Reason Magazine – Will Humanity Survive the 21st Century?
“The good news is that no existential catastrophe has happened,”
They’re having a conference on whether they’ll be around next century.
My biggest fear is this. I already see the signs…..
Jul 19 2008
Whew: I was worried there for a minute
Jul 19 2008
Wait: I thought the debate was over!
JustOneMinute: How Green Was My Scientific Consensus?
From Daily Tech:
The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science.
Wow. From the APS editors comments (emphasis added):
With this issue of Physics & Society, we kick off a debate concerning one of the main conclusions of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body which, together with Al Gore, recently won the Nobel Prize for its work concerning climate change research. There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution. Since the correctness or fallacy of that conclusion has immense implications for public policy and for the future of the biosphere, we thought it appropriate to present a debate within the pages of P&S concerning that conclusion.
UPDATE: lots more conversation about trying to stop the conversation here
Jul 19 2008
Feminism, jihadi style, and children’s TV in Palestine
It seems that feminism is alive and well in Palestine. (video at the link: you may need to wait a moment for it to load)
transcript here
In case you think this some kind of aberration in Palestine, here is how children are taught about crime and punishment.
transcript here
Thanks to memritv.
Jul 19 2008
Tony Snow’s wisdom
In response to a request from Mrs. Miner: (I should have written more about Tony Snow sooner… I’ve been visiting my 93 yr old mom, and have been busy this week with her.)
Here is a nice tribute to Tony Snow, and a roundup of links to commentary on his life and passing. He wrote an essay titled “Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings“, for Christianity Today. Read it all.
hat tip: Powerblog
Jul 17 2008
Bases loaded and full count in Israel
While sports metaphors are often suspect in political matters, this may be a time when Israel gets exactly one swing at the ball.
An Israeli attack on Iran seems inevitable. If it succeeds, it will return to Israel its deterrent power and send a clear message to the saber-rattling jihadists that they were too early in beginning the countdown for the disappearance of the Jewish state.
Iranian missile testsIf it fails, or fails to achieve the majority of its objectives, it could amount to an act of national suicide. Fanatical Muslims on every side will be encouraged by the failure and outcome of an Iranian retaliation which would cause heavy damage to the whole center of our country.
Iran would unquestionably be joined by its proxies on our borders, Hizbullah and Syria on the north and Hamas on the south, the PLO jihad brigades under various names, and the Arabs of Israel. The latter have already shown their ability to block major traffic arteries and demonstrated that their loyalties rest with their Arab brethren, not with the Jewish state.
The repeated declarations of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the aim of Iran is to wipe Israel off the world map should not be taken as the empty, fiery words of a fanatical Muslim dictator, but as a plan of action. True, Iran does not need a pretext, but an Israeli attack on any nuclear installation in Iran, or just an invasion of Iranian air space could be used as an excellent reason for mounting an all-out missile attack.
We’re going to know, quite soon, whether or not Israel is going to survive as a nation.
Jul 17 2008
Trading the living for the dead: How many will die at the hands of released terrorists?
Why did the government of Israel turn over four terrorists and a mass murderer for the bodies of two dead soldiers? Herb Keinon purports to explain the deal via an exploration of the Israeli national psyche. Keinon does not address the question whether Ehud Olmert and his cabinet in fact fairly represent the desires of the people of Israel in agreeing to the exchange. Do they?
It is naturally demoralizing for those with a healthy psyche to watch evil rewarded and celebrated. Are the Israelis somehow different in this respect? I doubt it. Watching the Lebanese celebrate the return of Samir Kuntar and the Hezbollah terrorists (as in the video above) is profoundly demoralizing. Ynet News editor Sharon Gilad, for example, describes her blood running cold as she watched the exchange take place. In this video former Israel Defense Minister Moshe Arens frankly condemns the exchange. Who speaks for Israel?
UPDATE: Carl in Jerusalem adds: Hezbollah mutilated the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev.
Jul 17 2008
Raising good Islamic citizens
I am so happy that the children are being taught the correct views on crime and punishment. Video at the link. These kids need to understand that there are real consequences for bad behavior.
Jul 16 2008
Trading Future Dead for Bodies of Soldiers
Israel’s leadership is sacrificing the lives of future victims of terrorism for the bodies of a couple of soldiers.
Hours after the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were transferred to Israel in a dramatic prisoner swap with Hizbullah which saw the release of convicted killer Samir Kuntar, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised the deal, and offered his condolences to the families of the reservists.
“With all of Israel, I embrace and hug the families of Regev and Goldwasser in mourning,” Olmert said in published statement.
I wonder if he also plans to embrace and hug the families of the people who will be killed by the terrorists he released.
“My throat is dry, my eyes are tearing, and my heart goes out to the families that struggled without a sign [of life], and didn’t lose hope until the very last moment,” he continued. “This is a day of removal of doubt. Certainly with regards to the fate of Udi and Eldad, may their memories be blessed, but also regarding the moral and ethical power of Israel.”
Do you suppose he also plans to sympathetically bite his lower lip? Surely morals and ethics are more about actions and outcomes than about acting out of feelings of grief and remorse, no matter how genuine. What will be Omert’s ethical position when he has to comfort the families of yet more victims of the terrorists he is releasing?
“By virtue of this power we decided to return the boys, even with the heavy price of releasing a despicable murderer,” the prime minister said. “Nobody else will understand what every Israeli understands well: the worry over the fate of every one of our soldiers is the glue which binds us as a society, and it this which allows us to survive in an area which is surrounded by enemies and terror organizations.”
Actually, what has allowed Israel to survive so far has not been empty emotional gestures that endanger citizens still living, but instead the tough mindedness to fight and win.
More on this here and here. This is really a travesty, revealing a weakness in the Israeli government that is very worrying, though not new, given the mishandling of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, etc. Bluntly, the Left seems to have proven itself incompetent at protecting the nation. This is, of course, another way that politics in Israel parallels politics in the USA.
Jul 14 2008
Blogging from a cell……. phone, that is
This is largely an experiment in blogging from a Palm Treo 700W. I don’t expect to do a lot of this.
But I couldn’t resist the temptation to blog from a rest stop in AZ w/out an aircard equipped laptop.
All of which leaves me thinking about how much has changed in a few years, and how critical it is that we give ourselves the economic breathing space to develop new energy sources over the coming decades by DRILLING NOW. Send a letter to your senator and congressional rep saying so. A PAPER LETTER.
Some of those dinosaurs pay more attention to those.
Jul 13 2008
There’s no speculative bubble in water
It’s popular to blame oil speculators for the high price of gasoline. These are the people who buy the right to purchase a future amount of oil product at a given price. So when there is a “bubble”, they are betting the price will be higher in the future, and so they’ll pay for that bet, and the price of oil goes up.
Factors the speculators consider include the political situation in the Middle East, rising demand in Asia, the likelihood that new supplies won’t be developed elsewhere anytime soon, etc. It’s important to realize that ALL of these reasons boil down to guessing if there will be enough supply for the demand. Everytime Iran makes a threat, the price goes up, because no one knows what Iran will do in the future, if military action against Iran or by Iran will reduce supply then, etc.
Remember, if the speculators bet wrong, they lose money.
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