Derb Radio

John Derbyshire on Sonia Sotomayor, elections in Europe, and much more.

"Global Warming" Insanity

Europeans appear to have completely lost their minds:

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

I suppose the next logical step would be an admitted mass murderer getting off, with his defense being that he was just trying to reduce humanity's "carbon footprint" by dealing directly with overpopulation...

There is no freedom of speech in Europe

From The Times:

An Italian comedienne who said that Pope Benedict XVI would go to Hell and be tormented by homosexual demons is facing a prison term of up to five years.

Addressing a Rome rally in July, Sabrina Guzzanti warmed up with a few gags about Silvio Berlusconi — her favourite target for her biting impressions — before moving on to some unrepeatable jokes about Mara Carfagna, the Equal Opportunities Minister and one-time topless model.

But then she got religion, and after warning everyone that within 20 years Italian teachers would be vetted and chosen by the Vatican, she got to the punchline: "But then, within 20 years the Pope will be where he ought to be — in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils, and very active ones, not passive ones."

The joke may have gone done well with her crowd on the Piazza Navona in Rome, but not with Italian prosecutors. She is facing prosecution for "offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person" of Benedict XVI.

While I'm fairly certain that this "comedienne" is just another shrill and obnoxious leftist, surely she doesn't deserve prison time for the "crime" of telling tasteless and unfunny jokes. But in 21st century Europe, sadly, freedom of speech is somewhat of an alien concept.

Europe's governments immune to Obama-fever

From Reuters:

European fans will cheer on U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama as he visits Berlin, Paris and London this week, but governments wary of his inexperience and evolving policies fear the euphoria is overdone.

...

But in the German Chancellery a few hundred meters away there is unease with the Illinois senator's cult-like following and skepticism about whether he can live up to the hype.

"There is a sort of Obama-mania in Germany right now, but I think a lot of people will have their illusions shattered if he does become president," an official in Chancellor Angela Merkel's office told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

Some European officials recalled how difficult trans-Atlantic relations were in the first few years of President Bill Clinton's administration because of his inexperience and the time it took to get his team into place.

...

A change in the White House could have the biggest impact on Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, both of whom have developed close ties to Bush in recent years.

Merkel, who has regular video-conference exchanges with Bush, and Sarkozy, who visited the U.S. president at his family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, could see their influence in Washington wane in the short-term under Obama.

The same can be said for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has made plain his "very personal preference" for McCain. Berlusconi's centre-left challenger in a May election, Walter Veltroni, had a campaign slogan borrowed from Obama -- "Yes we can" -- and compared himself to the U.S. Democrat.

In conservative Poland, there are fears an Obama administration could row back on the Bush administration's plans to deploy a missile shield in central Europe, leaving Warsaw to pick up the pieces.

"The problem with Obama is that we still don't know very much about what he thinks on foreign policy, he is tabula rasa," said Rafal Trzaskowski, an analyst at the Natolin European Centre, a Warsaw think thank.

Wow. Even socialist Euro-weenies are wary of this guy. God help us if the sheeple actually elect this empty suit in November...