Current Events Watch

Authorities believe eco-terroist are responsible for the destruction of three homes in a Seattle suburb. The homes were located on the “Street of Dreams”, a showcase “of unoccupied, furnished luxury model homes where tens of thousands of visitors last summer eyed the latest in high-end housing, interior design and landscaping.”

A sheet marked Earth Liberation Front was found a the scene. The Earth Liberation Front is a group of radical environmentalist that engage in economic sabotage. Authorities estimate that $7 million dollars worth of damage was done.

Here’s the thing. Common sense should tell us that we’ve over built, over commercialized and generally done great harm to our natural resources as a result. Burning down someone’s property is certainly a disastrous way to bring about change.

What about all the toxic chemicals that were released into the environment as a result of the fire? What about the animals that were harmed? What about the people that could have been killed? A change of wind could have destroyed more homes and further damaged the already delicate ecosystem. Fires created by man cannot be controlled by men or women.

Environmentalism is the new black.  That’s probably a good thing. We all could do better.  Here are simple ways to combat global warning.

1. The next time you buy a vehicle as least consider a smaller one or a hybrid.

2. Install a water filter in your home instead of buying cases of water.

3. Do as much banking online as you can.  By doing you’ll eliminate paper checks.

Going green doesn’t have to be radical, painful and over the top.  Every little bit helps.  What have you done to cut down on global warming?

Source

It’s amusing how the media fawns over politicians like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. There he is in all his glory, on the cover of the June 25 issue of Time Magazine, snuggling The Terminator, also known as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And there the good mayor was at Google™, or to be precise, on the Google campus, offering his wisdom to the ultimate Geek Squad. Is the mayor a closet candidate for a presidential bid?

The New York Sun reported Bloomberg is really bored with the presidential debates, saying they’re a waste of time. But what really worries Bloomberg, says the Sun, has to do with matters of the spirit. Bloomberg counseled the Google-sters as follows:

“It’s probably because of our bad educational system, but the percentage of people who believe in creationalism is really scary for a country that’s going to have to compete in a world where science and medicine require a better understanding,” he said in one such foray.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still turning that statement over in my mind. For me, the one doesn’t necessarily follow the other. I mean, you got your faith and then you got your science. The two are not necessarily exclusive.

Until recent times, most scientists practiced some sort of faith, simply because faith was in vogue until now. Those scientists got us to where we are now. So what’s the problem with faith?

The way I look at it, God gave us the common cold, right? I mean, if you believe in God, all things come from his or her power.

Science gave us decongestants and saline spray, right? I mean, if you believe in self-help, you get a nasty cold, you medicate.

The thing is, science hasn’t found a cure for the cold. Or for menstrual cramps. Or arthritis. Or a zillion other conditions and illnesses. Perhaps as an apology, science came up with narcotics.

Science has sent men to the moon too. So that’s pretty impressive. But the learned men and women still can’t tell me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where the moon actually came from.

Some might stipulate that science as well as God put us in the dire situation the world is in today. Remember Hiroshima? Anthrax? Hitler’s death chambers? Iran’s (alleged) nuclear weapons program?

I’d like to present a scenario.

You got two men in a room—a scientist and a preacher. Both have the power to blow up the world. I say they’re men because I don’t think most women would even consider blowing up the world.

So the scientist makes calculations, he wants his explosion to occur by the most efficient method possible. Energy-savings and all that. Naturally, he wants the process to be painless, because he’ll be a goner too.

The deacon on the other hand will likely pray. If he believes in the Ten Commandments (and probably the Golden Rule too), he will not be capable of total devastation.

So which fellow is the scariest?

Word Press, Technorati, Tags, Bloomberg, New York, geeks, faith, creationalism, God, religion, U.S., persecution, science, Darwin

The Rocky Mountain News (Colo.) unveiled Denver’s new green plan aka the Climate Action Plan in a news feature and shortly thereafter, the Drudge Report popped up a link. Then, the paper says, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s phones started ringing. Read about the plan and you’ll wonder if the mayor recently took a ride on a UFO.

People around the country started calling the plan a “crackpot scheme.”

Here are a few highlights courtesy of the News:

The plan includes several controversial ideas, including making residents who use large amounts of electricity and natural gas pay higher utility fees, boosting insurance rates for people who drive long distances and mandating that homes be energy efficient before they can be sold.

The mayor told the paper, “According to most polls, 70 percent of the people in Colorado recognize there is global warming,” he said.

Politicians love those polls. On a daily basis, media outlets cite polls for everything from how often married people have sex to Americans’ top ten priorities.

What intrigues me, other than a near-complete distrust of all polls, is who takes the time to answer these things?

If a pollster calls my house, I politely (most of the time) decline.

Here’s why. The way most polls are worded requires an absolute answer. Check out online polls. There’s almost always no wiggle room. As a wordsmith, I could design a poll that would produce any outcome I wanted, or come close to it.

I even wonder is there some sort of psychology at play in people who respond to polls. Is there a type of personality that enjoys this sort of probing confessional? Do such people see the world in terms of absolutes? I especially find irony in polls conducted in foreign countries where there is little to no freedom of the press. Do you think people always tell the truth in such matters?
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