For those that are unfamiliar, one of the finest writers on the political landscape today is Mark Steyn. His piece Sunday concerning the absurdity of global warming hysteria is a fine example (h/t NB member aero).

First, Steyn mocked statements by the media about how solid the science surrounding this illusion is (emphasis mine throughout):

Indeed. If the science is so solid, maybe they could drag it out to the Arctic for the poor polar bears to live on now that the ice is melting faster than a coed's heart at an Al Gore lecture.

Great idea, Mark. I'd happily pay to see that. He wonderfully continued:

In the midst of the media's global warming panic, an interesting thing is happening in Iceland: the amount of pack ice has increased to levels not seen in decades.

As reported by the Telegraph (h/t Drudge, emphasis mine throughout):

The oceans may be warming and air temperatures rising, but in recent days Iceland has bucked the global climate trend.

Thick pack ice, the like of which has not been seen for decades, stretched into the western fjords as temperatures plummeted and a bitter wind blew in from -Greenland.

The article continued:

Holy Cross College Professor Jerry Lembcke's 1999 column, "We Are What We Remember" (HTML link), was originally published in the April edition of Holy Cross Magazine (original PDF of the entire magazine is here; Lembcke's column is on Page 74).

Lembcke's core claim is that "the image of the spat-upon veteran is mythical ....." This is a narrative that at least two Greater Cincinnati-area bloggers appear to have fallen for hook, line, and sinker (here and here; BizzyBlog's "debunk of the debunkers" post from earlier today is here; be sure to read the Updates and the comments). Apparently others around the country have also been taken in.

Lembcke's fallback position is that:

But while I cannot prove the negative, I can prove the positive: I can show what did happen during those years and that that historical record makes it highly unlikely that the alleged acts of spitting occurred in the number and manner that is now widely believed.

There's a teeny tiny problem with Lembcke's claim. As Former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Bill Sloat notes at his Daily Bellwether blog, Jerry Lembcke's "search for evidence" apparently overlooked a couple of contrary items that were very close by -- so close that he would not even have had to leave his easy chair after reading the article he wrote. That's because Lembcke is debunked in the VERY SAME issue of the VERY SAME Holy Cross Magazine -- not once, but twice, by two separate Holy Cross alumni who served in Vietnam!

The first alumni vet is Jim McDougald '51. The second is Steve Bowen '65. The story, along with its individual portrayals, covers Pages 18-31 of the original publication. Extracts with the two spitting stories are these:

Despite the media and Al Gore’s ad nauseum contention that there is actually a scientific consensus for the existence of anthropogenic global warming, the facts speak otherwise. Conveniently, the media never interview folks who disagree with their fantasy, thereby making it easy to promote.

Of course, those interested in the truth know of many outspoken members of the scientific community who are not being bullied by the politics of the situation. Another in a growing list of such skeptics is Israeli astrophysicist Nir Shaviv who has been doing research for years to identify if there is any connection between rising levels of CO2 and rising temperatures. As reported by the National Post, Shaviv’s studies suggest otherwise (h/t Drudge), leading him to actually recant his previous position on this issue:

Read this today in Maureen Dowds coloumn about Hillary. Sums up Democrats plan for Iraq perfectly.

"America,lets pull over and just ask for directions."

On Friday, NewsBuster Justin McCarthy reported the interesting discussion that ensued on ABC’s “The View” concerning Nazi-style censorship of entertainers such as the Dixie Chicks. During this segment, Whoopi Goldberg shed some light on what really happened at a DNC fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in 2004 (video available here courtesy of our friend at Ms Underestimated).

It seems her much reported remark about President Bush and a part of the female anatomy might have been taken a bit out of context, and that nobody seemed willing to stand up for the comedienne to straighten it out. Oddly, this included Democrats, who Whoopi stated, “Disappeared like cockroaches in the night.”

Maybe even more shocking, Rosie O’Donnell agreed with Whoopi’s assertion:

Images available here.

h/t Instapundit - Ann Althouse calls attention to an image of Polar Bears making the rounds, again - it was allegedly taken by Dan Crosbie in 2004 and is currently number one on Yahoo's photo list. The image I have up at right also involves Dan Crosbie from the same period in 2004 during a scientific trip during which they carried rifles to run off polar bears while planting equipment in the ice - ice that was much thicker than they expected it to be. (pertinent excerpted text at bottom)

Ain't technology wunnerful? I mean, it saves all that wear and tear on the VW Mini-Bus, saves the trees that would otherwise be cut down for anti-war signs, the paint, the tye-dying of shirts, the buying of sandals... heck all sorts of things and time can be saved because the World Wide Web has brought technology to leftist activism!

I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

It's also a great thing that those evil, rotten, Nazi, CONSERVATIVES have not discovered the WWW as a place to gather their forces. It's so heart warming that the left can, at long last, use technology for good instead of evil.

Or so it seems the Washington Post imagines the world has been set to rights because today a charming article has appeared in their paper letting us know that hey have found the "perfect example of how antiwar is waged in the Internet age." Or at least so says Jennifer Earl in "Where Have All the Protests Gone? Online".

Not that there was ever much doubt where Tim Russert aligns, but it was nice to get concrete confirmation on today's Meet the Press. Grilling John Edwards over his vote to authorize the war and his expression of support for it as late as 2004, Russert pointed out that Obama had staked out a firmly anti-Iraq war position before the conflict began.

Russert displayed a two-part graphic of Obama's 2002 statement, which concluded with the words: "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars."

Russert then shot at Edwards: "His judgment was on the money."

For the MSM, there's nothing like the occasion of a natural disaster to challenge the faith of religious believers.

On today's Good Morning America, Kate Snow interviewed the Rev. Larry Lynn, Pastor of the Lady Lake Church of God, whose buildings were totally levelled by the tornadoes that recently struck central Florida.

A minute or so into the interview, Snow asked a question that challenged the core of the pastor's religious belief: "How do you reconcile your faith with the enormity of this tragedy?"

On the front page of Sunday's Style section in the Washington Post is an article headlined "No I-Told-You-Sos." Reporter Lynne Duke hailed anti-war voices and their predictions of doom as correct, but there is "no gloating" among them. But there's one nagging issue for readers. Duke never quotes an actual prediction from 2002 or 2003. Among her heroic non-gloaters were skeptical hawks (William Odom, Anthony Zinni), but she also focused on doves: Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski (they did so well in Iran?) and, most egregiously, leftist Rep. Barbara Lee (pictured with actress Susan Sarandon), who wouldn't even vote for war after September 11. Is she vindicated? Duke hailed how Lee "saw it coming" in 2001 and had the foresight to oppose the entire military War on Terror.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo comic strip, 1971

Nicholas Kristof has apparently embraced the Walt Kelly view of America. When it comes to the war in Iraq, the only evildoers the New York Times columnist seems to see are Americans.

At the foot of his pay-to-play of column of January 23rd, Kristof invited readers to submit their literary analogies for President Bush and Iraq. In today's columnn, Kristof mentions having received over 400 reader responses.

And which entry does Kristof choose to feature at the column's beginning and that might fairly be taken as his unofficial winner? One that analogizes the various actors in the play to characters from Harry Potter. I set forth below the reader's analogies, followed by a description of the character as culled from their Wikipedia entries.

Actual caption:

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is surrounded by reporters and photographers as he answers questions at a media availability at the team's hotel in Ft.