Dangerous Felon

Police in Nigeria detained a goat last Thursday on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.

Really. They did. In fact, not only did they arrest the goat, they paraded him in front of bewildered media at a press briefing.

Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tunde Mohammed, explained that the goat is an armed robber who attempted to snatch a Mazda car on Wednesday night, and later transformed into the goat in a bid to escape arrest.

He explained that men of a vigilance group in Anifowose Ipata/Oloje areas of the state capital had chased two armed robbery suspects who wanted to demobilise a Mazda car with the intention of stealing it, and "while one of them escaped, the other was about to be apprehended by the team when he turned his back on the wall and turned to this goat", Mohammed said.

"They quickly grabbed the goat and here it is.’’

The police spokesman said the goat "armed robbery suspect" will not be let off the hook until investigations into the case are concluded. Actually, he's reported as saying "left off the hook", which presumably points to the fate awaiting the goat if he is released.

Really. I didn't make this up. The full story is here in the Nigerian newspaper, The Vanguard.

Stunning Skill

I hope all of my readers appreciate the stunning skill displayed this week by Captain Chesley Sullenberger, pilot of the ill fated US Airways flight 1549 that ditched into the Hudson River earlier this week.

This is the first time in aviation history that a commercial airliner has made a "water landing" and survived in tact. It was a remarkable piece of flying, because Sullenberger needed to put that plane into the water absolutely horizontal from wingtip to wingtip. Just a few degrees out, and one side of the plane would have hit the water before the other, creating draq and torque that would have turned the plane sideways, flipped it over and smashed it into very small pieces. Just look at what happened to Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 which ditched into the Indian Ocean near a beach in Cormoros in 1996, killing 125 of the 175 people on board.

That could easily have been the outcome on the Hudson this week, if not for the exceptional skill of Captain Sullenberger.

Footnote: At the bottom of a report on the crash in the Sydney Morning Herald today were the usual Googleads, this time spruiking "Fear of Flying" courses.

In Their Own Words

I don't think I have anything more to add, other than the words of Benjamin Netenyahu...

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel'

Barak "H" Obama

I was listening to an NPR report on the upcoming innauguration the other day, and one thing struck me as odd.

They were playing clips from the rehearsal.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the 43rd President of the United States, George Walker Bush" the announcer declared.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President Elect of the Unites States, Barak H Obama."

Um... his middle name is Hussein. "H"? What's with that?

We'll see what they do on the day.

2012

There's a doomsday prophecy bouncing around in my head right now that is making me think about planning for the worst.

Now I know doomsday prophecies are usually rooted in serious use of halucinogens or the waving of chicken bones over alternating lines of salt and sand but this one has some scientific legs that are tied to the cycle of solar flares and magnetic storms.

The sun, according to accepted astronomy, operates in regular 11 year cycles. Right now, we're coming out of a "quiet" period, so quiet that some astronomers have called it "the calm before the storm", and so quiet that 2008 was the first year since 1900 that the sun had a period during which there were no sun spots. Solar flare and magnetic storm activity will gradually rise over the next four years, reaching a peak late in 2012.

You probably already know that solar flare activity can interfere with radio communications and can even knock out satellites. What you may not know is that there can be a profound effect down here on the ground too.

Time for some quick science... The earth, as you know, is magnetically polarised. They don't call them the North and South Poles for fun. We're like a giant magnet floating in space, and our magnetic field deflects and traps charged particles ejected from the sun. Without the magnetosphere, we'd be bombarded with radiation and life on earth would be in trouble.

The sun also has a magnetic field, called the heliosphere, only instead of being relatively stable like ours, the sun's magnetic poles shift around erratically.

Each time there's a solar flare or magnetic storm eminating from the sun, it's magnetically charged. If it's oriented one way, our magnetic shield happily blocks it, creating a very pretty dancing light show in the far north and far south of our planet.

If it's aligned the other way, billions of watts of charged particles bombard the earth. The atmosphere is, literally, electrified. A single storm contains enough electrical energy to power all human activity on earth, and without protection from that much energy. trouble is at hand.

In 1859 a super magnetic storm fused the coils in many telegraph stations, shorted wires and started fires. In fact, if it hadn't been for those telegraphs, we probably wouldn't have noticed because you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of other electrical appliances in use at the time.

Today, though, we live in a different world, where everything, and I really do mean everything relies on electricity and/or electronics.

Which brings me back to 2012...

Astronomers estimate that an 1859 style super storm comes every hundred years or so. That means we're 50 years past the due date, and if the next magnetic storm is "the big one", and if that "big one" is oriented the wrong way, every microchip on earth that's not properly shielded will cease to function.

Copper coils will fuse. Some will even melt as they absorb the massive energy from the atmosphere. Copper coils... you know... like the coils in generators, electric motors, power transformers, radio transmitters and even on your computer's motherboard.

The last time it happened was in 1989 when a relatively minor solar storm shut down the power grid in the North Eastern US and Canada. "Minor."

Are you getting the picture?

If the next cycle of solar storms produces "the big one", and if it's oriented the wrong way, everything we rely on to keep our civilisation functioning will stop working.

First, the power generation system will go down. The huge transformers that convert power coming out of the generators to power we can plug out TVs into will be destroyed, and because this equipment is so specialised, there's only enough manufacturing capability to turn out a couple a month to replace the thousands lost.

No electricity means no refrigeration. No refrigeration means no food in the cities. Food supplies will be gone in just a few days.

Food? That's nothing. Water purification and pumping will also stop. No running water. No water treatment. No sewage system. Drinkable water supplies will disappear within 24 hours.

Pumps will stop working, which means subway and road tunnels will quickly flood.

When the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410AD, they destroyed the aquaducts that fed water into the city. Almost overnight, the population of Rome dropped from more than a million to a few thousand and the city became unlivable. It was the end of Civilisation as they knew it, and the end of the Roman Empire.

Radio communication will also shut down. That battery powered radio you have hidden away somewhere for major emergencies will pick up nothing but static, if it works at all. No TV either. No phones, mobile or otherwise, and no internet. In fact, no electronic communication of any kind. No newspapers or printing presses either. No means other than word of mouth for getting any message or instructions from anyone in charge to anyone else.

No banking. All of our banking records are held electronically, and while the data won't be lost, the bank's won't have an ability to retrieve it. That means no money, which means commere will cease.

Transportation systems, from your car up will no longer function. The electronics will be fried so you won't even be able to get them started. Actually, that's not entirely true. Some properly shielded military vehicles will run though they will be overwhelmed. A few really old diesels will run too, but you'd need to hand start them first and because of the compression of a diesel, that's no mean feat.

Of course, nothing will be flying for the same reason.

A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences estimates that such a storm could "shut down the United States" for months, if not years. They estimate that recovery from such an event could take ten years or more.

They're being conservative, but even if the shut down was only partial and even if it only lasted for a few weeks, the death toll will be far beyond any natural disaster we've ever experienced.

Guns will still work though. That's a bigger problem in the USA than it is here in Australia, but it's a problem everywhere because governments will have no capability to co-ordinate any law and order effort. For the first weeks after the event, it will be survival of the best armed.

Now here's the spooky bit...

The Aztec Calendar Stone, properly called Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl and created in 1479, predicts "the end of the world" on December 24, 2011.

The Chinese I-Ching calendar is said to predict the "end of the world" at about the same time.

And finally, the Mayan calendar, on which the Aztec calendar was based, ends on December 21, 2012.

Hmmmm... better disconnect from the grid, get the bunker stocked and the household electrics shielded. Don't complain that you weren't warned.

One Last Thought

Journalist Paul Sheehan wrote an exceptional analysis of the Gaza mess in the Sydney Morning Herald today. I commend it to you.

Hybrid

Hey Honda... if this ad's not really yours, it should be.

And then there's this...

This is a clip from Palestinian TV.

The whole thing is just a bloody mess, driven by a political agenda of hatred lies and manipulation.

And To Underscore The Point...

Underscoring the point about media bias against Israel is the headline news today about the deaths of 40 Palestinian civillians who were sheltering in a UN school which was hit by Israeli fire.

The headline screamed "More Than 40 Killed In UN School", but a little way down was a quote from a UN spokeperson who said "troops fired mortars at the premises after gunmen mortared their positions from inside al-Fakhora school ".

Why didn't the headline read "Hamas Human Shields Killed"?

I'm personally saddened that 40 innocents died in that attack, and in the end, it will do little for long term peace and stability, but do you blame the Israelis, or do you blame Hamas for putting fighters in what should have been a neutral safe zone.

So here's another two hypothetical questions...

First, let's say you're a Hamas commander and you want to maximise the effectiveness of your Jihad warriors. Do you put them a) hidden away in buildings, or b) in a UN compound that harbours civillians.

The answer is "b". While "a" might offer you short term protection, once the position is identified, those Jihadists are going to meet their virgins in heaven. In choosing "b", you offer them some protection to allow them to maximise their effect, and if the position is hit, you can capitalise on the bad PR it will generate for the pig Jew infidels. You're not worried about civillian casualties because there's a place in heaven for those who are killed (though you haven't been clear on what the mothers and children are going to do with their 72 virgins each, but that's for another post, I guess).

Second, let's say you're an Israeli field commander, and you identify Jihadists firing on your troops. Do you a) let them go, or b) eliminate them. If you said "a", it's time you went to another blog because opinions expressed here will probably offend.

What Would You Do?

Here's a hypothetical for you...

Let's say you're the President (or Prime Minister) of a successful democracy. And let's say that things weren't so good in the country next door.

Let's then say that extremists won an "election" there, and since they took control, had fired more than 8000 rockets at your towns and cities along the border.

And every day, their leaders made speaches about how evil you were, and how they vow to destroy you.

What would you do?

You have a few options. You could cut off their electricity, which you supply. That way, the rocket makers would be working in the dark.

You could cut off their water, all of which comes from your water treatment plants.

You could stop delivering fuel. After all, if they can't drive the rockets to the launch sites, they can't fire them.

Or you could stop deliveries of food. You see, unlike your people, who, by hard work, made your nation what it is, your neighbours don't seem especially interested in intensive farming.

Come on... we all know the answer... don't pretend otherwise... you wouldn't do any of these things... you'd send in warplanes and bomb the crap out of them, and if that didn't work, you'd send in the tanks.

And it wouldn't have taken you years to make that decision either.

Yet today, it is Israel copping the scorn of mainstream media. It is Israel being described as the aggressor.

Ask yourself... what would you have done?

Ask yourself what the United States would have done if hundreds of missiles a day were raining down on San Diego from the other side of the Mexican border. At least the USA isn't being hypocritical in this. For all his faults, George W understands, and knows exactly what he would have done.

So more to the point, ask yourself what Great Britain would do if those missiles were raining on Dover from the other side of the Channel, or what Russia would have done if rockets were raining down from Georgia.

Israel, in fact, has been far more patient that any other country on earth would have been. It has tolerated daily rocket attacks, and the more it tolerated them, the more rockets Hamas chose to launch. Sooner or later, enough was going to be enough.

It's not even about "occupation". Israel pulled all of its troops out of Gaza years ago, handing the Palestinian leadership a golden opportunity to build a nation with the billions of dollars of aid that poured in. Instead, they squandered the chance.

However, the Palestinians leadership, and especially the leadership of Hamas, has learned one lesson very well over the last ten years or so. They've learned how to fight the war of public opinion and in this conflict, the truth is in danger of being lost.

Here are some facts you might like to consider, facts you won't see or hear in mainstream media. because some have used the opportunity to spread misinformation about Israel’s actions, intentions and the overall situation in Gaza.

Following are examples of fabrications – refuted by factual accounts provided by international aid organizations, Arab leaders, and Palestinian journalists.

Fiction #1: There’s no food in Gaza and people are starving.
News reports, including one produced by TV station France 2 on Dec. 29, showed a Gaza resident in a food store saying:“Apparently, there is nothing, as you can see. There are no natural products for the kids. There is no milk. There is nothing here.”
Fact: Warehouses in Gaza are filled to capacity, according to international aid groups. In the same France 2 TV clip referenced above, upon closer inspection, shelves filled with food can be seen in the reflection of a refrigerated door in the store.

The World Food Program informed Israel that it would cease shipment of food to Gaza because the warehouses there are at full capacity, with enough food to last two weeks.

During a one-day period alone – Dec. 31– Israel facilitated the transport of 29 truckloads of food, including 15 truckloads of flour, into Gaza. As Hamas was firing rockets and mortars during Israel both during and after the ceasefire, Israel facilitated the delivery of 2,500 tons (delivered on 93 trucks) of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and medication through the Kerem Shalom cargo terminal.

Since the beginning of the current conflict, about 6,500 tons of aid have been transferred into Gaza at the request of the international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments.

Fiction #2: Gaza has no medical and other aid supplies to help the injured.
Fact: During the first 5 days alone of Operation Cast Lead, Israel has facilitated the delivery of 6,500 tons of aid – 179 truckoads -- into Gaza at the request of international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments. The deliveries include basic food commodities, medication, medical supplies and blood units. Another 106 truckloads of humanitarian aid are expected to arrive in Gaza on Jan. 31. The crossings to Gaza are open for the transfer of humanitarian aid from all international organizations, in full cooperation with the Israeli authorities and without restriction. In a one-day period – Dec. 31 – Israel enabled the transport of 9 truckloads of medicine and medical supplies, along with 10 ambulances, into Gaza.

Fiction #3: Israel is refusing to allow injured Gazans into Israeli and Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
Fact: Israel has allowed a number of Palestinians into Israel for medical treatment they couldn’t receive in Gaza. On Dec. 31, for example, 12 Palestinians accessed Israel for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. Two of those evacuated were injured children; the remaining were chronically sick people, and their escorts, who were allowed into Israel for treatment not available in Gaza.

Further, Hamas – in an effort to exploit the suffering of innocent civilians - has refused to allow injured Palestinians to leave Gaza to go to Egypt for treatment. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit said earlier this week that Hamas was not allowing wounded Palestinians to cross the border into Egypt for treatment: “We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being allowed to cross.” Asked who was to blame, he referred to Gaza by saying, “Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza.”

Fiction #4: Israel is purposely targeting civilians.
Fact: While Israel goes out of its way to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas actually places civilians in harm’s way and uses them as shields. Because Hamas is known to use civilian residences to hide their weapons, on Dec. 27, the Israeli military – before launching an attack on such storehouses - called thousands of civilians in Gaza on their cell phones and left Arabic-language messages urging them to leave homes being used for weapons storage.

On Dec. 30, a reformist Iranian newspaper published a statement by a student organization that criticized Hamas for risking civilian lives, including children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals. The Iranian Culture Ministry shut down the newspaper after it printed the statements.

Israel has publicly stated time and again that it regrets the loss of any civilian life and considers each one a tragedy. However, both Iran-backed Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah have a history of faking deaths and funerals. For example, in Spring 2002, Palestinians were filmed as they attempted to stage a fake funeral as part of a gross exaggeration of the number of people killed in Jenin. The film shows Palestinians wrapping, then carrying a ‘corpse’ on a funeral pier; the ‘corpse’ falls off several times and gets back on – including in front of a large and surprised crowd.

Although some reports say a quarter of the deaths during “Operation Cast Lead” have been civilians, Palestinian terrorists’ history of deceptions and false claims require reporters to work to verify such information.

During Israel’s defensive war against Hezbollah two years ago, the phenomenon was so common that it became known as “Hezbollywood.” One of the best-known instances was when a man purporting to be a rescue worker at the site of a bombed village appeared in various photos in the international media, repeatedly displaying the same child’s dead body at different times – and in different poses – throughout the day. The man, identified as Salam Daher, wore a green helmet in all of the photos, earning himself the nickname “green helmet guy.” Daher was also found to have directed a camera shooting the scene.

Fiction #5: Israel has cut off electricity to Gaza.
Fact: In the past, Hamas officials have committed deceptions such as pulling dark curtains in mid-day while holding a meeting to make it look as though they were being forced to work by candlelight – a sham exposed by journalists who showed that it was actually daylight outside at the time. The ruse was carried out with the complicity of some Arab satellite TV stations. More recent such deceptions have come to light as recently as November 2008, when Palestinian Authority officials said Hamas staged new blackouts to try to get sympathy from the international community and provoke civilian violence against the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Further, terrorists in Gaza have fired rockets at – and hit - the power station in the Israeli city of Ashkelon that provides Gaza the majority of its electricity. The terrorists also have fired on Israeli workers at a depot that provides fuel to Gaza and a suicide bomber destroyed lines providing electricity from Israel into Gaza.

"There's no shortage of fuel in the Gaza Strip and the Electricity Company is continuing to function normally," a PA official said in November. "Our people in the Gaza Strip have told us that the blackouts are all staged as part of the Hamas propaganda…There's enough fuel in the Gaza Strip,” he said. "Even when Israel reduces the fuel supplies, Hamas continues to smuggle tens of thousands of liters through the underground tunnels."

Fiction #6: Palestinian journalists are unbiased and show what’s ‘really’ happening in Gaza.
Fact: Some Palestinian journalists are manipulating and exploiting unintended victims of the Israeli strikes. Said one Palestinian journalist, members of the Palestinian media are ‘directing’ civilians to cry and telling them what to say in interviews: "A mother of one of the martyrs stood by the door of the intensive care unit while crying... relatives and those around her were telling her what she should say to the television cameras: 'Say your son [before he died] prayed and went out.' Another tells her: 'Curse the Arab leaders'... The journalists [in the hospitals] are going overboard in their insensitivity and taking advantage of the [difficult] moments, with the explanation that they are showing this to the world. One cameraman told a mourning mother: 'Hit your face, cry, do some action.'"

Again ask yourself, what would you do if you were the leader of a country facing daily rocket attacks from your neighbour. You'd cut off their electricity. You'd stop sending food and medical supplies to your enemy, and then you'd launch military strikes. You certainly wouldn't call the people in the way of the bombs on their cell phones and tell them to get out of the way, or send them ambulances.

So next time you, or your freinds, work colleagues or family, start making moral judgements about what Israel has done over the last few days, ask yourself the question... what would you have done?

A Most Worthy Cause

It must be worthy. It's a message from the Government.