This article was an interesting read.

Climate stability has never been a feature of planet Earth. The only constant about climate is change; it changes continually and, at times, quite rapidly.

My interest in the current climate-change debate was triggered in 1998, when I was funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council strategic project grant to determine if there were regular cycles in West Coast fish productivity.

My research team began to collect and analyze core samples from the bottom of deep Western Canadian fjords... ...As a consequence, the floors of these basins are mostly lifeless and sediment layers build up year after year, undisturbed over millennia.

Using various coring technologies, we have been able to collect more than 5,000 years' worth of mud in these basins

Using computers to conduct what is referred to as a "time series analysis" on the colouration and thickness of the annual layers, we have discovered repeated cycles in marine productivity in this, a region larger than Europe. Specifically, we find a very strong and consistent 11-year cycle throughout the whole record in the sediments and diatom remains. This correlates closely to the well-known 11-year "Schwabe" sunspot cycle, during which the output of the sun varies by about 0.1%. Sunspots, violent storms on the surface of the sun, have the effect of increasing solar output, so, by counting the spots visible on the surface of our star, we have an indirect measure of its varying brightness. Such records have been kept for many centuries and match very well with the changes in marine productivity we are observing.

In the sediment, diatom and fish-scale records, we also see longer period cycles, all correlating closely with other well-known regular solar variations. In particular, we see marine productivity cycles that match well with the sun's 75-90-year "Gleissberg Cycle," the 200-500-year "Suess Cycle" and the 1,100-1,500-year "Bond Cycle."

Giuliani impressed me by standing up for being Pro-Choice in a wide sea of Pro-Life conservatives. Fred Thompson impresses me similarly; he shares his opinions in a clear and concise manner without a lot of political obfuscation. Like Giuliani, he isn't shy about what he stands for.

Why talk about what Fred Thompspon stands for when you can read his own words over at TownHall.Com? Also, did you know that he has a MySpace page? ...and a blog?

The Castro/Chavez Axis
A Prescription for the Nursing Shortage
An Unsustainable Development
The New Hostages
Sentencing of Scooter Libby
A Story of Vigilance
Speaking Up for Freedom
Living in Terror
I Remember
Tolerating Trafficking
The Immigration Bill: Comprehensive or Incomprehensible?
You're Listening to Radio Free Congress
Those Who Cannot Remember the Past
It’s a Small World After All
Power of The President
First Principles First
Armed with the Truth
A Toast to Monsieur Sarkozy
Tenent’s Time with Tim
To the Shores of Tripoli
Excerpt: Prepared Remarks for Speech to Lincoln Club Annual Dinner
Images of Oppression
The myth of Cuban health care
Sticks and Stones
The NFL Backdraft
Rewriting History a Classroom at a Time
Black and White Decisions
Talking about Federalism

Comm. Keechl replied to my letter this morning. I thanked him for his attention in this matter.

Michael With regard to my position, the article wasn't complete. No vote was taken. What I said was: I want to know which of the 3 radio stations has the most viewers. As I said in response to Comm. Ritter, I don't like WIOD; however, if it reaches the most people I will vote for it next week. Its really that simple. My best, Ken Keechl

I really enjoyed this interview. The more I see of the man, the more I like him.

If you have the time and curiosity, check it out.

Have you seen this article in today's Sun Sentinel? It's astonishing. I'm sorry Ms Ritter, this shouldn't be a "business" decision based on the merits of anyone's social or political agenda ...and considering the beating we took during Wilma and Katrina, you should be ashamed of yourself the way you are putting your feelings about a bloviating pundit over your responsibility to your constituency.

I penned a letter to my own representative, who was also mentioned in the article.

From the Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Broward may cancel deal with radio station because it airs Rush Limbaugh

Commissioner Stacy Ritter said she did not want to support a station that's out of step with area politics. Ritter, a Democratic stalwart in the state Legislature before being elected to county office, cited talk shows hosted by Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and WIOD's partnership with Fox News.

"They have every right to speak, but we don't have to do business with them," she said.

Also:

Ritter's concerns were echoed by Commissioners Ken Keechl, a former president of the Dolphins gay Democratic club, and Suzanne Gunzburger, who served on the vote-tallying board that recounted the 2000 presidential election.

And finally:

Judy Sarver, the county's public communications director, said WFTL and WLRN also offered to take on the role, but that she and other emergency planners preferred WIOD because of its signal strength, numerous FM sister stations and willingness to give Broward top play.

Mr. Keechl, I respectfully tender that this is not "business" as Ms. Ritter has put it but a public service and responsibility. Ms. Sarver's reasoning strikes me as transparently in the public's interest while your support of Ms Ritter's position appears to be motivated by party politics.

I hope that you will reconsider your stance on this position. There is a time and place for every issue to be addressed, but for my representative to choose an official radio channel for emergency information ...based not on its capacity to perform and willingness to serve ...but instead on the entertainment content they regularly provide?

That doesn't sound wrong to you?

Very Respectfully,

Michael Cummins
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Wendy and I sat back an watched the Third Republican Debate this evening, as well as Fred Thompson's appearance on Hannity and Colmes. We always joke about the word "bloviate" when we flip past that show. It's not really one of our favorites, but Fred Thompson was on and we've been very curious about him.

I like the way he presents himself, I like how he cuts to the chase and I like how he seems to want to run his (unofficial) campaign from the "outside". It's probably a good choice. People aren't generally pleased with anything coming from the inside of Washington right now.

Right now my eyes are on him and Giuliani. I admired the former Mayor this evening when he made a pro-choice stand in a field of pro-life candidates and stuck with his guns. I liked McCain's performance too, though for some reason he just doesn't resonate with me as well as Fred or Rudy. (Yeah, I know those two probably shouldn't be in the same sentence, but I like them both. Go figure.)

This was the first night I got to see Mitt in action, and I must say that I wasn't impressed at all. Nope.

Anyway, check these out. Three very different guys, but I like each of them for different things.

FRED THOMPSON
http://www.imwithfred.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Thompson

Fred's website even comes with a handy widget:

RUDY GIULIANI
http://www.joinrudy2008.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani

JOHN MCCAIN
http://www.johnmccain.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

I thought this was an excellent piece by Frederick W. Kagan.

The other country between Iran and Syria might be called "MyRaq"

1. Sunni and Shiite MyRaqis simply hate each other and want to kill each other as they have for centuries. Violence in MyRaq cannot be controlled because it is the reflection of irrational hatred.

2. American troops are seen as occupiers in MyRaq. They are the irritant that drives the violence. If only the U.S. withdrew, the MyRaqis would stop killing one another and the war would end.

3. MyRaq must find its own solutions to its problems. Real peace can result only from political accommodations that the MyRaqi leaders have so far been unwilling to make, largely because the presence of American forces has allowed them to duck making the hard calls.

4. MyRaqis are a bunch of welfare queens who won't do anything for themselves as long as Americans are willing to do it for them. If we want the MyRaqis to establish and maintain security, we've got to pull back and force them to do it. We can leave some training teams to help them work better, but MyRaqi Security Forces should be doing all the heavy lifting in the MyBaghdad Security Plan and throughout the country.

5. Problems in MyRaq come from MyRanian (and MySyrian) influence and intervention. MyRan (a fictitious country that deserves a study of its own) is acting out of self-defense in MyRaq, fearful of an overbearing America that refuses to address its legitimate concerns. Diplomatic overtures toward MyRan would reduce MyRanian interference in MyRaq, leading to peace.

7. MyRaq is an artificial country whose boundaries have no meaning to its people. It should be partitioned into three states--MyKurdistan, MySunnistan, and MyShiitestan--which would then be peaceful and stable. After all, MyRaq was divided into three vilayets when under Ottoman control and we all know how stable it was then.

Unfortunately, the problems facing Iraq--and their solutions--are far more complex.

Read the whole article, it is very enlightening.