RUTHFULLY YOURS

Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared in the U.K. publication Standpoint.

— Nigel Lawson is a member of the U.K. House of Lords and chairman of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. This essay is based on the text of a speech given to the Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment at the University of Bath.

There is something odd about the global-warming debate — or the climate-change debate, as we are now expected to call it, since global warming has for the time being come to a halt.

I have never shied away from controversy, nor — for example, as chancellor of the exchequer — worried about being unpopular if I believed that what I was saying and doing was in the public interest.

But I have never in my life experienced the extremes of personal hostility, vituperation, and vilification that I — along with other dissenters, of course — have received for my views on global warming and global-warming policies.

For example, according to the climate-change secretary, Ed Davey, the global-warming dissenters are, without exception, “wilfully ignorant,” and in the view of the prince of Wales we are “headless chickens.” Not that “dissenter” is a term they use. We are regularly referred to as “climate-change deniers,” a phrase deliberately designed to echo “Holocaust denier” — as if questioning present policies and forecasts of the future is equivalent to casting malign doubt about a historical fact.

The heir to the throne and the minister are senior public figures who watch their language. The abuse I received after appearing on the BBC’s Today program last February was far less restrained. Both the BBC and I received an orchestrated barrage of complaints to the effect that it was an outrage that I was allowed to discuss the issue on the program at all. And even the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons shamefully joined the chorus of those who seek to suppress debate.

In fact, despite having written a thoroughly documented book about global warming more than five years ago, which happily became something of a bestseller, and having founded a think tank on the subject — the Global Warming Policy Foundation — the following year, and despite frequently being invited on Today to discuss economic issues, this was the first time I had ever been asked to discuss climate change. I strongly suspect it will also be the last time.

The BBC received a well-organized deluge of complaints — some of them, inevitably, from those with a vested interest in renewable energy — accusing me, among other things, of being a geriatric retired politician and not a climate scientist, and so wholly unqualified to discuss the issue.

Perhaps, in passing, I should address the frequent accusation from those who violently object to any challenge to any aspect of the prevailing climate-change doctrine, that the Global Warming Policy Foundation’s non-disclosure of the names of our donors is proof that we are a thoroughly sinister organization and a front for the fossil-fuel industry.

The legal left and media are always last to know, but there are the makings of a correction in how the courts police conflicts between the political branches. President Obama’s serial executive power abuses—on health care, immigration, marijuana and much else—may be inspiring a heathy rejoinder.

Under the Constitution, Congress is supposed to create and amend laws and the President to faithfully execute them, but Mr. Obama has grabbed inherent Article I powers by suspending or rewriting statutes he opposes. The President has usurped Congress with impunity because he assumes no one has the legal standing to challenge him.

Most of the time people who are exempted from laws do not suffer the concrete injuries that the judiciary can redress, while the courts maintain a presumption that Members of Congress also lack such standing. In 1997’s Raines v. Byrd, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit against the line-item veto brought by six Congressmen because the loss of legislative power they challenged was a “wholly abstract and widely dispersed” injury.

But that doesn’t mean that conduct that marginalizes the legislative branch is absolved of judicial review. In one notable case, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is suing the White House over the ObamaCare regulatory carve-out that conjured up special subsidies for Members and staffers who were supposed to give up federal employee health benefits to join the insurance exchanges.

Mr. Johnson argues that because Members must designate which staffers do and don’t participate, the rule imposes a nontrivial administrative burden—i.e., he has standing to sue because the rule harms his office, not because he is a U.S. Senator. More to the point, Mr. Johnson claims that the rule forces him to become personally complicit in law breaking and thus damages his political reputation. Several appeals court precedents hold that elected officials who must maintain the public trust suffer injuries when their credibility is undermined, including a 1993 D.C. Circuit ruling by now-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The White House claims Mr. Johnson lacks standing, but that’s because the lawyers don’t want to get near the merits. The real import of his lawsuit is that it invites the courts to restore the proper separation of powers amid executive encroachment.

What makes Rossiter’s column even more important is that he is a Fellow of the Institute for Policy
Studies (IPS) a markedly leftist group….rsk

Every year environmental groups celebrate a night when institutions in developed countries (including my own university) turn off their lights as a protest against fossil fuels. They say their goal is to get America and Europe to look from space like Africa: dark, because of minimal energy use.

But that is the opposite of what’s desired by Africans I know. They want Africa at night to look like the developed world, with lights in every little village and with healthy people, living longer lives, sitting by those lights. Real years added to real lives should trump the minimal impact that African carbon emissions could have on a theoretical catastrophe.

I’ve spent my life on the foreign-policy left. I opposed the Vietnam War, U.S. intervention in Central America in the 1980s and our invasion of Iraq. I have headed a group trying to block U.S. arms and training for “friendly” dictators, and I have written books about how U.S. policy in the developing world is neocolonial.

But I oppose my allies’ well-meaning campaign for “climate justice.” More than 230 organizations, including Africa Action and Oxfam, want industrialized countries to pay “reparations” to African governments for droughts, rising sea levels and other alleged results of what Ugandan strongman Yoweri Museveni calls “climate aggression.” And I oppose the campaign even more for trying to deny to Africans the reliable electricity—and thus the economic development and extended years of life—that fossil fuels can bring.

The left wants to stop industrialization—even if the hypothesis of catastrophic, man-made global warming is false. John Feffer, my colleague at the Institute for Policy Studies, wrote in the Dec. 8, 2009, Huffington Post that “even if the mercury weren’t rising” we should bring “the developing world into the postindustrial age in a sustainable manner.” He sees the “climate crisis [as] precisely the giant lever with which we can, following Archimedes, move the world in a greener, more equitable direction.”

I started to suspect that the climate-change data were dubious a decade ago while teaching statistics. Computer models used by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to determine the cause of the six-tenths of one degree Fahrenheit rise in global temperature from 1980 to 2000 could not statistically separate fossil-fueled and natural trends.

Then, as now, the computer models simply built in the assumption that fossil fuels are the culprit when temperatures rise, even though a similar warming took place from 1900 to 1940, before fossil fuels could have caused it. The IPCC also claims that the warming, whatever its cause, has slightly increased the length of droughts, the frequency of floods, the intensity of storms, and the rising of sea levels, projecting that these impacts will accelerate disastrously. Yet even the IPCC acknowledges that the average global temperature today remains unchanged since 2000, and did not rise one degree as the models predicted.

Though they may publicly deny that there is any scandal in the Obama administration’s response to the Benghazi attack on September 11, 2012, there must be doubts emerging, if only because we now know with certainty that a critical email was withheld in violation of a subpoena from the Issa Committee. Though most Democrats loathe Darrel Issa (and the entire Republican Party, for that matter), the expression “cover-up” is now in play, and the senior Congressional leadership of the party is old enough to remember the Watergate hearings, and the articles of impeachment that emerged from that process, authored in part by a young committee staffer named Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Article 1 cited as part of the justification for impeachment:

withholding relevant and material evidence or information from lawfully authorized investigative officers and employees of the United States;

In Watergate, keep in mind, the underlying crime was a “third-rate burglary,” while in Benghazi, it is a terror attack, the murder of an ambassador and three guards, the desecration of their flag-draped caskets with a lie from the sitting Secretary of State as to the perpetrators, and the continuing failure of the federal government to bring to justice their killers because the Pentagon’s hands have been tied by the failure of the administration to name the perpetrators as members of Al Qaeda. These matters are far more consequential than a misbegotten intelligence-gathering operation.

The mainstream media has been acting as a cofferdam around the story, limiting its impact to the Fox News and conservative blogosphere ghetto. But with a Select Committee about to be created, professional prosecutorial staff to be hired and deployed, depositions of officials, including Mrs. Clinton, to be taken for however many hours or days are required, and more emails and other documents known to exist and eventually to be released, more news will be created.

At this point, the competitive instincts of the journalism pack may be released, at least among some who have not completely signed on to the proposition that The First Black President must be protected at all costs. Last week saw an Alphabet Network White House Correspondent, Jonathan Karl of ABC News, pursue Jay Carney with a zeal that would do Fox News, The Washington Times, or The American Thinker proud. Always lurking in the back of the minds of many professional journalists is the fear of getting scooped on The Big One, even if they wish the story didn’t exist.

Washington is notoriously a one-crisis town. And it may well be that the growing concern over Russian aggression in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s threats to other former Soviet-occupied areas in Central and Eastern Europe will soak up all the controversy oxygen in the U.S. capital.

But there is increasing evidence that the events of 9/11 2012 in eastern Libya were extremely significant although any effort to elucidate them studiously has been ignored by the mainstream media.

They may, indeed, be an important marker in the longer term development of U.S. politics and American foreign policy and therefore of world peace and stability.

There are two overarching reasons why those events were significant:

An analysis of what happened there – when more facts are available – could well reveal the basis of the growing worldwide perception of the fundamental failure of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy. That perception, whether a reflection of reality or not, is increasingly an ingredient in world politics given the central role of the U.S. since the end of World War II.

The Benghazi events could produce in more detail than has been otherwise available an evaluation of Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, whatever veneer her frenzied activity of almost constant world travel has given it. If, as might be argued, the events at Benghazi and the conditions leading up to them were a product of Mrs. Clinton’s decision-making at State, even at second hand, they are important indicators of her executive ability. Until now that executive command had never been tested in any other venue since she has had no election to executive office.

Declassified Email Confirms Benghazi Cover-Up — on The Glazov Gang
How a filmmaker went to jail to protect a White House fairy tale before an election.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/declassified-email-confirms-benghazi-cover-up-on-the-glazov-gang/

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

V Wave heart device implanted in first patient. The implant-able shunt developed by Israel’s V Wave treats congestive heart failure patients by reducing pressure on the muscle controlling the blood flow between the heart chambers. The first patient to receive the shunt is already experiencing an improved condition.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-v-wave-heart-device-implanted-in-first-patient-1000934440

Israeli Parkinson’s treatment is used in 40 countries. Japan’s Takeda has signed a deal to commercialize Teva’s innovative treatment for Parkinson’s disease, rasagiline, for use in Japan. It follows Takeda’s deal in Dec 2013 to develop Teva’s glatiramer acetate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-takeda-to-sell-teva-parkinsons-treatment-in-japan-1000934433

Relief for back pain sufferers. Israel’s Teva reported success in a Phase III clinical trial for its abuse-deterrent extended-release CEP-33237 treatment for chronic low back pain. The results showed significant improvement as measured by both weekly average Worst Pain Intensity and weekly Average Pain Intensity scores.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-teva-reports-success-in-back-pain-treatment-study-1000935409

Reduced treatment times for Emphysema patients. Using the Alpha-P1 Glassia treatment from Israel’s Kamada, sufferers of inherited emphysema can reduce the weekly time taken for infusions down from 70 minutes to just 15. It greatly improves their quality of life.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/kamada-announces-significantly-improved-infusion-120000356.html

Getting under your skin. (Thanks to NoCamels.com) Israeli biotech StartletDerma has developed a unique system for directing skin cosmetic ingredients deep within the skin where they can be most effective. Inocyte contains micro-injectors from the sea anemone to penetrate the skin and make channels for the cosmetics.
http://nocamels.com/2014/04/a-poisonous-underwater-predator-for-skin-care-starletderma-says-yes/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lktgSRYYtuA

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

IDF medics save choking Palestinian Arab baby. 2nd Lt. Ben Tzanani and his medical team rushed to save a one-month old baby from the village of Beitin near Ramallah. The baby began to choke whilst her sister was playing with her. Afterwards many Beitin villagers phoned the division headquarters to express their gratitude.
http://www.idfblog.com/2014/04/26/idf-doctor-saves-life-month-old-palestinian-baby/

Arab Bedouins protect Israelis border. Meet Lt. Col. Majdi Mazarib, the commander of the Northern Tracking Unit that operates near the Lebanese border and consists only of Muslim Arab Bedouin soldiers.
http://www.jspacenews.com/bedouin-tracking-unit-combats-hezbollah/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnbySS9y6PM

The other Zoabi – the Muslim Arab Zionist. Muhammad Zoabi is a relative of anti-Zionist MK Hanin Zoabi but their surname is all that’s in common. Muhammad says, “we are living freedom”, “the Jews are a great nation and they always accept others” and vows to “stand with the Jewish people until the last day of my life.”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179359#.U1zpgaKoVex

Where Christians celebrated Easter in the Middle East. According to David Parsons, media director of International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Christians living in Israel have much to be thankful for and little to complain about compared to their Christian brethren in neighboring countries.
http://bristolpress.com/articles/2014/04/19/news/doc5351b84ab42dd333983127.txt

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

No need for a periscope. (Thanks to algemeiner.com) Israel Technion researchers have developed a new camera that enables divers and submarines to see above the surface of the water without a periscope. The Stella Maris (Marine Refractive Imaging Sensor) counters distortions from the dynamic refraction of water waves.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/04/30/israeli-invention-obviates-divers%E2%80%99-need-for-periscopes/

If you can imagine it – we can print it. (Thanks to Israel21c) Industrial designers Oded Marcus and Shaul Cohen have set-up Tel Aviv’s 3D Factory – a three-dimensional printing shop. It features a do-it-yourself ‘experience store’ where anyone can print an actual object from a computer design.
http://israel21c.org/technology/3d-print-magic-in-israel/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BKhvILvk3Y

Israel is “the wi-fi nation”. It starts when you arrive at Ben Gurion Airport and are treated to free wifi. Then you get on the train; for over a year now, Israel Railways provides free wifi. The Kavim bus to work offers free wifi. Enter a restaurant in Tel Aviv and you will likely be served free wifi. It’s not the same in Europe or USA.
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israel-the-wifi-nation/

Ladybugs save Israeli sabras. Israeli scientists have released 150,000 ladybugs into Northern Israel to get rid of cactus-eating parasites that are threatening Israeli sabra shrubs. The ladybugs were raised in the BioBee Biological Systems laboratories at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, near Beit She’an.
http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Researchers-recruit-ladybug-species-to-help-save-Israeli-Sabra-350793

Excess heat makes fuel. Rehovot-based New CO2 Fuels (NCF) plans to use the waste heat released by steel, glass and ceramics factories to drive its innovative fuel production process. NCF currently uses solar energy to produce methanol in its proof of concept, but realized the value of a previously untapped energy source.
http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Israeli-startup-aims-to-harness-excess-industrial-heat-to-transform-CO2-water-into-fuel-350788

Turning jellyfish into paper towels. Cine’al Ltd., an Israeli nanotechnology start-up, is developing technology to turn jellyfish into Hydromash, Cine’al says that this super-absorbing strong, dry, flexible material is several times more absorbent and more biodegradable than the material used currently for disposable diapers.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-tech-turns-jellyfish-into-paper-towels/

The database of matter. Israeli start-up Consumer Physics is developing Scio – a unique handheld sensor that scans any object and tells you what it contains. For food, it reports carbohydrates, fats, calories etc. Medicines will reveal their molecular makeup. Results will also update a central database for future research. (See video)
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/05/01/scio-game-changing-consumer-product/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Israel is the place to become a billionaire. A report by the UK’s Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) shows that after Hong Kong, Israel is the best place to become a “super-entrepreneur”. The CPS report analyzed billionaires on Forbes’ lists of the world’s richest people who earned their fortunes instead of inheriting them.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/report-want-to-be-a-billionaire-come-to-israel/

New Trade Offices in Asia, Africa and South America. Israel will open more trade attaché offices in Asia, Africa, and South America, to follow the growth of its trade balance. For 2018, Israel forecasts Asia buying 24.5% of its exports, the U.S. 20.3% and European Union 40%.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/04/28/israel-to-open-trade-attache-offices-in-asia-africa-south-america/

Venture capital up 53%. Israeli private high-tech firms raised $673 million in venture capital in the first quarter, up 53 percent from a year earlier. Foreign investment was the main reason for the increase.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/israel-venturecapital-idUSL6N0NL2AG20140429

Another Israeli company protects Soccer World Cup. Israel’s Risco Group has implemented a command and control system for the 44,000-seat Arena Patanal World Cup stadium in Cuiabá, Brazil. In previous news, Israel’s Elbit Systems is providing a Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicles for the Brazilian Air Force.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-risco-to-protect-world-cup-stadium-in-brazil-1000935527

Intel to invest billions in Israel. (Thanks to Israel21c) Intel has presented the Israeli government with an investment plan to upgrade its Kiryat Gat semiconductor-manufacturing facility. Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said that the investment could reach $6 billion. The project would require 1000 new employees.
http://israel21c.org/news/intel-to-invest-6-billion-in-israel/

US healthcare provider authorizes Brainsway treatment. UnitedHealth Group now offers the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment of Israel’s Brainsway to patients suffering from depression who have not responded to other antidepressant treatments.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-us-health-insurer-uses-israeli-brain-therapy-device/#ixzz2ziE9OSMv

Israel’s secret Internet success. (Thanks to Nevet – www.broaderview.org) You probably haven’t heard of Israeli start-up iBario. It has kept away from the media as its software installation engine InstallBrain and advertising network RevenueHits earned $10 million last year, without any publicity. But now you know.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2014/04/ibario-babylon-israeli-start-up-internet-giant-software.html

Better water quality for India and Paraguay. Israel’s Blue I Water Technologies is distributing its water quality analysis products and services to India and Paraguay. Blue I’s devices measure chlorine, pH, redox, turbidity, conductivity, pressure and temperature, transmitting online alarms if safe levels are exceeded.
http://www.watertechonline.com/articles/168097-blue-i-water-technologies-expands-reach-in-paraguay-and-india

Jerusalem boosts recycling by 60%. Jerusalem sanitation officials report a 60% increase in recycling in 2013 as compared to the previous year. 65,881 tons of garbage was recycled in 2013 as compared to 40,922 tons in 2012. 3,000 new recycling bins receive paper, carton, metals, electronics, textiles and organic materials.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/228382/jerusalem-boasts-a-60-percent-increase-in-recycling.html

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

The number of Blue Flag beaches doubles. 21 Israeli beaches and two marinas have just received the Blue Flag international accolade for environmental excellence. In 2013 only nine Israeli beaches and two marinas reached the sufficient standard. This year, the Blue Flag was awarded to eight beaches in Netanya alone.
http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/21-Israeli-beaches-2-marinas-receive-Blue-Flag-label-for-environmental-quality-350675

Get in the mood for Yom Ha’atzmaut. Yom Haatzmaut starts on Monday night. Kol Cambridge’s DJ Antithesis on Tel Aviv’s Radio TLV1 gets us in the mood with a good dose of Zionist music. You would be amazed how many variations there can be on Hatikva!
http://tlv1.fm/music/kol-cambridge/2014/05/01/yom-haatzmaut-special-kol-cambridge/

Jerusalem is the place to visit. (Thanks to Israel21c) Leading travel website TripAdvisor has released a new list citing the Top 10 Destinations on the Rise around the world, and ranks Jerusalem as the fourth most popular site to visit. There are over 5,200 Jerusalem related posts on the global travel advice website.
http://israel21c.org/news/tripadvisor-slots-jerusalem-in-top-10-destinations-on-the-rise/

2014 Sunbeat Music Festival. The Sunbeat Music Festival (June 6-7) is Israel’s leading summer world music, global beats event. Set in the beautiful Pecan Park in the mountains of the Northern Galilee, Sunbeat draws some of Israel’s biggest homegrown musicians, as well as a diverse array of international musicians
http://www.touristisrael.com/sunbeat-music-festival/6532/

La Traviata in Masada. Following the successes of Nabucco, Aida, Carmen and Turandot, the Israeli Opera will temporarily relocate Paris to the Judean desert. They will perform a new ravishing production of Verdi’s most popular opera at the footsteps of the majestic Mount Masada from June 12 – 17.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpRuwTYprU0
http://www.israel-opera.co.il/Eng/?CategoryID=498

THE JEWISH STATE

Another great pro-Israel New Orleans event. Declare Your Freedom 2 (DYF2) at Tulane University, New Orleans, was a resounding success. Chloé Simone Valdary, an African American Christian Zionist student, organized top human rights speakers, bands who inspired and entertained a crowd of over 400.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/pro-israel-event-on-new-orleans-campus/2014/04/08/

How Technion students crossed the Reed Sea. In the latest TechnoBrain engineering challenge, Technion students had to devise a machine that could cross a pool of water (symbolizing the Reed Sea) fill a glass of wine to capacity and place it on the “Passover Seder table,” all without human intervention. Several managed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV9EZchumX0&feature=youtu.be

Takia never stopped dreaming of Israel. Ethiopian Jewess Takia (not her real name) began her exodus to Israel in 1980 but was stopped in Sudan and forced into a Muslim marriage. 30 years later, on Passover eve, she was reunited with her parents in Beersheva. She now is working to bring her children to Israel to join her.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179690#.U2OYBqJpd-c

Let’s not forget that there actually are some people who are benefiting from Obamacare. It’s too bad, though, that we can’t all be corrupt DC insiders!

Sigh. Another day, another grim Obamacare update. Actually, we have two updates on the never-ending disaster of government-run healthcare.

Our first story comes from the Washington Times, which reports that the company hired to fix the failed Obamacare website is way behind schedule and way over budget.

“Fixing the Obamacare website to get it ready to handle a second round of enrollments will cost the federal government $121 million… The deal, which Accenture announced on its website Tuesday, costs more than the $93.7 million it took to build HealthCare.gov in the first place. It’s also $30 million more than the government projected for fixes just a few months ago… “There doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Obamacare website expenses,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican.”

I’m mystified, by the way, why taxpayers always have to cough up more money on these contracts.

If some company promises to do X in exchange for Y amount of money, shouldn’t that contract be binding? Instead, this is just the latest chapter in the endless book of government cost overruns.

Our second story comes from the Washington Examiner, which reports that there are some big problems with Obama’s supposed success of bribing and coercing people into Obamacare.

“…officials from President Obama down have touted 8 million Americans signing up for coverage through the program’s exchanges. But, among other things, they haven’t revealed how many of those individuals formally completed their enrollment by paying their premiums. …what the committee heard back was that just 67 percent of individuals signing up for health insurance through the federal health exchange as of April 15 paid their first month’s premiums and actually completed enrollment.”

~Effective today, the Sultan of Brunei has made his lucky people the first in eastern Asia to live under a national Sharia law:

“With faith and gratitude to Allah the almighty, I declare that tomorrow, Thursday 1 May 2014, will see the enforcement of sharia law phase one, to be followed by the other phases,” the absolute monarch said in a royal decree on Wednesday.

Plans for the sharia penalties – which will eventually include flogging, severing of limbs and death by stoning – triggered condemnation on social media sites in the tiny sultanate earlier this year…

67-year-old Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – one of the world’s wealthiest men – said in his decree that the move was “a must” under Islam, dismissing “never-ending theories” that sharia punishments were cruel in comments clearly aimed at detractors.

“Theory states that Allah’s law is cruel and unfair but Allah himself has said that his law is indeed fair,” he said.

The initial phase beginning on Thursday introduces fines or jail terms for offences ranging from indecent behaviour, failure to attend Friday prayers, and out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

A second phase covering crimes such as theft and robbery is to be implemented later this year, involving more stringent penalties such as severing of limbs and flogging.

Late next year, punishments such as death by stoning for offences including sodomy and adultery will be introduced.

Brunei is a Commonwealth country whose ultimate court of appeal is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. It will be interesting to see how culturally sensitive their Lordships are to the first gay stoning that lands on their desks.

Islamic law is a bitch to live under because it has a complete lack of proportion, an inability to tolerate any dissent from orthodoxy, and a disinclination to recognize the concept of private space. On the other hand, in a western world in which a man can be fined $2.5 million for expressing the view in a private conversation in his own home that he’d rather his mistress didn’t go around with black men, who are we to judge?

In Sir Henry Wotton’s famous formulation, an ambassador is a man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country. In the case of Susan Rice, a UN ambassador is a broad sent to lie to her country for the good of her man — President Obama. Happily, it worked. A year-and-a-half after going on five Sunday talk-shows and pinning Benghazi on some unseen YouTube video, Miss Rice is National Security Advisor, and the Administration’s designated fall-guy, the director of that unseen video, is still in jail.

I’m not surprised by anything in the emails belatedly released this week. My view of Benghazi has been consistent since my column of September 14th 2012, three days after the attack and two days before Susan Rice peddled to the nation an agreed story she and the President and the Secretary of State knew was utterly false. Unlike her September 16th TV appearances, my September 14th column still holds up:

As I say, I’m inclined to be generous, and put some of this down to the natural torpor and ineptitude of government. But Hillary Clinton and General Martin Dempsey are guilty of something worse, in the secretary of state’s weirdly obsessive remarks about an obscure film supposedly disrespectful of Mohammed and the chairman of the joint chiefs’ telephone call to a private citizen asking him if he could please ease up on the old Islamophobia.

Forget the free-speech arguments. In this case, as Secretary Clinton and General Dempsey well know, the film has even less to do with anything than did the Danish cartoons or the schoolteacher’s teddy bear or any of the other innumerable grievances of Islam. The 400-strong assault force in Benghazi showed up with RPGs and mortars: That’s not a spontaneous movie protest; that’s an act of war, and better planned and executed than the dying superpower’s response to it. Secretary Clinton and General Dempsey are, to put it mildly, misleading the American people when they suggest otherwise.

One can understand why they might do this, given the fiasco in Libya. The men who organized this attack knew the ambassador would be at the consulate in Benghazi rather than at the embassy in Tripoli. How did that happen? They knew when he had been moved from the consulate to a “safe house,” and switched their attentions accordingly. How did that happen? The United States government lost track of its ambassador for ten hours. How did that happen? Perhaps, when they’ve investigated Mitt Romney’s press release for another three or four weeks, the court eunuchs of the American media might like to look into some of these fascinating questions, instead of leaving the only interesting reporting on an American story to the foreign press.

But the court eunuchs never did take an interest, and it would be foolish to expect them to now. Nevertheless, if Washington had a healthy media culture, the Ben Rhodes email outlining the Administration’s four goals for Susan Rice’s telly marathon would be devastating:

*To convey that the United States is doing everything that we can to protect our people and facilities abroad;

*To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy;

*To show that we will be resolute in bringing people who harm Americans to justice, and standing steadfast through these protests;

*To reinforce the President and Administration’s strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges.

All four “goals” are bunk, but the second was an explicit lie.

Who is this colossus of Rhodes? He’s not part of the State Department or the “intelligence community”; Ben Rhodes is a political guy in the White House. And it was the political guys who called the shots, rather than the diplomats or spooks or military or anyone else who knew what actually happened that night in the Libyan town of Benghazi, as opposed to the stage-set “Benghazi” the White House constructed and dressed with lies. Rhodes & Co “politicized” Benghazi because that’s all these fellows know how to do: