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Evolution is for optimists

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I was watching a program on origins of humanity and realized that while listening to Zeresenay Alemseged, that people who believe in Evolution are optimists. And that brings into perspective those that are trying to suppress and dilute the teaching of evolution in schools both in the U.S. and Europe.

They are pessimists, they are certain that mankind is destined to pass away. That mankind will never get any better. That science or evolution will never better mankind.

For me that makes no sense, no common sense in any case.

Vietnam body counts all over again.

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If you need any further reason to think of Iraq as George Bush’s ‘Vietnam War‘. Just read this article 19,000 insurgents killed and remember that not a single body has been confirmed by independent counts. Just like in Vietnam, the actual body counts were always inflated by several orders of magnitude. So applying the same rule, read 19,000 as 1,900 tops, which is smaller than the number of coalition force causalities, Dead causalities, not just the 25,000 Wounded coalition forces.

So who is winning in Iraq?

Rudy Giuliani was born in a different America

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This quote tells me one thing,

“We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do,” – Rudy Giuliani, March 1994.

Rudy Giuliani was born in a different America, one radically different, from the one I was born in. This brings great dread to me because if this is what the current leadership of the U.S. believes, we are all in grave danger of a dictatorship placed in-charge of the the most powerful nation on the planet.

Pride and Honor

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Having watched one of my favorite movies, The American President a movie I usually cry over, with a feeling of pride and honor. I realized that at no time in resent memory could I ever express such Pride and Honor over a real politician. With the gross lack of any real Honor, Respect and Pride in our current crop of standing politicians, I crave more, I want to respect my elected leadership, I want them to represent Honor, Humility and Pride in me as a citizen as I would have in them. I hope that my fellow Irish citizens feel that way also, that tomorrow they will go to the polls and vote for the persons they most Respect, not because they are clever, witty or jolly. But because they represent Honor, Respect and Trust, who will do the right thing for us, not just for themselves. To be Strong and Truthful, believing in us as much as we believe in ourselves. Deep in the Irish spirit there is that Honor, and there is that Pride, we can do better, we have earned that right. We are free by our own hand, and we require the respect that brings, and we require that our political leaders represent to the world that pride, and honor we have in ourselves.

A green road to Cork.

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Having driven the Cork to Dublin (or Dublin to Cork road take your pick) more than a few times, I realize that the upcoming Motorway while making the trip faster, it will make it more dangerous, boring and expensive. It will be faster, burn up more gas, and toll payments, wear out my car faster, and cause accidents by drunks, boy racers and road fatigue.

But there is another cost, and this one is a big unknown, Lifestyles of the communities along the old road.

In many ways, the towns along the way make a living from the traffic, but in a more ethereal way the motorway will disconnect each community along the way from each other, and the people traveling past them. It will erode the distributed population, and create a conduit to increased centralization in Dublin.

Having grown up in the Central U.S. I know that the era of the superhighway pretty much destroyed small town america. In a real way the world passed them by, slowly draining away the youth, and futures of small towns. One more nail in the coffin of Ireland that was, one more notch in the handle of globalization.

And you know, I’m going to miss the view.

Dublin, second city of the British Empire

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I was watching a historic program the other day, and was amazed that Dublin was considered the Second City of the British Empire, Second to London! Very interesting, so, in fact the people who pride themselves on being Dubliners are really (secretly) proud to be from the second city of the British Empire 😉 and not really Irish at all :-0

Maybe that is why they continue to believe that corrupt politicians are the norm, and continue to vote for Bertie, better the devil you know, Eh!

My thoughts on Gambling Ads!

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Gambling ads ban to be scrapped

When are we finally going to pass a law on how to wipe your ass? Do you know how much toilet paper we waste in this country? Think of the emotional harm brought to our young people fondling their behinds excessively? Think of the environmental harm we are doing by cutting down all the trees to wipe our collective behinds?

Why stop with telling people what they can do? Why not publish a book on how everything should be done. That sounds like a ‘free’ country now, doesn’t it?

Wait, They have published books on this The Bible and the Quran!

What happened to Freedom, what are we fighting for all over the world? To bring the world under a collective control? Sounds more like religious restriction and control than freedom to me!

Isn’t that what Jihad is?

Global Warming Scandal

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Having watched a program on E4 about the ‘The Global Warming Scandal’ I was gobsmacked, while I believe both sides of the argument tend to cherry pick the data, and that I believe that no-one has yet put all the environmental variables into a proper simulation of the environment (a simulation not a model) There was one point that I got out of this program. That the Africans are being suppressed from exploiting their own resources, coal and oil and that they are being denied their own industrial revolution and western prosperity. That they are forced to rely on unreliable Solar and wind-power for their electricity. And to this I want to rebuke.

First off the example of solar and wind power is presented from one of the worst and most incompetent installations of a solar panel I have ever seen. The presentation indicated that they had only the ability to run a refrigerator or a lightbulb. The first question you should ask is this, why do you need a light bulb in the day, the second is why only one solar panel, and then where is this an example of wind power. A very poor example altogether. But beyond this is another issue, and one that will completely underline the real purpose of this program. Economic viability!

Lets assume that these poorer countries did exploit their resources. The first issue is who will mine their coal, since these countries will either have to borrow money to finance the effort, or that some private firm will exploit this effort. This done, they will have to finance the building of power plants to burn the coal, building them near the major population centers is common. Or they will have to have a private industry build them.

Now one, any loan for these countries will require payment for loans, repayment in what ever resource the country might have, this falls squarely on the one resource that they were intended to exploit for the benefit of the country in question. Building the power generation facilities fall under this same problem.

Two, mining and generation provided by private industries will seek profit. And while mining will provide a re-sellable resource, it’s mostly not going to be profitable selling to the countries that need it. So power plants will either be small, located near large population centers, or non existent. And even if electricity were abundant in the cities, there would never be a power-grid built to supply electrify to this poor medical facility which was used as an example of poor solar installation. Because it would not be profitable! SO this would not solve the energy crisis for this instance.

Beyond this, the likelihood of a single lump of coal ever reaching an African power-plant is nearly zero. As the economics of energy predicates that the most willing to pay, will drive the price. And the western world will always be the ones to pay. This will drive the price of coal beyond the ability of the Africans to buy their own resources back from the mining companies.

Therefore the purpose of this program is to exploit African resources for the western world. Nothing else could be so clear. It completely removes creditability from this program. Forget the scientist’s and experts presented in this program, the underlining meaning is not to preserve the jobs and careers of Global Warming researchers (a poor point as they did not present any wealthy researchers), but to prevent the loss of jobs in the oil, gas and coal energy industries. To prevent any disturbance to the status quo in the wealthiest industry on the planet.

UPDATE:

Royal Society vice-president Sir David Read said: “People should not be misled by those that exploit the complexity of the issue, seeking to distort the science and deny the seriousness of the potential consequences of climate change.

UPDATE 2: ‘No Sun link’ to climate change is another nail in the coffin of this film.

Update 3: it just keeps coming Prominent Skeptics Organizations and their funding sources.

Update 4: The Truth About Global Warming

Troop withdrawal to take place during a Democratic Presidency

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Reposted from March 22, 2006 @ 13:15

It looks like the republicans and in particular GW Bush will dump the problem of withdrawing the troops from Iraq into the hands of the Democrats. This and the massive debt, discredited government services and wrecked economy will now be the fault responsibility of the Democratic party.

As the sole beneficiary of a divided and embittered country the Democratic party will have to set about undoing the damage and repairing the moral and spiritual values of the American people. Instilling trust and a belief in a free and independent representative form of government will be no small task in the face of such divisive tactics used by the NeoCon’s during the ‘Republican Years’.

Months ago I wrote about the republicans attempting to stage the collapse of the Federal Government during a Democratic Presidency and this could all be a next stage in their plan. Assuming I still have my tin hat on. But I believe that old adage that “You should not attribute to conspiracy, that which you can explain by incompetency”. And therefore I believe that George, and the republicans have discovered that they Have no plan, or ability to plan for anything related to Iraq. And are willing to wait for a Democrat to figure it all out.

UPDATE: Didn’t I say this a year ago:Bush policy to bequeath Iraq to successor

Tax Cut Reality Check

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Here is the real question, has any party in Irish history ever delivered real tax cuts after they have been elected?

While I voted in the last local elections in Cork a few years, my poor election memory has raised the the yellow card with regards to political promises. They never seem to happen.

So with that in mind, can you really believe any politician, or any party when they propose a tax cut?

Could it really only be an attempt to buy votes?

I’ll cash in that reality check!

NO, I don’t believe them.

and

YES, this is just idol political jockeying.

I guess we will just have to tighten our belts again.

Republicans are making Democrats

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Prior to World War II, Americans were, much like they were before 9-11, mostly isolationist, self centered and generally ignorant of the world outside of the United States. The former, because they were turning away from Bloody World War I, and were trying to forget. The later was a forced ignorance of the world engineered by the Mass media owned and controlled by conservative big business, mostly sympathetic to GOP motivations. Years of manipulation with of the Idea that the media was ‘Liberal’ has convinced Americans that the isolation and selfishness was an American Ideal.

As an unexpected outcome of WWII, millions of Americans were introduced to the rest of the world, troops stationed all over the world, and even prisoners-of-war brought to the U.S. for internment influenced the population that there were people living in the rest of the world. People who did not share the american way of life. And Americans learned and gained an understanding, even a desire to know other cultures.

The current situation is a bit different, just as Pearl Harbor was different than 911, an unexpected difference is the decision to keep prisoners far away from the general population, partly to keep them from becoming ‘human’ and partly to keep them away from the U.S. Constitution, and the rights that it confers.

With control of the media the republicans have attempted to prevent interaction both with the truth, and any element that might make ‘foreigners’ less than the ‘evil’ monsters that the GOP needs to continue the war on the U.S. Constitution, for Iraqi oil, and to boost the Defense Industrial Complex. But keeping troops in enclaves (to prevent interaction with the Iraqi population) has lead to the uncontrolled situation that troubles Iraqi security, that prevents the Iraqi from learning about Americans, and from American troops from learning that Iraqi people are human also.

This isolation hasn’t worked, and soon American troops will be returning to the U.S. with a deeper understanding of the outside world, something the GOP did not want. And just as the U.S. became more democratic, more liberal, dare I say more international after WWII, so it will after Iraq. The Republicans are making Democrats out of Republicans, my father, a lifelong republican, is now thinking of voting Democrat. So will the pendulum swing from the GOP to the democratic party. Time will tell, the sooner the better.

A Generation lost

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Crime statistics aside, much of the current crime has been committed by gangs. Gangs formed in the absence of alternatives in the infrastructure and jobs. Note also the glamorization of drugs and alcohol and the easy life. All these things are the results of neglect 10, 15 and 20 years ago of community infrastructures and youth facilities. Facilities still missing, and continuing to contribute canon fodder, in form of a lost generation, to the crime.

The old saying, the crows have come home to roost fits perfectly. And this will continue to happen until facilities, good facilities, youth centers, job training, and educational facilities. More funding for schools, and school facilities and good jobs, for students to look forward to working at, could provide alternatives to crime.

And of all things decentralization, of all things, could also be the facilitator of less crime. Rat studies years ago have noted that high population densities increase community violence. Decentralization of industrial jobs and government must lead to increased community infrastructure, schools, shopping and transport in more rural areas.

We are living in a generation lost, and it will not be mended by treating the symptoms, but by attacking the root causes. We will not save this generation until we save the next one.

History and Presidential ratings

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We really didn’t need to have yet another article about how poor president George Bush has been, as detailed here;He’s The Worst Ever by the Washington Post.

The real question is why, with all the historical information about what constitutes a ‘Good President’, how he was allowed, by congress, and the general public to become the worst President in history.

A more pressing question will be how will they redeem themselves? Will the public, having now decided on a new Democratic Congress, put an end to the ‘worst’ president, and impeach him.

Only history will tell, let’s hope we won’t have to wait very long.

The Code of Hammurabi should still work.

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The code is often pointed to as the first example of the legal concept that some laws are so basic as to be beyond the ability of even a king to change. By writing the laws on stone they were immutable. This concept lives on in most modern legal systems and has given rise to the term written in stone.

One of my favorite laws from this codex goes like this;

If a builder builds a house, and constructs it well, the owner will pay two shekels for each surface of the house.
If, however, he does not succeed, and the house falls in, killing the owner, the builder will be killed.
If the son of the owner dies, the son of the builder shall be killed.

In my previous post the Business community has sought to roll back the commonsense of such laws. Laws incorporated in the U.S. Constitution, the Magna Carte and even the Bible.

Big business has sought for years to create the power and privilege of ‘The Corporate Body’ or the right of the Corporation to have, and exercise, the same rights as a person. Now they are seeking to make that person, that corporate person, greater than a living person. That when they build a building and it kills the owner that they are exempt from punishment. And that when Enron collapsed the Corporate Body is not responsible. Only the maker of the bricks, should be killed.

And the Code that was once written in stone (now on that ‘god dammed piece of paper’ of the U.S. Constitution) president Bush and the GOP, the ‘defenders’ of this document are continuing it’s destruction by agreeing with this mindset. They believe that corporations are godlike, and are above the law. In that case we should not condem the Government, we should condemn the brick-maker, Bush, for the crimes of a collapsing United States?

Sounds good to me!