US Departure From Iraq Needs The Robson Plan (A or B)

Whenever I think of the way the US left Viet Nam, I imagine the scene from the beginning of Raiders of The Lost Ark when Indiana Jones is running through the jungle to his waiting pontoon plane, being chased by local natives, scrambling across the beach yelling “Start the plane! Start the plane!”, swinging on a vine and landing in the lagoon, swimming up to the pontoon and grabbing hold while the plane starts off down it’s watery runway for takeoff as spears and arrows land all around.

I get a similar emotion when I think of the Blackhawk Down situation in Mogadishu.

And I am starting to get the feeling that the situation in Iraq will be the same now that the Democrats are taking over.

It may not be politically correct, but I hope the US takes advice from John Robson.

What would Caesar do in Iraq? I ask not only because it was in that region that Julius Caesar came, saw and conquered. I ask because Imperial Romans habitually thought clearly and acted decisively on geopolitical questions.

As democratic politicians too often do the opposite, let me offer a simple, Caesarean solution to cut through the trouble and deliver Western security interests alive and well.

My plan A that won’t happen is the coalition troops grab their stuff and leave … through Syria. About 200,000 heavily armed, highly trained, really annoyed U. S. and other coalition troops stomp Bashir Assad’s regime flat, hang a left through Lebanon to demolish Hezbollah, then sail home from Haifa waving a sign saying: “Don’t make us come back and do that again.” I call this plan Caesarean because it’s the sort of thing Imperial Rome would have done to extricate itself from Iraq while inspiring salutary caution in its enemies, especially following the provocative assassination of Pierre Gemayel in Lebanon. But you know it’s not going to happen and you know why.

Far from being the ogre of Michael Moore’s fantasies, the U. S. lacks even the hard-headed sang-froid of imperial Britain, let alone Rome.

To expand Robson’s point, I think the Democrats lack the sang-froid of Scooby Doo and Shaggy when their box is out of Scooby Snacks.

Robson goes on with a plan B that makes a lot of sense to me.

…devise a Plan B that could happen. Namely that the U. S partitions Iraq into Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite countries and leaves at least the latter two.

This plan is also Caesarean, and not just because Iraq est omnis divisa in partes tres. Yes, I realize it would require some people to relocate, but moving beats dying in a bloody civil war. Meanwhile my proposal has three decisive geopolitical virtues for the coalition (beyond the PR plus that if sectarian violence persists it will be clear who’s to blame).

First, whatever the various domestic and foreign insurgents in Iraq want, it clearly isn’t partition. Second, once done it would be extremely hard to undo. Third, it lets the coalition depart without fleeing, leaving in splendid Roman fashion at least one client state very keen on U. S. support.

John Robson writes for the Ottawa Citizen and can be heard every Friday morning with Steve Madely on CFRA between 8am and 9am. He also has a new book out that Mark Steyn has given a strong endorsement for.

Floor Crossing – Sometimes Good, Sometimes Bad, But Always Ugly

After seeing the floor crossing issue come up in the comments of another post, I thought I would put up a post on this issue.

My personal opinion of floor crossing is that I tend to smile when my party gains a member (the good), I tend to fume for a day when someone from my party crosses to an opposing party (the bad). And in all cases I never once complain or state that an MP should not be able to cross the floor but there are always a bunch of people ticked off and screaming bloody murder. (the ugly)

There is always a financial issue that is the biggest hit. Electorial District Associations work hard to raise money to get their party member elected and I do believe that local party members in the MP’s constituency have a right to be angry.

But I honestly think that Partys change, constituent views change and MPs crossing the floor allow for some form of compensation for these things without having to hold a by-election.

As for the Khan crossing, I think Liberals in his riding should be more upset with Stephane Dion than with Khan because it was Dion’s ultimatum that ultimately forced Khan to do what he felt was right and that was to do what is best for Canada. If his constituents feel that he should have chosen the Party over the nation then shame on them.

I would also like to take this moment to point out that the only party that seems to really be upset about floor crossing as a concept is the NDP. Even though they are the ones who have gained the most from this crossing, I respect them sticking to their guns. I tend to think they are against it because as far as I, or wikipedia, know, there has never been a federal floor crossing to the NDP party. No wonder they are against it.

Thermodynamically Speaking, Global Warming Will LOWER Sea Levels

I have seen, read or heard numerous indications saying how the Earth’s Ocean’s will rise as iceberg’s melt. That was quickly refuted via Archimedes and good old fashioned displacement science.

Then came the fear-mongering about Antarctic ice melting. Considering the average temperature on the south pole is anywhere from -37 Celsius to -57 Celsius, I do not think a few degrees of planetary warmth will do much.

So now the environmentalists want to attack Greenland ice shelfs and other glaciers that are overland.

Well here is some science that no one has mentioned that counters rising sea levels.

It is a very well known but not well announced fact that warm air holds more moisture than cold air. By doing a bit of formula manipulation with the Ideal Gas law, I calculated that a cubic meter of atmosphere can hold an extra 0.85 grams of water vapour for every degree Celsius that the temperature rises. This fluctuates a very very small amount depending on what the two temperatures are or how high up in the atmosphere you go.

However, for a good rough estimate, you can assume the lowest 11km of the atmosphere holds about 75% of the Earth’s atmosphere density. Using the Earth’s average radius of 6.37 Million meters, I calculated that that 11km zone around the planet can hold AN EXTRA 851 Billion cubic meters of water. Taking into account the water surface area of the planet is 361 Billion square meters, then simple division would tell us that the planet’s water level would drop approximately 2.36 meters for every degree Celsius of increased average temperature.

Remember this when someone tells you melting ice will raise sea levels.

You can also point out that increased CO2 levels create bigger, stronger and more abundant plant life. These plants will need more moisture for photosynthesis which means they will be taking in more water than plant life in an environment with less CO2 and they will also convert more of that CO2 into O2.

i.e. warmer temperatures and more CO2 creates a buffering environment that counters the high levels with thriving plant life.

I think that’s enough science to last a week. I urge others to doublecheck my math. The data I used included:

The Ideal Gas Law (PV=nRT)
The Earth’s water surface is 361,126,400,000 square meters
The Earth’s average radius is 6.37 Million Meters
The average temperature is 283 Kelvin (or 10 degrees Celsius)
The average air pressure is 1 atmosphere or 101.325 KiloPascals
The weight of one mole of H20 is 18 grams

My Second Ever Email To Stephen Harper

Just before Christmas I dropped a note to the Prime Minister to pass on my Christmas and New Year’s wishes to him, Laureen and the kids. It was the second time I have ever written Stephen Harper and the first time I ever received a response from his staff.

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to thank you for your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which falls within the portfolio of the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry. The Prime Minister always appreciates receiving correspondence on subjects of importance to Canadians.

Please be assured that the statements you made have been carefully reviewed. I have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail to Minister Bernier, so that he too may be made aware of your comments. I am certain that the Minister will give your views every consideration.

P. Monteith
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister’s Office

In my email I also suggested that the government look into getting a Tesla Motors auto production facility in Canada siting the a) environmentally friendly aspect of the car, b) the positive job creation aspect of a new auto plant and c) the awesome photo ops that an announcement of this kind would make because the car is just smoking hot!!!

Tesla

I hope the Honourable Maxime Bernier follows up with my request.

How Do You Say Kyoto Protocol In Martian?

Marvin the MartianHave the environmentalistas told Marvin the Martian to stop flying his gas guzzling spacecraft yet? Because the past 3 Mars years the polar caps on Mars have been shrinking!!!

Considering there is no life on mars to help warm the planet, this evidence points directly to something on a larger scale warming planets in our solar system. Scientists, for years, have speculated that solar flares affect the temperatures of the planets and this type of evidence provides a pretty good indication that they are right.

The image below is an animation of two images exactly 3 Martian years apart and was taken by the Malin Space Science System satellite currently in orbit around the red planet.

Mars South Polar Cap

Note to those inspecting the dates in the two photos. The typical Mars Year is about 669 days so when you take three Mars years it throws the Earth date out by about 6 months (or about 180 days).

The south polar residual cap of Mars is composed of layered, frozen carbon dioxide. In 1999, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) showed that the carbon dioxide layers have been eroded to form a variety of circular pits, arcuate scarps, troughs, buttes, and mesas. In 2001, MOC images designed to provide repeated views of the areas imaged in 1999–with the hope of creating stereo (3-D) images, so that the height of scarps and depth of pits could be measured–showed that the scarps had retreated, pits enlarged, and buttes and mesas shrank. Only carbon dioxide is volatile enough in the martian environment to have caused such dramatic changes–the scarps were seen to retreat at an average rate of 3 meters (about 3 yards) per Mars year. Most of the scarp retreat occurs during the southern summer season; in some areas the scarps move as much as 8 meters, in others, only 1 meter per Mars year.

Three Mars years have now elapsed since MOC first surveyed the south polar cap in 1999. Over the past several months, MGS MOC has been re-imaging areas that were seen in 1999, 2001, and 2003, to develop a detailed look at how the landscape has been changing. This animated GIF provides an example of the dramatic changes that have occurred during the past three martian years. The first image, a sub-frame of M09-05244, was acquired on 21 November 1999. The second image, a sub-frame of S06-00973, was obtained on 11 May 2005. The animation shows the changes that have occurred between 1999 and 2005. Each summer, the cap has lost more carbon dioxide. This may mean that the carbon dioxide content of the martian atmosphere has been increasing, bit by very tiny little bit, each of the years that MGS has been orbiting the red planet. These observations also imply that there was once a time, in the not-too-distant past (because there are no impact craters on the polar cap), when the atmosphere was somewhat thinner and colder, to permit the layers of carbon dioxide to form in the first place. Just as Earth’s environment is very different today than it was just 11,000 or so years ago, the martian environment has also been changing on a similar time scale.

I bet they find a way to blame Rona Ambrose for this.

Cabinet Shuffle Rumours Abound

Well the skinny from David Akin is….

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose to Intergovermental Affairs
Treasury Board President John Baird to Environment Minister
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice to Treasury Board President
Peter Van Loan to Indian Affairs

Other possibilities are
Gerry Ritz to new junior position called Secretary of State for Tourism
James Moore to pull Olympic portfolio from the mishmash David Emerson holds
Jason Kenney and Diane Albonczy to possibly get new senior positions.

Possible split of Bev Oda’s portfolio to create a new spot.

Other long shot rumours have LIBERAL Wajid Khan crossing the floor, possibly to a parliamentary secretary position after his appointment by Harper to help in a study of the Middle East dynamics.

Another rumour has Vic Toews moving to Immigration. Where current Immigration Minister Monte Solberg would go is not known.

My Predictions

I personally like the Baird, Prentice and Van Loan moves, and could live with the Ambrose move to Intergovernmental Affairs, but I think Alonczy might snatch that one and Ambrose or Helena Guergis might step in and grab the Status for Women spot from Bev Oda.

Project Polygamy – Phase Two Complete

Phase One was getting same sex marriage allowed.

They said it would never come to pass, but Phase Two is here and a child is now allowed to have “two mothers and a father” as indicated in articles at both the CTV and the Globe and Mail.

An Ontario boy can legally have two mothers and a father, the province’s highest court ruled Tuesday.

The same-sex partner of the child’s biological mother went to court seeking to also be declared a mother of the boy.

The first stage took on the definition of parents. This second phase leverages a same sex marriage into changing the NUMBER of parents a child can have.

I can guarantee you Phase Three will have a same sex couple living with the father listed as a common law couple of co-habitating for over a year.

Canada is on the verge of becoming a nation that allows polygamy. Below is a map indicating (in green) which nations allow polygamy. Click the image to view a larger version.

H/T to 905Tory and HallsOfMacadamia

CBC's Air Farce – A Truly Biased Farce Of A Network

On New Year’s Eve I recorded the CBC Air Farce special entitled 2006 The Year of the Farce and took a leisurely look at it the following day. Holy Biased Humour Batman!!

I watch Air Farce and have for years but I don’t think I have ever seen them this lopsided in their humour. I can understand a few extra ribs at the party in power but this New Year’s Eve 60 minute special was ridiculously slanted.

By my rough count the ratio of jokes poking fun at the four parties was as follows:

Conservatives were made fun of about 25 times
Liberals were made fun of about 4 times
Dippers were made fun of once or twice
BQ were not made fun of at all

Is this what politically incorrect humour has become? Of those 25 or so jibes, 20 of them were aimed at Stephen Harper with 3 (and possibly 4) attempting to tie him to George Bush, 2 aimed at his weight, 3 or 4 aimed at painting him as anti-gay, and even one pro-life comment which floored me because never have I heard Stephen Harper make any pro-life remark.

Again, I want to emphasize, I usually laugh along with Air Farce. But this blatant slanting against the current Tory government is simply not a fair indication of politics in Canada. In a year when the Dippers had a policy convention and the Liberals had a leadership convention, there had to be some prime targets for humour that simply did not appear in the show.

What gets my goat the most is that even in two attempts to start ribbing Dion and Layton, the humour gets twisted and both times Harper ends up taking the punchline on the chin.

I really think the CBC ought to readdress the inequality in their political humour.

To view a 10 minute assessment, click the video below once:

If you cannot see the above video, try clicking the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlBfNvndrx8

ADDENDUMGerry makes a great comment below. I, myself, have commented to the Air Farce crew how disappointed I was at their biased New Year’s Eve special and encourage you to do the same by clicking this link.

Merry Christmas

I wanted to drop a quick post on here before Santa shows up. I know that many of you will be loitering around your computers tomorrow so don’t be shy and tell us what Santa brought you in between opening gifts, services, Christmas dinner and family time.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.