Okay, here’s what I was considering in the last two posts on the Kosovo Independence maneuver.  The protest is moving beyond Serbia:

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Police are firing tear gas at Bosnian Serb rioters to prevent them from storming the U.S. consulate after protests against Kosovo’s independence.

A small group split from almost 10,000 peaceful protesters and was trying to reach the consulate, breaking windows of shops and throwing stones at police who have blocked streets leading to the building with armored vehicles

These protests are part of the Clinton Legacy.  His presidency got us into this festering mess.  Again, it will get worse before it gets better—if ever.

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Freedom Daily is a libertarian site which has a very interesting 2001 essay on what the author, James Bovard, calls

Clinton’s Kosovo Frauds
by James Bovard, January 2001

AS AMERICANS DEBATE what President Clinton’s legacy should be, too little attention is given to his remarks on Kosovo. The United States launched a war against a European nation largely at Clinton’s behest. Clinton’s war against Serbia epitomized his moralism, his arrogance, his refusal to respect law, and his fixation on proving his virtue by using deadly force, regardless of how many innocent people died in the process.

I have always found the Clinton’s air campaign suspect.  Mind you, I see the historical difficulties of the Balkans, they go back a thousand years, but Bill Clinton’s moralize have always seemed to be a front for something else.  You read the article and be the judge. 

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Okay, the anger and dissatisfaction brewing in northern Kosovo, the Serbia portion of the new nation is voicing its opinion:

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo - Up to 2,000 Serb protesters rallied against Kosovo's independence in the new nation's tense north on Monday, and a few set fire to EU flags in what has become a daily challenge of the country's secession from Serbia.  

Burning the U.S. embassy in Belgrade is one thing, but when EU flags are set alight, this is serious business.

I don’t think this Kosovo situation will go quietly into that goodnight.  Darker nights are on the horizon.   As people like to say about Iraq, it’s a historical problem, well, Kosovo is no different and the Balkans in general have been a flashpoint for aggression for centuries.  That part of the world has been the point where the Christian and Muslim world have continually collided.  I don’t think that, anytime soon, the UN will be able to leave.  The UN and NATO occupation of Kosovo has been going on for almost ten years.

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Did you know about two years ago, Russian Research scientists “with the Russian Academy of Sciences warned Wednesday that the Earth could be headed for a 60-year cooldown.”   If not this is another piece of inconvenient information that didn’t show up to head off Al Gore’s Global Warming fraudumentary. 

Of course, Russian scientists aren’t ones to be put off by Global Warming fanaticism. So, they continued to plod along.  They spend time looking up as a “Russian astronomer, Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St. Petersburg, reported on Monday that the global warming experienced in the 20th century was mainly caused by an increased solar activity. According to him, this increased solar activity will reach its peak in six of seven years from now, after which the temperatures will start to drop.”

As apposed to Green soul searching, solar researchers have been ‘solar searching’ and like the Russians they have been unsettled the resent lack of solar activity:

"Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe solar cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on earth. Beginning to plan for adaptation to such a cool period, one which may continue well beyond one 11-year cycle, as did the little ice age, should be a priority for governments. It is global cooling, not warming, that is the major climate threat to the world, especially Canada.”

Astrophysicist Nir Shariv, a prolific researcher and one of Israel's top young scientists who was cited by Patterson, no longer accepts the logic of man-made global warming. "Like many others, I was personally sure that CO2 is the bad culprit in the story of global warming,” Shariv wrote. "But after carefully digging into the evidence, I realized that things are far more complicated than the story sold to us by many climate scientists or the stories regurgitated by the media."

According to Dr. Shariv there is no concrete evidence — only speculation — that manmade greenhouse gases cause global warming. Even research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is bereft of anything here inspiring confidence.

"Solar activity can explain a large part of the 20th-century global warming," he states, adding that the sun's strong role indicates that greenhouse gases can't have much of an influence on the climate — nor will cutbacks in future C02 emissions will matter much in terms of the climate.

And most recently, in the London Daily Press, “New evidence has cast doubt on claims that the world’s ice-caps are melting, it emerged last night. Satellite data shows that concerns over the levels of sea ice may have been premature.”

When it comes to Manmade Global Warming, there’s two years of doubt from Russian scientists and solar researchers to satellite data.  Facts, figures and fears all rolled up into one big inconvenient truth.  If no serious public and governmental notice is taken in providing more cost effective and efficient energy,  we will all suffer, because if Global warming getting any worse, we’ll freeze to death. 

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 Over at the Birdlog, Timothy has wonderful piece about Valentine's Day, about who Valentine was and how the day came into being, but for many years now, I’ve noticed the creeping hand of the secular world.   

Doesn’t anyone remember when the day used to be called St. (Saint) Valentine’s Day?  I do.  The secular world got its hands around it and took the Christianity right out of it.  Now, the only saint left is The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. 

I dare say, enjoy, revel in the day, in the thoughtfulness, concern and love, but remember the day is not just about gifts of teddy bears, pajamas grams and diamond rings, or boxes of candy no one really wants, but about Christian love.

So, do remember to put the Saint back in the day as well!

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Over at the American Thinker, there’s an article on Clinton, Obama the Hegelian Cons.   But I’m sticking specifically with the theme of Hegelian conservatives, and here’s a quote:

“The GOP's own troubles have produced a peculiar new ideological group: the Hegelian conservatives. Things must get worse before they can get better. They want to heighten the contradictions, as the Marxists used to say, though few would ever accept the terminology.”

I don’t know how ‘Hegelian’ these conservatives are but what seems to be bothering those who have anointed Senator McCain is that the Hegelian conservatives are ruminating in public.

But isn’t that what the primary is all about?  Ruminating in public.  Senator McCain doesn’t even have 800delegates; matter of fact, his count is just over 700.  Having less than 800 at this stage in the game is something to talk about, isn’t it?  McCain isn’t locked in, and why should he be?  And who said he had to be?

One of the anti-McCain group is Ann Coulter, who has “famously said she might support Hillary over McCain, less famously indicated she might support McCain if he had Romney on the ticket.”  What’s wrong with that?  McCain is seventy-two.  At that age, the second spot isn’t just a bone to throw.   And it has been recognized that McCain can’t hope to win without the Republican base which consists of those Hegelian conservatives. 

Many things have been stipulated about what a Democrat might or might not do in the White House:

“Some of these Hegelians contend that no Democrat president is really going to pull out of Iraq, knowing the consequences would be so devastating. I do not understand where they get these psychic powers. What if Obama really believes that such a gesture would be appreciated and rewarded?”

This “what if” scenario about Obama and Iraq is excellent, but “what ifs” a bound when McCain’s record considering his past efforts on immigration and border security are considered.  Yes, McCain has made promises about ‘fixing’ the illegal immigration problem and securing the border, but the Hegelian conservatives may see this as a ‘read my lips’ moment.  This concern is valid, and the Hegelian Cons believe some serious reassurances are in order.  Again, what is wrong with that?  Of course the response to the ‘read my lips’ analogy could be that it was ‘a different time,’ ‘a different presidency,’ but to the Hegelian Cons the result was just the same, a sense of utter betrayal. 

The Hegelian Cons could also counter with the fact that the Democrats have the majority in both Houses and the Republicans have no way of surmounting that majority and McCain knows it.  So, any promises he’s made on immigration, border security and any other issue dear to those Hegelian Cons is simply moot. 

About politics, it has been said that promises are made to be broken, but Hegelians Cons maybe concerned about situations when promises just don’t matter.

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It’s a terrible thing when a snow fall becomes deadly for regular American people.  In Oregon they’re having a heck of a time.  And I suspect there will be more snow and Manmade Global Warming isn’t around to save the day.

Now, China is facing an incredible snowy onslaught and can expect even more, and I desire to really care is  . . . limited.   For the last few days the MSM has been riveted by this snowy disaster situation.  The video footage I’ve seen is very interesting--even amusing.  The Chinese authorities had to send out the riot police to keep order.  The BBC reports that: 

“Elsewhere in Hunan province, heavy fog further paralysed the transport network, delaying flights and road traffic.

Elsewhere, travellers clashed with police and soldiers after being stranded on Sunday at an airport in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province.”

In American, we civilized citizens simply complain about being stranded and then buy another cup of coffee. 

The authorities of China, a well-oiled and totalitarian state, are in a panic, and they should be.  Nature may be the downfall of communism there.  You can’t control nature.  You can’t arrest it, imprison it or shot it.  So . . .

'More snow'

At Guangzhou train station on Saturday, a woman died after falling during a stampede to board a train home to Hubei province in central China, state media reported.

Hundreds of thousands of stranded people have been forced to spend the night in the open in sub-zero temperatures at the station.

Travellers are trying to get home for this week's Lunar New Year holiday. For many workers it is their only chance to see their families all year.

The government has set up a command centre to coordinate its response to the crisis, deploying more than 300,000 soldiers and almost 1.1m reservists.

Xinhua quoted the prime minister as assuring his country people: "We have the faith, courage and ability to overcome the severe natural disaster."

The provincial weather bureau has forecast more snow for Monday and Tuesday.

The extreme weather, now in its fourth week, has affected an estimated 100m people, and caused 54bn yuan (£3.8bn) of damage.

It’s hard to control cold and hungry people, especially when a dictatorial government is suppose to the ALL the answers.

We’ve been hearing for a decade--at least--how China is supposed to be ‘rising,’ it’s supposed to be the nation of the 21st Century.   Throw in a little more snow and chaos my just reign supreme. To make matters worse for the Communist government and more interesting for me:

Officials have warned of future food shortages because of damaged winter crops.

This warning increases the stakes.  Who is china going to go hat in hand to for grain?  The U.S.?  Hopefully, who ever the Chinese go to really outs the squeeze on them and makes them pay.  The Chinese have the money.   

What really takes the cake is what the prime minister said to the Chinese people:

"We have the faith, courage and ability to overcome the severe natural disaster."

Faith?  Faith in what?  The government run church?  The government itself?  When a totalitarian leader starts using the word faith, something tells me that they’re running out of ideas.

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