LIGHTHOUSE BLOG

U.N.'s Global Warming Report Under Fresh Attack for Rainforest Claims

A United Nations report on climate change that has been lambasted for its faulty research is under new attack for yet another instance of what critics say is sloppy science -- guiding global warming policy based on a study of forest fires.  More...

Climate chief was told of false glacier claims before Copenhagen

The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt.

Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong, but he waited two months to correct it. He failed to act despite learning that the claim had been refuted by several leading glaciologists.

The IPCC’s report underpinned the proposals at Copenhagen for drastic cuts in global emissions.  More...

Race-Based Groups Defy Dr. King's Teachings

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. (August 28, 1963)

Forty-seven years after those profound words were spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, we still have race-based groups that are shamefully considered mainstream and acceptable in our nation.

Two such groups, the NAACP, and the Black Student Union of Phoenix College, held rally yesterday in Phoenix, purportedly to commemorate Dr. King.

Do they not see the irony in their commemoration of Dr. King while basing membership in their organizations solely on skin color?

It amazes me how often Dr. Kings teachings are lost on the very people he so desperately sought to help.  In some people, we've sadly seen little progress indeed.

Brewer's Indentity Crisis

Who is Jan Brewer today? 

In past elections she has run as a right-of-center Republican, who was fiscally responsible, and pro-life.   She had a distinguished career as a public servant, and is credited with signing some long overdue pro-life bills into law soon after taking over from General Napolitano.

In November, however, she hired as her campaign's co-chairman, Grant Woods, an Arizona fixture, like an old decaying engine in the weeds in the front yard, who vacillates on both sides of the political fence.  Was this to appease the left?

She has proposed tax increases, which most Arizonans oppose, and has had difficulty making budget decisions that are necessary for the state - hardly a characteristic of a fiscal Republican.

More recently she has seemingly aligned herself with some leaders of Planned Parenthood, allowing them to throw her a fund-raiser.

It seems our Governor has gone through some sort of ideological shift to the left.  That may gain her some new acquaintances, but at the expense of her longtime friends.

Apathetic Passengers Also To Blame in Newark Security Breach

The Newark security breach that shut down the airport because one guy ducked under a security rope to kiss his girlfriend, has set up a firestorm of controversy about safety at airports.  While I'm all for safety at airports, I have to ask, what in the hell were the passengers who just walked by the guy thinking?

Of the dozens of passengers witnessing the violation, only one apparently told the guard, and none intervened to stop the guy.  Are some of us that self-absorbed that they can witness a major security breach and do nothing about it because it doesn't directly impact them?  Apparently some of the people in Newark that day were.

The result of the breach was an airport shutdown, major economic losses, as well as time and manpower.  If the man had been a terrorist, I truly hope those people that watched him breach security would have felt culpable for the lives lost as a result of having done nothing to stop him.  

Terrorism is on the rise in America folks.  We must all do our part to prevent it.  We cannot just sit idly by and pretend that it doesn't impact all of us.  Doing so will be at our own peril.  Thank God the passengers on the Christmas Northwest flight had more courage than the people in Newark.

A Contrast In Leadership - Phil Gordan v. Maricopa Supervisors

The Arizona Republic today ran a story about Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon putting one of his top aides on administrative leave until he can resolve charges of domestic violence.  The charge would be a misdemeanor, but Gordon, with whom I rarely agree, did the right thing by moving the issue away from the work of the people until it is resolved.

Contrast that with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who unanimously voted to elect beleaguered politician Don Stapley as Chairman of the Board.  Stapley, in case you've been under a rock, "was indicted in December on 22 felony counts of fraud, perjury, theft and forgery in the misuse of campaign funds," according to the Arizona Republic.  Stapley had at one time faced over 100 felony and misdemeanor counts.  Yet, the Board of Supervisors felt he was fit to run their Board and do the people's work.

This is the same group of Supervisors, mind you, that decided to fire the elected County Attorney, and replace him with a crony, rather than have Mr. Stapley answer to the charges.  It begs the question of why, if someone is innocent, do they need to take such drastic steps to avoid answering to criminal charges?  I hope if I ever get indicted, I can just fire the County Attorney in order to avoid defending myself.  

Mayor Gordon showed leadership in his placing his misdemeanor-facing aide on administrative leave.  How shameful of the Maricopa County Supervisors that they promoted their felony-facing peer to the highest position on the Board.  It's nothing short of a slap in the face to the people who elected them.  A contrast in leadership indeed.