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POPSA Conservative For Obama I saw this clipped earlier, but I didn't realize the gravity of the endorsement. Wow, a publisher of the National Review saying, "But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. "
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POPSIn Virginia, Palin crowd believes every myth This sounds like The Onion, but it's a New York Times story covering a race-track rally by Sarah Palin. How have we failed, that Americans could be so poorly educated as to be vulnerable to such tripe?
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POPSUSA: Lies In, Truth Out in rush to more WAR
"States do not pursue weapons systems as ends in themselves; and states are hardwired to ensure their own survival. It is to that end that they acquire weapons systems, to protect, enhance or advance their own strategic position and even up the odds against more powerful rivals. As everything from the Cold War to the current deal with North Korea demonstrate, the only way to avoid nuclear conflict is to address the concerns and fears on both sides that might spark such a conflict. Weapons systems are dangerous, but not as dangerous as the conflicts that might result in them being used. And we should also get used to the idea that the globalization of technology on the current strategic landscape makes nuclear weapons likely to become the norm among states — after all, the existing eight nuclear weapons states have no intention of relinquishing theirs, so why would any states that anticipate being in conflict with any of them refrain from pursuing those weapons when the opportun
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POPSDo we want a truly liberal society? A liberal society embraces pluralism, in the sense that it does not seek to impose any one vision of what it means to be virtuous or to lead a good life. Within such a society, approval is commonly expressed for John Stuart Mill’s view that “experiments in living” should not be merely tolerated, but actually welcomed and celebrated (Mill 1974: 120). As Max Charlesworth writes, “In a liberal society personal autonomy, the right to choose one’s own way of life for oneself, is the supreme value.” He adds that this includes what he calls ethical pluralism: members of the society are free to hold a wide range of moral, religious, and non-religious positions, with no core values or public morality that it is the law’s business to enforce (Charlesworth 1993: 1). Accordingly, a liberal society makes a sharp distinction between the sphere of personal moral views and that of the law; no one can use the law to impose their beliefs on others (16-20).
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POPSCloned Puppies: Sure, They're Cute, But at What Cost? Yet defenders of the industry say that it's wrong to apply analogies taken from other species' clones: Despite the difficulties, they insist, cloned dogs tend to be healthy, not least because scientists have spent the last decade figuring out how to do it. "Clone enough dogs, and occasionally you have offspring that aren't perfect," said Lou Hawthorne, CEO of both BioArts and the late Genetic Savings and Clone. "But it's comparable to what you have through conventional breeding."
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POPSAre You Washed In The Blood? "A campaign had emerged to promote the idea that the Bible was entirely without error, even in matters of history and science. Some feared that more liberal theological positions were being taught in the convention's seminaries. n August, he visited the White House. In "Our Endangered Values," Carter recalls Smith saying, at the close of their meeting, "We are praying, Mr. President, that you will abandon secular humanism as your religion." HMMMMM . . . where have I heard that before? I thinky maybe here on CM, yes I do. I think I have had that charge leveled on me that I MUST be a secular humanist. God FORBID that I promote peace, I MUST be a pacifist -(even though Jesus was the ultimate pacifist). God FORBID I must be a voice against violence, homophobia, patriarchy, sexism, and racism. I MUST be secular. God wouldn't want those values; the only values God wants are crotch based.
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POPSNASA: 70% of climate change due to Pacific oscillations, not CO2 What this means is no matter how much you change your CO2 footprint, how much you try to be CO2 green, no matter how much liberal governments tax you - you cannot save the planet from its natural cycles. Say they reduced the CO2 25%. Say the CO2 is the driver for the remaining 30% of Global Warming (which it cannot be, but let’s just be only half as ridiculous as the IPCC), then all that effort would only impact 7.5% of the forces driving the global climate. The other 92.5% would roll on, impervious to the effort. And since CO2 is not 100% of the remaining 30% of the equation (more like 10%), a more realistic expectation is that all the suffering that would go into dropping CO2 levels by 25% would result in a less than 1% change in the forces driving our climate.
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POPSWhat Is Neo-Conservatism? Temporary alliances with other countries or movements whose own ideologies or practices may be morally reprehensible can be defended if they are used to fight a greater evil. The ends justifies the means. That's where our ways part. Neocons believe mankind is inherently evil, (how sad) whereas I choose to believe the opposite. We all create our own realities, I guess. Some may claim Neocons are a "Leftist movement", (*LOL*) because of their Trotskyite roots, but they evolved and grew increasingly and vehemently anti-communist during the 1960's. I think it is safe to say, they are right wing today. What do you call an ex-Leftist Jew?
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POPSGreen is the new red white and blue We in America talk like we’re already “the greenest generation,” But here’s the really inconvenient truth: We have not even begun to be serious about the costs, the effort and the scale of change that will be required to shift our country, and eventually the world, to a largely emissions-free energy infrastructure over the next 50 years. Thomas L. Friedman is a columnist for The New York Times specializing in foreign affairs. a bit long article but worth read.
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POPSThe Triumph of Ignorance
More: "Besides fundamentalist religion, perhaps the most potent reason why intellectuals struggle in elections is that intellectualism has been equated with subversion. The brief flirtation of some thinkers with communism a long time ago has been used to create an impression in the public mind that all intellectuals are communists. Almost every day men like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly rage against the "liberal elites" destroying America. The spectre of pointy-headed alien subversives was crucial to the election of Reagan and Bush. A genuine intellectual elite - like the neocons (some of them former communists) surrounding Bush - has managed to pitch the political conflict as a battle between ordinary Americans and an over-educated pinko establishment. Any attempt to challenge the ideas of the rightwing elite has been successfully branded as elitism. Obama has a good deal to offer America, but none of this will come to an end if he wins. Until the great failures of the US edu
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POPSThe Art Of The "To" Line In An Email Message Bcc: Use it! I'm confident that Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges is delighted that their new associate, Susan Estrich, has expressed such expert competence in her announcement of her new position. I wonder if she sends forwarded jokes this way, too.
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POPSNorth Pole without Ice I look forward to the comforting data from real scientists which will refute such alarmist liberal mischief that has even fooled the CIA. I suspect these silly rumours began oin a bunker in Berlin.
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