How much CO2 can we live with?
How much atmospheric CO2 can we live with?
That's the question James Hansen, director of the NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies, addressed on October 7 at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, in Houston, Texas.
Election Day Will Not Be the End of the World
No matter who comes out victorious in the presidential election on November 4, it will not be end of the world. It will not result in any cataclysmic events and the republic will not fall apart. Barack Obama will not transform the U.S. into an Islamic state, nor will he import communism from Cuba or socialism from Europe. John McCain will not start World War III or set off some kind of nightmarish recession. Obama is not the Antichrist, nor is he a Muslim. McCain is not a warmonger, nor is he suffering from dementia.
For the next four years, life will go on as it always has. Of course, try telling that to rabid partisans on either end of the political spectrum. I suspect that some of them will need to check into therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if their candidate loses. Those are the folks, many of them bloggers, who are so fanatical about their candidate that they can't stand for one anyone to say anything nice about the other. Their candidate can do no wrong, while the opposition can do no right. They just can't comprehend a guy like me, who generally has both positive and negative things to say about all political office seekers.
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APA backs out of the torture business
It took several years of grass-roots advocacy and a rare vote by the entire membership, but the American Psychological Association (APA) has finally bowed out of the dark realms where torture is carried out.
Following a long series of revelations about how some American psychologists have wittingly or unwittingly abetted the Bush administration's program of coercion and abuse of prisoners in the war on terror at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and CIA black sites throughout the world, activists within the APA forced a vote on an unequivocal anti-torture resolution.
Sarah Palin--Black Swan
A Black Swan, according to philosopher/stock trader Nassim Taleb, is an intrinsically unpredictable, completely unexpected event with major consequences.
Based on a lifetime of studying and trying to deal with Black Swans, Taleb believes that in our highly dynamic, intimately interlinked, and intensely non-linear world, these rare but extremely potent bolts-from-the-blue actually dominate most human affairs, including economics and history.
The Red Meat on Sarah Palin and Her Speech
The irony was not lost to me that only a couple of days after Palin told the press that she doesn't believe global warming is attributed to human activities, Hurricane Gustav made landfall in New Orleans during Katrina's three-year anniversary, forcing a mandatory evactuation. It seemed nature's skeptical response to the GOP convention and a morbid reminder of the failed Bush presidency.
I may in fact be every conservative's dream come true: the scared-shit liberal shaking in her boots at the thought of a Sarah Palin vice presidency or potential presidency (let's face it, McCain is no spring chicken and their age disparity conjures up serious considerations of mortality). Of course, I understand why supposed-moderate-and-maverick John McCain picked her: to rile up the strong, conservative base of the party and to appeal to the Reagan- and blue-dog Democracts and disenchanted female voters who veered towards Clinton. And it helps that she's pretty and good with a rifle, too: the meat-and-potatoes, I-can-shoot-and-gut-my-own-moose image sure gives an authenticy and grit to Palin that can sway even some skeptics in the party.
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Palin's Disappointing Convention Speech
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin certainly turned in an impressive performance during her acceptance speech at their convention Wednesday night. By almost every account, she far exceeded all expectations. Her speech was tough, well delivered, and to the point. She did a great job of combining wit, sarcasm, straight talk, and biting humor. Hardcore right-wingers, including Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Pat Buchanan, were probably so ecstatic that they soiled their pants. Convention-goers went wild. Palin nearly brought the house down.
Ironically, she was -- at least for one night -- the rock star and celebrity that Republicans like to accuse Barack Obama of aspiring to. Remember, during the height of The Beatles' popularity, when John Lennon so arrogantly and sacrilegiously remarked that they were "more popular than Jesus Christ"? If he were still with us today, I wonder if Lennon would have been tempted to say the same thing about Palin Wednesday night.
Sarah Palin & The Politics of 'Small-Town' America
After Sarah Palin's speech last evening, American voters are once again doing an end-around on the media, whose venal preoccupation with her destruction has inspired millions nationwide, many never before interested in politics, to take up her cause. Reports from across the country called her performance stellar, and, most critically, her small-town values and big-hearted love of this nation resonated with people in dense urban settings and rural hamlets alike.
Grasping for political purchase, the left has unwisely accused Palin of being overextended, not capable of caring for her family if she assumes the daunting responsibilities of vice president. It's a strange role reversal for aging feminists and their male acolytes who, decades ago said women can, in fact, have it all-- a family and an executive job--and handle both responsibilities well. But it's also a testimony to the fact that the younger generation of women haven't bought the arch feminist pedagogy, which is predicated on an oblique disdain for men and a desperately misguided need to mask their femininity in feigned masculine garb.
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McCain Will Choose One of These Two
Well, tomorrow is supposed to be the big day for John McCain. That's when he is scheduled to make his long-awaited announcement of whom he has selected to be the Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee this year.
Contrary to what some might believe, there is no way McCain will select Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge as his running mate. He knows that too many members of the far right base of the GOP -- who are already suspicious of his conservative credentials -- would abandon him in a heartbeat if he named a pro-choice candidate to the ticket. Of course, they would not vote for Barack Obama -- they would simply stay home on Election Day. He cannot afford to take such a hit and he knows it.
You want help? Oops!
Toward the end of the fourth century, the Romanized Britons realized that the security provided by the Roman Empire was ending. Departing legions were not replaced. Waves of Germanic warriors and settlers flooded into the vulnerable areas of the British Isles and northern Gaul. Appeals for help to Roman military leaders and even to the emperor went unanswered. Britain's Dark Ages began.
A semblance of order was restored in the last quarter of the ninth century when Alfred, the ruler of the West Saxons, stopped the western expansion of the Danes. Historians credit Alfred with founding what came to be called England. He is the only English monarch to be called "the Great."
Obama and McCain: Two Flawed Candidates
As was the case four years ago, we are being asked to choose between two unsatisfactory candidates for President of the United States. And as I did then, I will be passing on the two major party candidates and voting for the Libertarian nominee -- this time, former Georgia Representative Bob Barr. This is a protest vote, of course, as there is absolutely no way I can vote for Barack Obama or John McCain.
There are so many reasons why I oppose Barack Obama's candidacy that I hardly know where to begin. Obama toes the line of the militant gay lobby. That includes opposing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in favor of allowing gays to openly serve in the military. He also voted against the constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Old man in the games
As President Pervez Musharraf faces impeachment in Pakistan, millions gather in China for the 2008 Olympics. But only few know about the misuse of power and the games played by politicians in the history of Pakistani politics.
Gentlemen, like a narcotic, when the addiction to power permeates the leader of a nation, it is safe to say that the process of social unrest and political deterioration has begun.
Bush & Cheney--lame ducks or dangerous dinosaurs?
Here's a real-life scene worthy of a Hollywood thriller:
Three U.S. senators huddle over a document, closely watched by a team of White House lawyers. The senators have been granted a quick view of a zealously guarded report. They're allowed to scribble a few notes before the papers are whisked away.
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Obama, the Democratic Party and the Absurd
The political events surrounding the Democratic Party and its presumptive nominee has all the makings of an HBO Special. The protagonist (Obama) is initially discounted by the rank and file of politicians, pundits, and harbingers of such eventualities as an interesting contender; nevertheless, one whose time has NOT come. Undaunted the hero challenges the deadly dragon of the all powerful and by utilizing his gift of promising rhetoric and charming good looks suppresses the dragon's fire to a spark; eventually, compelling the dragon into eating its own tail. A grand story of mythical proportions; but surely, such a story is fictional.
Well, the mouse did eat the elephant. Obama is the on-the-cusp-nominee of the Democratic Party for the highest office in the land. The story unlike an HBO special has actually come true. I am NOT an Obama supporter; to be perfectly clear, I could NOT support any candidate that Peloski, Reid, or Dean sponsored, nevertheless, I am amazed, bewildered, befuddled, and confused by the complete lay down by the Democratic Party of the heretofore logical simpllicity of policy criteria and their sensibilities.
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Obama: The Perfect Leader For a Self-Absorbed Generation
In one sense, Senator Obama's recent speech in Germany is the perfect cultural balm for a world weary of the travails of modern existence. That's only to say he has perfect pitch when it comes to blending in with those for whom hope is a defense, for whom a Statist response to every ill, real or perceived, is comforting.
One of the bleaker symptoms of this generation is its peculiar insistence that, for everything from child-rearing to advancing one's career to dealing with one's impending mortality, its challenges are unprecedented. It's also the case that its arrogant self-regard and intellectual hubris has assured them that the only goal of countless generations that silently toiled throughout the centuries was to prepare the world for the gift of this generation.
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Blue tide or red squeaker?
This is presidential election silly season. Everyone has a different prediction. Many spin their predictions to favor the candidate of their choice. Some look backward at previous elections to guide their forecast. Others look forward, armed with issue surveys and new voter registration lists.
Because so many pundits use so many different methods to predict November's result, some websites throw all the surveys and predictions together to come up with a composite or average. Recent elections show that approach to be as valid as any other. After I tried to peer through the mist last month and suggested that the election may not be decided on election day, but could rival the cliffhanger 2000 balloting, I got several emails and calls asking if I could provide more details. Remember, not only the devil is in the details. My wrong assumptions, mistakes and prejudices of a lifetime in electoral politics are in these details. Reader beware!