Josh on the skeptic computer raid

In case you haven’t heard, UK skeptic blogger “Tallbloke” has had his computers seized by Norfolk police looking for evidence of the intrepid “FOIA” leaker. Josh at Cartoons by Josh can always see humor, even when things look dark. He’s also provided a handy safety notice placard for posting in appropriate places.

Post wherever needed:

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Gordon Melville Ford
December 15, 2011 8:07 am

The trouble with computer geeks!

Jenn Oates
December 15, 2011 8:09 am

Snort. The cartoon is good, but the sign is hilarious.
I say that until they knock on my door to take my computer. 🙂

AdderW
December 15, 2011 8:19 am

Giggle, snort and lol…

tallbloke
December 15, 2011 8:33 am

Heh, classic Josh!
Thanks for brightening my blog with your talent mate.

RockyRoad
December 15, 2011 8:34 am

Great cartoon, Josh. And the sign?
It’s fair to compare the destructive force of an explosives-laden unattended bag left by a terrorist to the destruction a well-informed, fact-throwing sceptic has on the CAGW cause; however, note that the first is bad while the second is good. Shows you exactly where those supporting “The Cause” stand in a moral argument.

Iggy Slanter
December 15, 2011 8:34 am

Suddenly Classic!

December 15, 2011 8:41 am

Because real science uses jackbooted thugs to assault critics!

JeffC
December 15, 2011 8:42 am

these aren’t the droids you’re looking for …

December 15, 2011 8:46 am

Can you change the sign so it reads “Climate Septics” please?

pat
December 15, 2011 8:51 am

“Obama’s Justice Department joins Britain’s ‘Climategate’ leaker manhunt
To review: The UK police and the US DOJ, Criminal Division, are pursuing a leaker of public records subject to one or more FOIA, records that were unlawfully withheld under those laws, which leaks indicate apparent civil violations (tortious interference by seeking dismissal of certain “skeptics”), and raising reasonable questions of fraud against taxpayers.
And they are pursuing the leaker.”
Washington must feel threatened.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/12/obamas-justice-department-joins-britains-climategate-leaker-manhunt/2006206#ixzz1gcgD0rtQ

Urederra
December 15, 2011 9:08 am
jono
December 15, 2011 9:09 am

perhaps it could also read
” under the Freedom Of Information Act, would you mind awfully pointing to which one I need to confiscate”
to which the second retorts
“If I close my eyes i can pretend this isnt happening”

December 15, 2011 9:16 am

Josh; Saw your toon at “Tallbloke’s” Good show! sir. pg

henrychance
December 15, 2011 9:20 am

Word to the wise. Back stuff up. I suspect this is going beyond the humor phase. Why didn’t they sieze Manns computer and Jones’?
On the funny side, Jones keeps “losing” his records, this way he can look to see if someone else has them.

Archonix
December 15, 2011 10:02 am

When they don’t find anything, I fully expect the Crown Prosecution Service will jerry up a charge of possessing “extreme pornography” of some sort. It’s becoming the fallback to “get” people for failing to be sufficiently criminal and embarrassing the police. They’ll drag his name through the mud, then drop the charges at trial because they’ve suddenly lost the evidence.

December 15, 2011 10:14 am

I wonder if this will prompt whomever to release the password for the rest of the emails locked up in FOIA2011?

Beesaman
December 15, 2011 10:18 am

If sceptics are a ‘minority’ shouldn’t they be protected from discrimination?

December 15, 2011 11:08 am

“Acclaimedly, towards the end of Kaliyuga, when righteousness turns into unrighteousness, light into darkness, good into evil, virtues into vices, believers into non-believing profanes, community of man into thieves and evil doers and the faith in God is lost and the Vedas are misinterpreted to serve adharma, Kalki would be born in the house of Vishnuyashas, a Brahmin and the priest of Yajnavalkya, at the village Shambhala. “
Ben is clever.
“Superstition brings misfortune.”
(V.D.)

Steve
December 15, 2011 11:11 am

This is why we have the 2nd amendment in the United States.

Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 12:09 pm

pat says:
December 15, 2011 at 8:51 am
I found this bit from C. Horner’s piece quite interesting
“In the U.S., the academic and political Left have had fits about Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli exercising even more specific, anti-fraud authority to seek further records from University of Virginia in following up on indications from the first Climategate release of possible fraud against the taxpayer.
Apparently, that represented an abuse of the police power. No word yet if they are outraged by DOJ’s current foray or that of the UK raiding team.
The DOJ attorney sending the preservation letters, as it happens in this small world, a graduate of the University of Virginia (UVA). And UVA is also the subject of litigation a group I am associated with, the American Tradition Institute (ATI), that has filed suit on behalf of Virginia taxpayers seeking Climategate-related emails the school holds.
This is a case which has members of the Virginia faculty and establishment beside themselves and demanding an all-out effort to oppose production of the requested documents in an effort to wear us and Cuccinelli down.
So far UVA has spent upwards of $1 million fighting Cuccinelli’s request, and school officials continue to fight us in court every step of the way.
Clearly, this is no small matter in the quarters insisting that this taxpayer-financed information never see the light of day. Even the criminal legal apparatus of the U.S. and UK must be invoked against this threat, apparently.”
The UVA connection of the DOJ attorney involved is evidently just another one of those amazing coincidences that keep popping up in the world of climate science. Isn’t serendipity wonderful!

Laurie
December 15, 2011 12:13 pm

Who needs a Freedom of Information Act if you need only raid (non-suspect) citizens’ homes and take their computers, provided you are on the side of the powerful and polically correct?

RockyRoad
December 15, 2011 12:47 pm

Jackboots don’t need FOIA laws, but honest citizens do need them to determine what the jackboots are hiding.
Unfortunately, jackboots are currently holding the badges, carry assault rifles, and employ all the swat teams. The honest citizen is often armed with just a single vote, which by itself never defends anyone from this type of police-state incursion.

December 15, 2011 12:59 pm

Good one.
But I’m just wondering ………….. Is everyone who posts here likely to get the knock on the door?
And if not, why not?
After all, presumably on we’re all the same “little list”, as Gilbert and Sullivan say.

Steve
December 15, 2011 1:00 pm

@RockRoad,
Not in the US. 2nd Amendment. Bust in and try to take my things without a warrant, and your picture will be on the news.

Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 1:06 pm

In a way you almost have to almost admire the incredible persistence of these folks. Even as the emails provide ever increasing evidence of their thuggish tactics, they unashamedly take those tactics to an even higher level. This is pure Skinner box stuff. If you are a lab rat pushing the button emblazoned with rising flames, the food pellets continue to drop, the pleasure centers continue to be stimulated. But if you drift over and caress the button with the question mark on it, your life can turn into Dustin Hoffman in “The Marathon Man” in the blink of an eye.

RockyRoad
December 15, 2011 1:16 pm

Steve says:
December 15, 2011 at 1:00 pm

@RockRoad,
Not in the US. 2nd Amendment. Bust in and try to take my things without a warrant, and your picture will be on the news.

I appreciate the response and I understand where you’re coming from, but unless you’re packing significant heat at the time, a knock on the door could leave you as defenseless as showering with soap in your eyes. 😉

December 15, 2011 1:17 pm

I thought CG2 would provoke a response and they’ve went straight for the throat; shut down the skeptic bloggers and you shut down FOIA’s delivery channel. Not going to succeed though.
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/skeptic-blogger-raided-by-the-police-because-he-was-sent-a-link-to-the-climategate-2-release/
Pointman

Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 1:21 pm

Whoops, hoist once again by the perils of self-editing on the fly. Ended up with double “almost”s. When reading delete whichever one that gives a result closest to your preferred literary style.

CynicalScientist
December 15, 2011 1:30 pm

The president just needs to declare you to be a “climate terrorist” and they can drag you off to Gitmo without trial and throw away the key.
Any bets as to how long until we see the T word being applied to climate skeptics?

jaymam
December 15, 2011 1:36 pm

A columnist in NZ’s largest newspaper says global warming’s a goner
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10773421
Don’t fret, global warming’s a goner
By Jim Hopkins
5:30 AM Friday Dec 16, 2011

Journalists never admit they’re wrong (see phone hacking). They just stop being wrong. When caught with their sceptical pants down and the spotty globes of their credulity exposed, they simply drop the story and move to something else.
Which is precisely what’s happened. Global warming has left the building.
Where once there were hundreds of horror stories, a daily dose of frightening features, a nightly stack of belching chimneys on the telly (mainly belching steam, in truth, but they still looked really scary) we’ve now got, well, (nervous cough, awkward shuffle) ummm, sweet Fanny Adams, to be frank. There has been a trickle of terror but, by and large, the whole calamitous narrative is a goneburger.

December 15, 2011 1:43 pm

Oh, great. Now the cops are really gonna confiscate Josh’s pencilbox.
Well, they’ll clone it and return it to him in a couple of weeks.

December 15, 2011 1:48 pm

At 1:21 PM on 15 December (Happy Bill of Rights Day! What were we supposed to be celebrating again?) Dave Wendt complains about getting caught in the WordPress Screw:

Whoops, hoist once again by the perils of self-editing on the fly. Ended up with double “almost”s. When reading delete whichever one that gives a result closest to your preferred literary style.

Don’t apologize, don’t correct (unless it’s a matter of substantive fact, not a typo). Unlike a lot of blog sites, WordPress doesn’t enable any sort of “Preview” or “Edit” function, and every time you use this “Leave a Reply” box, it’s a crapshoot.
Anybody qualified to have an opinion worth respecting knows this, and if you catch a snerk over fumblefingers in “on the fly” composition, you can congratulate yourself as having henceforth identified the snerker as a perfect bloody idiot.

Baa Humbug
December 15, 2011 1:48 pm

I want to wish one of the nicest blokes on the blogosphere good luck.
I hope the coppers don’t tax your time, health and well being too much.
Good luck Tally, you height of nonsense you.

December 15, 2011 1:49 pm

RockyRoad says:
December 15, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Steve says:
December 15, 2011 at 1:00 pm
@RockRoad,
“Not in the US. 2nd Amendment. Bust in and try to take my things without a warrant, and your picture will be on the news.”
I appreciate the response and I understand where you’re coming from, but unless you’re packing significant heat at the time, a knock on the door could leave you as defenseless as showering with soap in your eyes. 😉

Well in the US I was asked questions during a deposition concerning emails from me on a computer which had been ‘arrested’, with a warrant of course. The 2nd amendment wouldn’t help you much under those circumstances except to get the owner killed!

December 15, 2011 2:04 pm

“The 2nd amendment wouldn’t help you much under those circumstances except to get the owner killed!”
…says the serf.

Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 2:41 pm

Tucci78 says:
December 15, 2011 at 1:48 pm
Unfortunately I can’t in all honestly lay the blame for this boot on WordPress. The error was right there in the comment box for me to catch. Sadly the eye often sees what the brain expects to see and I slid right past my error while doing my prepost quickscan. My problems with the lack of preview usually arise when trying to C&P a quote into a comment, when my efforts to edit out the discontinuities aren’t reflected when the post comes up.

RockyRoad
December 15, 2011 4:04 pm

Smokey says:
December 15, 2011 at 2:04 pm

“The 2nd amendment wouldn’t help you much under those circumstances except to get the owner killed!”
…says the serf.

Better to temporarily acquiesce and live to fight (and vote) another day. Only if you’re a resilient Liberal does death NOT remove your voting rights (especially if you’re in a state that doesn’t require a photo ID). Besides, such instances of jackboot thuggery merely serve as poignant examples that accelerate the establishment’s downfall; guns just complicate the confrontation.

December 15, 2011 5:09 pm

Rocky,
It’s the serf attitude I was objecting to. Sorry I wasn’t clearer. I’m not recommnding or advising the use of guns. But Americans need to stand up to the mindset that our Constitutional rights are negotiable.
Congress just this week passed a law allowing the President to waive habeus corpus and indefinitely detain American citizens, simply on the suspicion of having a connection with [undefined] “terrorists”. The connection does not have to be proven; it could simply be conversation at a cocktail party. The government does not have to disclose the basis for the detention, and the detainee does not have a right to counsel, and no judge may intervene.
Besides being totally unconstitutional, the attitude that our rights can be waived to fight some nebulous ‘terrorist’ threat should rightly scare the crap out of every American citizen. And make no mistake, sooner or later this arbitrary, unchecked power will be used to detain political opponents – and even those who have a scientific point of view contrary to the “consensus”.
History is full of similar examples. In the late 1930’s anyone who criticized tha German National Socialists was likely to be detained, and a young woman and man were sent to the guillotine for simply leaving some leaflets advocating non-violence on a park bench.
Americans have become complacent after two centuries of fighting only external enemies. Most of us don’t believe that people in power here could possibly be like the Nazis. They are very mistaken.

John M. Chenosky, PE
December 15, 2011 5:20 pm

This was a purposeful distraction–whilst in the dead of night the US Senate in a vote of 93-7, has apparently revoked the BILL OF RIGHTS. Now even if you are cleared in a US Court of fictitious charges, the gendarms can hold you indefinetly.
I guess that is why Home Land Security is building detention centers across the country under the guise of emergency shelters—they say. Nice stimulus Aye!

RockyRoad
December 15, 2011 5:42 pm

Smokey says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:09 pm

Rocky,
It’s the serf attitude I was objecting to. Sorry I wasn’t clearer. I’m not recommnding or advising the use of guns. But Americans need to stand up to the mindset that our Constitutional rights are negotiable.

Points well taken, Smokey. I couldn’t agree more. And the erosion of our freedoms and constitutional guarantees are simply shocking, especially in recent developments. This next election should be critical, but I’m not seeing the degree of pushback from a lot of very well-placed conservatives–indeed, some are actually assisting in the erosion. Will the US survive as a constitutional republic? I have serious doubts…
The following serves as evidence:
John M. Chenosky, PE says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:20 pm

This was a purposeful distraction–whilst in the dead of night the US Senate in a vote of 93-7, has apparently revoked the BILL OF RIGHTS. Now even if you are cleared in a US Court of fictitious charges, the gendarms can hold you indefinetly. I guess that is why Home Land Security is building detention centers across the country under the guise of emergency shelters—they say. Nice stimulus Aye!

Again, very serious doubts…

December 15, 2011 5:55 pm

Smokey says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Rocky,
It’s the serf attitude I was objecting to. Sorry I wasn’t clearer. I’m not recommnding or advising the use of guns. But Americans need to stand up to the mindset that our Constitutional rights are negotiable.
Congress just this week passed a law allowing the President to waive habeus corpus and indefinitely detain American citizens, simply on the suspicion of having a connection with [undefined] “terrorists”. The connection does not have to be proven; it could simply be conversation at a cocktail party. The government does not have to disclose the basis for the detention, and the detainee does not have a right to counsel, and no judge may intervene.
Besides being totally unconstitutional, the attitude that our rights can be waived to fight some nebulous ‘terrorist’ threat should rightly scare the crap out of every American citizen. And make no mistake, sooner or later this arbitrary, unchecked power will be used to detain political opponents – and even those who have a scientific point of view contrary to the “consensus”.
History is full of similar examples.

It is indeed, the suspension of habeus corpus by Lincoln in 1861 and 1862 being a case in point. Resisting a lawful action by police with firearms is not a constitutional right however.

December 15, 2011 6:03 pm

Phil.:

“…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…”

Stick to physics, your history is weak.

Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 6:24 pm

Smokey says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:09 pm
“Congress just this week passed a law allowing the President to waive habeus corpus and indefinitely detain American citizens, simply on the suspicion of having a connection with [undefined] “terrorists”. The connection does not have to be proven; it could simply be conversation at a cocktail party. The government does not have to disclose the basis for the detention, and the detainee does not have a right to counsel, and no judge may intervene.”
After 8 straight years of a daily leftist drone about how “BushHitler” was ravaging our “rights” under the Constitution, it has been wonderfully revealing to watch their chirping crickets reaction to the Obama administration’s almost daily efforts to make these supposed crimes, which under Bush were mostly fantastic exaggerations, into all to present realities.
If Bush had attempted even a minuscule fraction of the actions taken by our Constitutional scholar President to destroy our protected liberties, you would have had a hard time booking a hotel room in the Capitol for the duration because they would have all been occupied by ACLU lawyers filing lawsuits to block them. Meanwhile we’ve had almost three years of almost daily assaults on the checks and balances limits on federal authority without even a whimper of dissent from the usual suspects on the left or in the MSM.
If the upcoming election should succeed in limiting Obama to a one term presidency, there is still a possibility that some of this can be reversed. But, if he gains another four years, he will certainly be the most “transformational” President in the history of the country. Unfortunately the only ones hailing that transformation will be he and his Socialist cadre. Those of us who value the great opportunity offered by our Founders, to live in a nation where the government serves at the will of the people, will be left to dwell in everlasting shame that we failed to exercise the “eternal vigilance” required to preserve that gift.

Reply to  Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 11:01 pm

AT 6:24 PM on 15 December (Happy Bill of Rights Day; what is it we’re supposed to be celebrating?) Dave Wendt addresses the comment of Smokey at 5:09 PM

(Congress just this week passed a law allowing the President to waive habeas corpus and indefinitely detain American citizens, simply on the suspicion of having a connection with [undefined] “terrorists”. The connection does not have to be proven; it could simply be conversation at a cocktail party. The government does not have to disclose the basis for the detention, and the detainee does not have a right to counsel, and no judge may intervene.

…to observe that

After 8 straight years of a daily leftist drone about how “BushHitler” was ravaging our “rights” under the Constitution, it has been wonderfully revealing to watch their chirping crickets reaction to the Obama administration’s almost daily efforts to make these supposed crimes, which under Bush were mostly fantastic exaggerations, into all-too-present realities.
If Bush had attempted even a minuscule fraction of the actions taken by our Constitutional scholar President to destroy our protected liberties, you would have had a hard time booking a hotel room in the Capitol for the duration because they would have all been occupied by ACLU lawyers filing lawsuits to block them. Meanwhile we’ve had almost three years of almost daily assaults on the checks and balances limits on federal authority without even a whimper of dissent from the usual suspects on the left or in the MSM.
If the upcoming election should succeed in limiting Obama to a one-term presidency, there is still a possibility that some of this can be reversed. But, if he gains another four years, he will certainly be the most “transformational” President in the history of the country. Unfortunately the only ones hailing that transformation will be he and his Socialist cadre. Those of us who value the great opportunity offered by our Founders, to live in a nation where the government serves at the will of the people, will be left to dwell in everlasting shame that we failed to exercise the “eternal vigilance” required to preserve that gift.

I don’t see why we should settle for “limiting [Barry Soebarkah or “Harrison J. Bounel” or whatever in hell alias he’s using at the moment] to a one-term presidency” when we have the opportunity to make this POTUS-With-an-Asterisk go away altogether, possibly to take up work as a prison librarian in the Leavenworth federal penitentiary.
Just the right place for the Obama Presidential Library, don’tcha think?
We definitely need to get ourselves “the most ‘transformational’ President in the history of the country,” and fortunately we’ve got just such a candidate rising in the competition among the Red Faction contestants for a change.
And, yes, I’m speaking about Ron Paul, who will roll over our Mombasa Messiah like an avalanche, who regards individual human rights as the standard by which civil government must be judged, whose foreign policy positions have made him the overwhelming favorite among serving U.S. military personnel (the guys who’ve been at the sharp end of U.S. foreign policy for the past decade and more), and whose hard-core “lawful money” position on the endless inflationary monetization of “sovereign debt” is really the only solution to the Eurozone debacle and our bankster-raddled “MF Global” domestic financial sector’s continuing subsidence into slag.
“Neoconservative” imperialists hate his guts, corporate welfare clients would like to have him assassinated, federal and state bureaucrats quiver in terror of his ascent to the White House, and the old, legacy, dying “mainstream” media have agreed that if Dr. Paul wins in the Iowa caucuses or the early primary elections, they’ll simply declare those contests irrelevant and impose a “do-over” until their beloved Mitt “the Massachusetts Medical Marxist” Romney is declared the top-of-the-ticket name for the Republicans’ worthless campaign against their beloved Kenyan Keynesian.
So what’s not to like about Ron Paul? That he’s an obstetrician? Hell, if I can put up with that after more than thirty years of dealing with the Department of Surgery in hospital medical staff meetings, what the hell has anybody else got to object about?
Besides, I’ve met the guy. At a medical convention, where we talked HCFA (now CMS) and economics and prenatal care.
He really is the smartest guy in the room, no damned doubt about it.

RockyRoad
December 15, 2011 7:02 pm

Phil. says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:55 pm


It is indeed, the suspension of habeus corpus by Lincoln in 1861 and 1862 being a case in point. Resisting a lawful action by police with firearms is not a constitutional right however.

Obeying a non-constitutional law in a police state (I wasn’t aware we are currently in a declared state of war like Lincoln was) eventually leads to promulgation of one non-constitutional law after non-constitutional law. These deviations are eventually recognized the electorate that something is horribly amiss and once a sufficient number decide to unseat a government that has become so authoritarian it may only be possible by reliance on firearms.

Gail Combs
December 15, 2011 7:29 pm

Smokey says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:09 pm
….Americans have become complacent after two centuries of fighting only external enemies. Most of us don’t believe that people in power here could possibly be like the Nazis. They are very mistaken.
_____________________________________
Very true.
People do not realize the “police state” in the USA is escalating because our tame media make sure we never see the rot below the service. It used to be thieves and murders were the targets of multiple police/swat team raids in the middle of the night, now it is ordinary citizens including kids selling lemonade! Just do a search for [Cops lemonade stands]
There is something really wrong in a society where kids selling lemonade and 88 year old grannies selling pies are treated like thieves and murderers…. Bye, Bye Miss America Pie…
Also see my comment here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/14/uk-police-seize-computers-of-skeptic-in-england/#comment-831854
[ http://jmyarlott.com/Articles/Mad%20Sheep/Default.asp seems to be http://jmyarlott.com/Articles/Mad Sheep/Default.asp There may or may not be a space between Mad and Sheep. The article is a very good illustration of the bureaucratic criminality]

Gail Combs
December 15, 2011 7:54 pm

Smokey, my Hubby just came up with this and I thought you might find it interesting.

MEIR BEN BARUCH OF ROTHENBURG (c. 1215–1293)
…..In the more than 80 of his responsa dealing with public law and community government, Meir gave the clearest and most incisive expression and explanation of the ideas of human freedom, government by consent, limitation of the power of the majority, and group responsibility– that formed part of Jewish law on the highest level of comprehension– of any other Jewish scholar before him or since. The principles of Jewish public law that man is absolutely free, that the legitimacy of government is derived solely from the free and uncoerced consent of the governed, and that the legislative power of the majority is limited to certain areas only and cannot encroach upon the private and inalienable rights of the individual were most forcefully and most clearly explained in his responsa. He thus greatly strengthened the democratic form of government of the communities – a form they derived traditionally from the forefathers of Franco-German Jewry– and it was eventually copied by the municipal governments and the guilds of the burgher class that arose in close contiguity with these Jewish communities. Thus in the 15 th century, in the legislation intended for the benefit of the whole group the principle “majority rules” was applied, while particular legislative acts that encroached upon the rights and the immunities of the individual, such as taxes, did not become law unless unanimous agreement by the membership of the group was achieved….
http://cojs.org/cojswiki/R._Meir_ben_Baruch_of_Rothenberg_%28Maharam%29,_EJ_11:1247-1252.

Ain’t the history of ideas interesting.

Dave Wendt
December 15, 2011 8:28 pm

Gail Combs says:
December 15, 2011 at 7:54 pm
That might provide some explanation of why, despite receiving almost universal support in the Jewish community, leftists have been so resolutely anti-semitic over the years. Our Founders arrived at the necessity of individual liberty as a bedrock principle of their plan for a constitutional republic in large part from their shared Judeo-Christian ethos. The statists on the left have borne obsessive enmity to both notions from nearly the beginning. With Obama in the White House they are dangerously close to achieving their long sought annihilation of these ideas.

wayne
December 16, 2011 12:09 am

Tucci78: “He really is the smartest guy in the room, no damned doubt about it.”
Got to agree.

December 16, 2011 4:54 am

Gail Combs says:
December 15, 2011 at 7:54 pm
… Ain’t the history of ideas interesting.
“ I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool of him and mock him. “
Omar Khayyám (1048-1131)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m
V.

Gail Combs
December 16, 2011 5:58 am

Tucci78 says:
December 15, 2011 at 11:01 pm
AT 6:24 PM on 15 December (Happy Bill of Rights Day; what is it we’re supposed to be celebrating?) Dave Wendt addresses the comment of Smokey at 5:09 PM…
__________________
Agreed.
The smear campaign against Herman Cain (BS in math & MS in Computer science Purdue) makes me think Cain might be a good choice for the V.P. slot. He has hands on business experience, knows the FED is pro-small business and is very smart too.

Gail Combs
December 16, 2011 6:32 am

Volker Doormann says:
December 16, 2011 at 4:54 am

“ I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for a group, small in number,…..
….and if they see a certain person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool of him and mock him.
Omar Khayyám (1048-1131)

_______________________________________________________
Know we know why math, science and philosophy have been left out of American schooling and what history we do get has been rewritten by the “Ministry of truth”

Ignoring Elites, Historians Are Missing a Major Factor in Politics and History
Steve Fraser, Gary Gerstel (2005)
“… Over the last quarter-century, historians have by and large ceased writing about the role of ruling elites in the country’s evolution. Or if they have taken up the subject, they have done so to argue against its salience for grasping the essentials of American political history. Yet there is something peculiar about this recent intellectual aversion, even if we accept as true the beliefs that democracy, social mobility, and economic dynamism have long inhibited the congealing of a ruling stratum. This aversion has coincided, after all, with one of the largest and fastest-growing disparities in the division of income and wealth in American history….Neglecting the powerful had not been characteristic of historical work before World War II. ”
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/11068.html

With the trumped up daycare “Child Abuse” cases used to ram government control of day cares through Congress, do not be surprised to see the outlawing of home schooling too.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_edent.htm
http://pedophileophobia.com/kern_county_child_abuse_cases.htm
listing of cases: http://pedophileophobia.com/day_care_sexual_abuse_hysteria.htm
The Fells Acre investigation was supervised by the Middlesex County MA District Attorney’s office. Scott Harshbarger was District Attorney at the time, and has since used this case to further his political ambitions. Violet Amirault died in jail “Among her last words were, “Don’t vote for Scott Harshbarger.” http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/amirault.html
I am familiar with the Fells Acre case because my local papers covered it. What is not mentioned in the internet article is that later, some of the child witnesses came forward to admit they had lied on the witness stand due to pressure from the social workers, but this never made a difference or gain the release of these people. It made a big splash in the local papers but never went anywhere.

ozspeaksup
December 16, 2011 7:24 am

one of the comments above has me thiking,
Tallbloke I sure hope you haven’t been to denmark and chatted any sheilas up?
extradite you there and thence to usa.
“do an Assange” on you.
with the seriously warped minds running the place lately nothing would be beyond them trying

December 16, 2011 10:38 am

RockyRoad says:
December 15, 2011 at 7:02 pm
Phil. says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:55 pm

“It is indeed, the suspension of habeus corpus by Lincoln in 1861 and 1862 being a case in point. Resisting a lawful action by police with firearms is not a constitutional right however.”
Obeying a non-constitutional law in a police state

Serving a lawfully obtained warrant is not non-constitutional.
(I wasn’t aware we are currently in a declared state of war like Lincoln was)
There was no declaration of war by the Union.
eventually leads to promulgation of one non-constitutional law after non-constitutional law. These deviations are eventually recognized the electorate that something is horribly amiss and once a sufficient number decide to unseat a government that has become so authoritarian it may only be possible by reliance on firearms.
The suspension of habeas corpus by president Bush for aliens determined to be “unlawful enemy combatants” was passed by the US House and Senate in 2006. The US Senate recently rejected an attempt to proscribe the indefinite detention of US citizens. To quote Lindsey Graham on the subject “When they say, ‘I want my lawyer,’ you tell them: ‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer. You are an enemy combatant, and we are going to talk to you about why you joined Al Qaeda.’”
The current bill, H.R. 1540, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act which permits indefinite detention of US citizens, was passed by the House of Representatives by 283 – 136.

December 16, 2011 10:43 am

Dave Wendt says:
December 15, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Smokey says:
December 15, 2011 at 5:09 pm
“Congress just this week passed a law allowing the President to waive habeus corpus and indefinitely detain American citizens, simply on the suspicion of having a connection with [undefined] “terrorists”. The connection does not have to be proven; it could simply be conversation at a cocktail party. The government does not have to disclose the basis for the detention, and the detainee does not have a right to counsel, and no judge may intervene.”
After 8 straight years of a daily leftist drone about how “BushHitler” was ravaging our “rights” under the Constitution, it has been wonderfully revealing to watch their chirping crickets reaction to the Obama administration’s almost daily efforts to make these supposed crimes, which under Bush were mostly fantastic exaggerations, into all to present realities.

The 227 Republicans who voted for this legislation are hardly the ‘Obama administration’.

December 16, 2011 2:37 pm

Gail Combs says:
December 16, 2011 at 6:32 am
“… Over the last quarter-century, historians have by and large ceased writing about the role of ruling elites in the country’s evolution. Or if they have taken up the subject, they have done so to argue against its salience for grasping the essentials of American political history. Yet there is something peculiar about this recent intellectual aversion, even if we accept as true the beliefs that democracy, social mobility, and economic dynamism have long inhibited the congealing of a ruling stratum. This aversion has coincided, after all, with one of the largest and fastest-growing disparities in the division of income and wealth in American history….Neglecting the powerful had not been characteristic of historical work before World War II.
Steve Fraser, Gary Gerstel (2005)

I read that Tallbloke has studied history and philosophy. Knowing the stories from history and ancient philosophers, one can come a being instead of a run growing, and recognition instead of emotion of any kind, power, religion or evolution. The Dear host here A.W. stands with his being with his WUWT for the truth; I bow for his standing.
Giordano Bruno says: “All the true philosophy is music or poetry and painting at the same time. True painting is music and philosophy at the same time. Maintain Poetry is a type of divine wisdom and painting.”
“Giordano Bruno is burned the Fiori lively at the 17.2.1600 on the Campo on the pyre. He said “With bigger fear announces ye maybe the judgment as I accept it.” An eyewitness reports about the execution: “Giordano Bruno looked pale and pale – apparently weakened from the blood loss, that he had suffered through the bygone tortures. His arms hung down lifelessly. One had torn them from the joints as one had woven him over the wheel. Not enough with it – the shocking torture tool had down-scraped the meat until on the bones at many places.” He remain himself and his philosophy loyal until into the death, and as one holds the sacred cross in front of him to the remorse, Bruno turns his Head hates to the side.”
Many scientist of today have forgotten that philosophy is the basis of science; not physics, not the number of papers.
Josh paintings are true philosophy.
Best
V.

December 16, 2011 6:12 pm

you know you have ‘made it’ what ever IT is, when Josh dedicates a cartoon to you 🙂

kim2ooo
December 17, 2011 12:34 am

Officer,I have a hard believing you when you say I’m “not a suspect” – when you creep up to my home in the dead of night.

December 17, 2011 11:21 am

Nice!

December 17, 2011 1:15 pm

Josh, great and great. Delighted it made it to Delingpole.
I hope Anthony can post Fenbeagleblog here now – for Christmas.

December 17, 2011 2:20 pm

Volker, you have said some beautiful words. It is only a pity that they are nearly lost in bad translation (?Google). They are worth repeating, and I’ll try to guess your meaning.
I read that Tallbloke studied history and philosophy. Knowing the stories from history and ancient philosophers, one grows in one’s inner being as much as in one’s outer doing, with simple awareness rather than excessive emotion of any kind, power, or religion. A.W., our dear host here, stands for the truth in WUWT with his whole being; I bow to his stature.
Giordano Bruno says: “All true philosophy is music, poetry and painting at the same time…”
Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in the Campo de’ Fiori on 17.2.1600. He said “You announce your judgement with more fear than I feel as I accept it.” An eyewitness reports about the execution: “Giordano Bruno looked extremely pale – apparently weakened from the blood loss that he had suffered through earlier tortures. His arms hung down lifelessly. Something had torn them from their joints as he had been spun round a wheel. Not satisfied with that – the shocking torture tool had scraped the flesh down to the bones in many places.” He remains himself and loyal to his philosophy until his death, and as someone holds the sacred cross in front of him to let him acknowledge remorse, Bruno averts his eyes.
Many scientist of today have forgotten that philosophy is the basis of science; not physics, not the number of papers.

December 18, 2011 2:59 am

Lucy Skywalker says:
December 17, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Volker, you have said some beautiful words. It is only a pity that they are nearly lost in bad translation (?Google). They are worth repeating, and I’ll try to guess your meaning. ….
Thank you Lucy, for that. I’m not well trained in your language. In my wordpress about I wrote: “Volker was born on 12. June 1943 at 1 h 30 DSZ in Ellwangen, Germany. Physics, astrology, water painting, music, poetry and the science of philosophy have filled my life. No High school. Some soul friends, most of them dead.” I have spend only nine years for a ‘Low school’ until 1958. It was important to me to speak some words. Freedom is neither to bye from ebay nor from amazon dot com; freedom IS either you, or you are the enemy, not the other. But it is ever doing the splits as guest between the subject of a thread and to argue about the whole one nature.
However, thanks again. I have done a pic to the subject.
Best
V.

AfterSeven
December 21, 2011 3:49 pm

To Anthony and Jeff Id,
I recall in 2005 or 2006 a priest somewhere in New England was successfully prosecuted under the Patriot Act for unintentionally deleting portions of a hard drive that the DoJ had requested be preserved. I don’t remember the facts of the case exactly, but I do remember that the case had nothing to do with terrorism.
The moral of the story is this, when a request has been made by ANY Federal Agency that you preserve electronic data in its original form…that you follow that request to the letter…probably best to remove the hard drives in question and go get new ones for your day to day activities. The way the Patriot Act is written, vaguely that is, its just not worth taking any chances.
A7