Square Wheels?

This would be a pretty rough commute to work, right?

Well, not necessarily.

I think it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing this in the Tour de France anytime soon.

Does Funding Taint Objectivity?

The first line of defense by global warming alarmists against skeptics is that the skeptics are funded by Big Oil; therefore, the skeptics’ testimony is tainted by special interests, and should be dismissed outright.

Of course, many skeptics have never taken a dime of oil money. Their opinions are truly their own, forged in the crucible of honest scientific endeavor. They have a right to be heard.

Furthermore, this sword cuts both ways. Brian Sussman takes a look at some of the funding sources behind NASA scientist James Hanson’s rabid global warming campaign. Despite his efforts to portray himself as an impartial government scientist just doing his job, Hanson allegedly has some funding connections that, at best, call into question his motivation. Hanson denies any undue influence, of course.

There is no doubt that money can sway opinion — either on the right or the left.

Let the Witch Trials Begin

If there was ever any doubt about the irrational, fundamentalist mindset of the global warming crowd, this latest declaration from NASA climatologist James Hanson should lay it to rest.

James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

By the alarmists’ own admission, there are so many variables relating to climate science that climate forecasting is a precarious endeavor. Yet this man wants only his view to prevail, and any dissenting view to be squelched? That’s not science; it’s an Inquisition.

Global warming — and the proposed solutions to the problem — are far too serious to let this kind of foolishness dictate policy decisions by our government.

Thinking in Google Time

Guy Billout explores how the Internet has changed the way we think — with serious long-term consequences in how we process information.

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I’m sure the rest of the article was quite interesting, but I had to rush on to other links . . . .

That MoveOn.Org Ad

Bill Kristol scratches under the surface to reveal the real message in that anti-McCain MoveOn.org ad:

The MoveOn ad is unapologetic in its selfishness, and barely disguised in its disdain for those who have chosen to serve — and its contempt for those parents who might be proud of sons and daughters who are serving. The ad boldly embraces a vision of a selfish and infantilized America, suggesting that military service and sacrifice are unnecessary and deplorable relics of the past.

Expect more of the same.

Road Signs: A Traffic Hazard?

John Staddon is a Duke University professor who spends a lot of time as a guest professor in Britain, too. His experiences driving on either side of the Atlantic have given him a unique perspective on how the two countries regulate driving. He comes to a startling conclusion:

U.S. traffic policies are inducing a form of inattentional blindness in American drivers. When so many drivers say, after an accident, “I didn’t see him,” they’re not all lying.

Who’s the Fundamentalist?

Mike Gallagher shares his personal experience with one of the high priests of global warming hysteria, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. His exchange with Kennedy confirms two facts about the loony left: First, they have no sense of humor; and second, they are as irrational and intolerant as any fundamentalist.

The global warming hysterics don’t just offer opinions and beliefs about greenhouse gases and the like. These are people who speak as if they belong to a cult.

Like any fundamentalist, the behavior of these folks turns off normal people. I’m optimistic that this crowd is increasingly marginalizing itself with their shrill performances.

Free Speech in Canada

If you haven’t been following the Mark Steyn case in recent weeks, be sure to read Jacob Laksin’s piece on Frontpagemag.com. Steyn wrote the blockbuster book, America Alone, a couple of years ago, exposing the decline of Europe under the onslaught of Muslim immigration. An excerpt from the book was published in Canada’s Maclean’s Magazine. A group of Muslims was offended by the material in the article, so they filed suit in one of Canada’s infamous “Human Rights” Tribunals.

The proceedings have been such a mockery of justice that Steyn actually prefers to lose this case, in order to gain a greater victory later.

We want to lose so we can take it to a real court and if necessary up to the Supreme Court of Canada and we can get the ancient liberties of free-born Canadian citizens that have been taken away from them by tribunals like this.

The Dark Side of Feminism

Alice Walker is a noted black feminist, author, and activist. Her 1983 book, The Color Purple (later made into a movie), painted a depressing portrait of black culture, particularly black men. Walker’s commitment to the feminist ideal is strong and deep. She has received numerous honors for her work promoting the sisterhood.

However, her daughter, Rebecca Walker, recently published an article that reveals the dark side of feminism. Now that Rebecca herself is a mother, she rejects many of the principles that her mother stood for.

I honestly believe it’s time to puncture the myth and to reveal what life was really like to grow up as a child of the feminist revolution.

In Rebecca’s case, growing up as the daughter of this committed feminist was a cold and joyless experience.

As a little girl, I wasn’t even allowed to play with dolls or stuffed toys in case they brought out a maternal instinct. It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a home were a form of slavery. Having a career, travelling the world and being independent were what really mattered according to her.

It wasn’t until she grew up and got out on her own that she began to realize there was another perspective on womanhood.

The truth is that I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother – thanks to being brought up by a rabid feminist who thought motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman.

You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.

In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from ‘enslaving’ me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world.

Today, Rebecca and her mother are completely estranged. Some might argue that this is an unfortunate personal tragedy that can happen in any family. But Rebecca clearly blames it on the feminist propaganda that dominated her mother’s life, and warped her own early years. She concludes:

Feminism has betrayed an entire generation of women into childlessness. It is devastating.

But far from taking responsibility for any of this, the leaders of the women’s movement close ranks against anyone who dares to question them – as I have learned to my cost. I don’t want to hurt my mother, but I cannot stay silent. I believe feminism is an experiment, and all experiments need to be assessed on their results. Then, when you see huge mistakes have been paid, you need to make alterations.

This is a powerful article. Every young woman — especially those who are being indoctrinated by feminist professors — should read it. She has also just published a book about her new experience with maternity: Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After A Lifetime Of Ambivalence.

We Will Bury Ourselves

Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal comments on the breathtaking stupidity of America’s unwillingness to drill our own oil during a time of global energy shortages.

While other nations use their oil reserves to attain world status, we give ours up. Why shouldn’t they conclude that, long term, these people can be taken? Nikita Khrushchev said, “We will bury you.” Forget that. We’ll do it ourselves.

Instead, our politicians shove each other to be the first to whack the very ones who could get us out of this jam — the oil companies — if we would let them.

Surely, the American public will someday wake up and realize what our political class is doing to our nation’s future, and throw the scoundrels out.

When the Lights Go Out

Want to know where our government’s current energy non-policy will eventually take us? Just look at Great Britain, which is now facing the prospect of crippling power outages due to severe environmental restrictions on new generating plants.

Thanks to decades of neglect and wishful thinking by successive governments – and now the devastating impact of a directive from Brussels – we are about to see 17 of our major power stations forced to close, leaving us with a massive shortfall. . . .

At the moment, to meet Britain’s peak electricity demand, our power stations need to provide a minimum 56 gigawatts (GW) of capacity.

Ten gigawatts, nearly a fifth, comes from our ageing nuclear power stations, all but one of which are so old that over the next few years they will have reached the end of their useful working life.

On top of that, however, we shall also have to shut down nine more major power stations – six coal-fired, three oil-fired – forced to close by the crippling cost of complying with an EU anti-pollution law, the so- called Large Combustion Plants directive.

This will take out another 13GW of capacity, bringing the total shortfall to 22GW – a staggering 40 per cent of the 56GW we have today.

America is only slightly behind the British on this curve. Eventually the impact of wacky environmental policies will catch up with us, too.

al Qaeda Defeated?

From The Guardian, via the Jawa Report:

Dia Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on radical Islamists, says recent al-Qaida propaganda footage from Iraq is old and cannot mask the crisis it is facing. “They have not got new things to say about Iraq though they are trying to give the impression that they are still alive. The material isn’t convincing.” Nigel Inkster, former deputy head of MI6, now at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, agrees: “Al-Qaida is starting to prepare their people for strategic failure in Iraq.”

So can George W. Bush now finally declare, “Mission accomplished!”?

Remind Me Again . . . Who’s For the Little Guy?

Victor Davis Hanson ponders the liberals’ claim of fighting for the little guy, when their environmental policies are driving millions of little guys deeper into poverty.

What these elites don’t seem to realize is that the energy policies they tend to advocate are for the present paralyzing almost everyone else in the country — and that the truly ethical and environmental solution would require embracing positions long considered anathema to traditional liberalism. . . .

Most environmentalists think of themselves as egalitarians. So, instead of objecting to the view of a derrick from the California hills above the Santa Barbara coast, shouldn’t a liberal estate owner instead console himself that the offshore pumping will help a nearby farm worker or carpenter get to work without going broke?

But it’s not about helping the farm worker or the carpenter. It never has been. Radical environmentalism is the new communism, a vehicle for gaining control of the economy in the interest of promoting a mythical “greater good.” Like the old communism, this new version will end up destroying freedom and ruining the lives of millions. In fact, the process is already underway.

If This Is Charisma, I’ll Take Boring, Please

ABC’s Jake Tapper relates a recent exchange between a reporter and Barack Obama regarding the questionable business dealings of the man leading his veep search, Jim Johnson. I won’t try to quote it — it’s too embarrassing.

Shortly after W won his first term, a co-worker of mine complained that ol’ George was too dumb to be President, because he couldn’t string two words together without tripping over them. I wonder if the same standard will apply here.

Rather, It’s the Democrats

Finally, the Republican Party is getting up the nerve to confront the Dems on their historic obstructionism on a national energy policy.

Democrats have blocked the development of new sources of petroleum.
Democrats have blocked drilling in ANWR.
Democrats have blocked drilling off the coast of Florida.
Democrats have blocked drilling off of the east coast.
Democrats have blocked drilling off of the west coast.
Democrats have blocked drilling off the Alaskan coast.
Democrats have blocked building oil refineries.
Democrats have blocked clean nuclear energy production.
Democrats have blocked clean coal production.

And, what is the democratic solution to the current energy crisis?
–Democrats want to tax oil companies and sue OPEC!

Be sure to go to the link, and check out the map showing the Chinese drilling just 50 miles from our border — yet we are forbidden, by our own government, to drill within our borders. Unbelievable.

But there’s hope that the American people may finally be catching on to the root problem.

Recent polling data from Gallup show the percentage of voters blaming oil companies for skyrocketing gasoline prices has dropped from 34 percent to 20 percent over the past year. At the same time, support for more drilling in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas has increased to 57 percent from 41 percent.

Even the editorial board at USA Today gets it.

It’s Not the Oil Companies

Economics professor Barbara Fischer brings a refreshing dose of sanity to the hysteria over the role of the oil companies in the current rise in gasoline prices.

Punishing oil companies is perverse logic. Slapping on a windfall profits tax will indeed cause gas consumption to fall (as the tax is passed on to the consumer); however, beware of the unintended side effects. Lower oil demand will lead to lower oil prices, which in turn will lead to higher consumption, thereby reducing the incentive to find alternative energy sources.

The ultimate irony is that while oil companies earn about 8 to 10 cents per dollar of sales, the state of Wisconsin earns 32.9 cents for every gallon of gas sold and the federal government takes another 18 cents. So who is gouging whom? Thus, state and federal government receive more than 50 cents a gallon for doing nothing.

At least oil companies are producing the gas, creating jobs, paying taxes and searching for alternative sources of fuel. Oil companies spend billions of dollars on alternative fuel sources. So taxing their profits simply reduces their incentive to continue doing so.

We have placed oil companies between a rock and a hard place. We would not find ourselves in this pickle if we allowed them to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and/or made it easier for them to build more refineries. We demand lower gas prices, yet we stand in the way of any potential solution. Then we turn around and curse the oil companies, accusing them of collusion.

Politicians in Congress are sharpening their ax in preparation for killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Someday, when we’re looking at $10 a gallon gas, the American public will finally wake up and realize they were angry at the wrong people.

Hot or Cold . . . Take Your Pick

To global warming alarmists who live on the East Coast, of course, the current heat wave they are experiencing is proof-positive that global warming is a real threat.

This heat wave serves as a reminder of what we have to look forward to as the “new normal” if we don’t do something about climate change — fast.

Oh, really? Then what conclusion should the poor folks on the West Coast, who are shivering through snow storms and record cold temperatures, take away from their current predicament — that global warming can’t come fast enough?

The hypocrisy of global warming alarmists knows no shame. They preach to rest of us that we should never draw conclusions based on short-term weather patterns (especially when we point to weather anomalies like the West Coast cold snap), while they reserve the right to link every little heat wave directly to global warming.

Frankly, this self-serving double-talk is becoming almost comical. And as bouts of cooler-than-average weather continue to crop up across the planet, I suspect most people are coming to that same conclusion.

Back to the Blog

The blog has been quiet the last couple of weeks for two reasons: First, our son’s wedding in Nashville, followed by a long business trip to the West Coast. Coming back home after that long away, of course, meant a lot of house chores to catch up on. So I’m just now getting back to posting.

The wedding was a small, informal affair, but with just enough ceremony to make it memorable. Here are the bride and groom, surrounded by his happy siblings.

The affair took place in Nashville, which gave us an excuse to take a couple of extra days and do some site seeing. The Parthenon in Centennial Park, with its 42-foot tall Athena, was a surprise hit. Either the city of Nashville has not hyped this enough, or I haven’t been paying attention, but I had never heard of this amazing monument to Greek civilization. Definitely a must-see if you’re ever passing through Nashville.