The really scary thing?  This bad data is being used in the computer systems that model and predict “global climate change” over time.  In other words, the ones that claim our temp is rising and we’re all gonna die.

Watts also documents observations stations that have remained adherent to standards – they have not been developed around.  And guess what?  They don’t show increases in average temps as do the ones that are now in parking lots or near a/c exhausts.  Hmm…

Here’s an example:

(one thing not pictured here is the barbecue grill that the firefighters bring out a couple of times a week and park right in front of the temp sensor to cook their dinner.)

Now, take a look at the last hundred years of temp readings from this station:

And it goes on, example after example. And we’re thinking about making major lifestyle changes based on this type of data.

As of this writing, Watts’ site has been so slammed that it’s down, but it should be up again soon.

Surfacestations.org 

Meanwhile, his blog is up and running:

Watts up with that? 

You might recognize the headline as something said by Louis Farrakhan in a talk he gave at a Catholic parish.

Well, sometimes things are just a little too real, as in this story:

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she’s Christian and Muslim.

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she’s ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she’s also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

 …

In Seattle’s Episcopal circles, Redding had mixed largely with white people. “To walk into Al-Islam and be reminded that there are more people of color in the world than white people, that in itself is a relief,” she said.

See, you just can’t make some stuff up!  The question is, do you wear the “priestly” collar on the outside of the burkha  or the inside?

The Curt Jester has a fantastic sendup of this story, focusing on the good things about being both Christian and Muslim.

Also, H/T to Gerald.

“I wish you could look in that casket because she’s so beautiful,” said Graham, clinging to his walker. “She was a wonderful woman.”

Ruth Graham died Thursday at age 87 following a lengthy illness. Her husband’s closest confidant, she was remembered as a spiritual stalwart and modest mentor who provided a solid foundation—both biblically and geographically—for her globe-trotting husband.

I’m a guy with a lot of respect for Billy Graham, because of his presentation of the truth.  He didn’t ram it down people’s throats.  He instead met them where they were, shared it, and simply left the next step to them.  Evangelization is not the Catholic Church’s strongest point lately, although I do believe it’s improving.  Ruth Graham epitomized the strong, supportive wife concept that we’ve come to perhaps believe is extinct in the world of radical feminism.

Here’s and aside, though.  Any time a protestant tells you that it’s wrong to pray or talk to Mary, the saints, etc., ask them if it’s okay for Franklin Graham to do it.

“I thank you mama for your example, for your love, for your wit, for your humor, for your craziness,” he said. “I love you for all of it and I’m going to miss you terribly.”

At times, protestants show that the Communion of Saints isn’t all that foreign to them.

Michael Crichton Has this to say about the religion of environmentalism a la algore:

I studied anthropology in college, and one of the things I learned was that certain human social structures always reappear. They can’t be eliminated from society. One of those structures is religion. Today it is said we live in a secular society in which many people—-the best people, the most enlightened people—-do not believe in any religion. But I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind. If you suppress it in one form, it merely re-emerges in another form. You can not believe in God, but you still have to believe in something that gives meaning to your life, and shapes your sense of the world. Such a belief is religious.

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday—-these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don’t want to talk anybody out of them, as I don’t want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don’t want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can’t talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism….

H/T to Gerald

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Latino immigrants who want to learn English more quickly should avoid Spanish-language media.

“You’ve got to turn off the Spanish television set,” Schwarzenegger said at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention in San Jose on Wednesday.

“It’s that simple. You’ve got to learn English. I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I’m going to get myself in trouble. But I know that when I came to this country, I very rarely spoke German to anyone.”

Love the political incorrectness! Especially when it comes from an immigrant.

More

Listening to Monday’s installment of EWTN’s Open Line program, the first 10 minutes or so, host John Martignoni discusses a rather touchy email from a listener indicting his explanation of the perpetual virginity of Mary.  John proceeds to reiterate the arguments for this doctrine, from the Bible, and he can’t help but include a little of his own sarcasm.  Listen to it!

Jimmy Akin has an excellent post today.  It starts with a video of a guy who apparently thinks he’s some sort of superior intellect; he presents a semi-plausible argument for taking some sort of large-scale action to fix allegedly man made global warming.  Jimmy then expertly dismantles the argument, and his commenters have some great stuff to say too.  Check it out!

For some strange reason, the MSM has decided we care about a certain talentless heiress.  Thus, we’ve been reading and hearing about this woman’s escapades for the last few days, as she was released from a 45-day prison sentences after only 3 days (turns out her refusal to eat and drink was causing medical problems for her,) her refusal to appear in court, her being forcibly brought to court, and then returned to prison.  A movement of moronic young people has suggested she be released because of all the good she does for our society…how someone with no discernable talent (at least that’s legally marketable) does something positive for our society, I am not sure.

Anyway, now that she’s back in jail, she’s given disgraced journalist Barbara Walters an interview, in which we receive the following message:

“I’m not the same person I was,” she said. “I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance.”

She has had a person whom she described as a spiritual adviser who said, “My spirit or soul did not like the way I was being seen and that is why I was sent to jail.”

“God,” she said, “has released me.”

First of all, let’s hope it was an act.  That “Hookers on a Farm” TV show a few years back was lucrative, but let’s hope it was an act.  The question is, how much of this was written out for her ahead of time, and how much of it is from the heart?  She certainly says the right things in noting how young girls look up to her and how she needs to be worthy of her role model position.  But this whole thing about God giving her another chance, etc. – is it a real conversion or just “the right words” at the right time?  We know these celebs know the formula – do something stupid, check into rehab.  Mark Foley checked into rehab after he sent IMs to male pages, that singer checked into rehab after collapsing New Year’s Eve, checked back out, and checked back in after shaving off her hair.  The correct symbolic gesture is to check into rehab.  The woman I’m speaking of in this post didn’t get to check into rehab, she had to go to jail…so she pulls out the “God” card and plays it.  Just as the former President starting carrying a Bible during the whole misuse of an intern saga.

We can pray for a real conversion.  But my cynical side tells me not to get my hopes up.

By the way, I have deliberately avoided mentioning her by name.  There’s a reason for that.  More here, if you want to waste your time. 

Courtesy of US “Catholic” Magazine and with an HT to Matthew S at Catholic Dads is a great story by a couple of alleged marriage and theology experts, who explain that most likely, the current Catholic understanding that says cohabitation is “living in sin,” is wrong.

Recent focus groups of young Catholic adults on “problematic aspects of church teaching” found that they disagreed with church teaching on premarital sex and cohabitation and do not see a fundamental difference in a loving relationship before and after a wedding. Our experience with young adults leads us to doubt the claim that they are living in sin. It would appear closer to the truth that they are growing, perhaps slowly but nonetheless surely, into grace.

There’s mistake number one: believing that the Catholic Church gives a flying flip about what focus groups of young adult “Catholics” say. Our two editorialists go on to explain how commitment is more important than actually being married. They go on to propose how they think we ought to handle marriage in the Church:

Our pastoral proposal is straightforward: a return to the marital sequence of betrothal (with appropriate ritual to ensure community involvement), sexual intercourse, possible fertility, then ritual wedding to acknowledge and mark the consummation of both valid marriage and sacrament.

Since these couples will have already initiated their marriage through betrothal, their intercourse would not be premarital but marital, as it was in the pre-Tridentine Catholic Church. We envision a marital process initiated by mutual commitment and consent lived in love, justice, equality, intimacy, and fulfillment in a nuptial cohabitation pointed to a wedding that consummates the process of becoming married in a public manner. Such a process would meet the legitimate Catholic and social requirement that the sexual act must take place only within a stable relationship.

The process would be:
Betrothal: The couple’s betrothal, which would involve a public ritual highlighting free consent to wed in the future, would be witnessed and blessed on behalf of the church community. The betrothal ritual would differ from the present wedding ceremony in that the consent would be to marry in the future. Such betrothal, as it did in earlier Catholic tradition, would confer on the couple the status of committed spouses with all the rights that the church grants to spouses, including the right to sexual intercourse.

Nuptial cohabitation: During this period the couple would live together as spouses, enjoying the approval and support of the community, and continuing the lifelong process of establishing their marital relationship as one of love, justice, equality, intimacy, and mutual flourishing. During this time the church would assist the couple with ongoing marriage education aimed precisely at clarifying and deepening their relationship.

Sex/Fertility: This is the part of our proposal that may cause the most unease. Catholics who believe that all premarital sex is wrong believe that the ritual requirement of a wedding has always been the norm in the Catholic tradition. It has not. Since betrothal is already part of the Catholic tradition, it cannot be argued that it is antithetical to the tradition.

Today those couples whom we call nuptial cohabitors are beginning their stable, marital, sexual relationship prior to their wedding ceremony. They fully intend to marry when the restrictions—social, economic, educational, and professional—that contemporary society imposes on them are removed. Their nuptial cohabitation is the first step available to them toward a future marriage.

Okay, hopefully your jaw hasn’t quite hit the floor, because they also somehow use JPII’s words to justify their heretical positions.

In his 1981 encyclical Familiaris Consortio (On the Family), Pope John Paul II taught that conjugal love “aims at a deeply personal unity, the unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility.” This describes the commitment not only of married spouses but also of nuptial cohabitors who have definitively committed to a loving relationship with one another but who have not yet celebrated their wedding. They come to the church to be married precisely to celebrate the gift of their love for each other and to give it a religious, sacramental permanence.

?!?!? I can’t get my mind around this logic. The sacrament of matrimony celebrates the gift of commitment and love, rather than validating it according to the Church and in a public testimonial sort of way?

Notice how they talk of “possible fertility?” They won’t make any statements about what happens to children produced by a couple who has “restrictions” imposed by society that makes it impossible for them to marry at the present time…or do the Church’s teachings on artificial contraception only apply to those who have been married in the Church?

You gotta read the whole thing.

Thanks to the Curt Jester for the h/t.  Read some of the comments from his readers!

After our posting yesterday about those 2 ignorant pre-teens and their “I’ve been indoctrinated” song  let’s lighten the mood a bit with this piece of news:

Snow, heavy rain and strong wind caused travel problems in parts of Wyoming today.

Up to 8 inches of snow fell in the Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming and forced highway officials to close a section of U.S. 14A between Burgess Junction and Lovell.

Byline on this story is June 7, 2007. We must stop Bush from making snowstorms happen to distract attention from Global Warming (R).