Nicky Gumbel on Evolution .

[mintogrubb.livejournal.com]

Have a link.

Quote and original under the cut.( Read more... )

Now, if Mr Gumbel, who 'invented' the Alpha Course, is saying that I should not be too dogmatic about Evolution or Creationism, why should I be dogmatic about gay people and regarding homosexuality as a sin?

Can it be that this guy has knocked the bottom out of Fundamentalism, in admitting that Genesis can be, and maybe should be, regarded as a metaphor? Is this going to change anyone's minds in the USA or elsewhere?

Over to you...

Rendering unto Caesar: What would you do differently?

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

It has been said that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. We need no better example of this proposition than the decline and fall of the current President of the United States. He offended Republicans by trying in vain to correct the abuses of their beloved idol. He offended Democrats by his soggy stand on Guantanamo and health care. He offended the Left by turning up the heat on the Taliban and by assassinating a former pawn without due process. Now he tries in vain to redeem himself by supporting gay marriage.

There is a reason why a former community organizer makes a sorry pit bull for the Old Dominions. A less ambitious organizer would not toy with the imperial orb. It is an office to be shunned rather than pursued. What kind of personality would desire the role of Commander in Chief of Earth's deadliest killing machine? Would any reformer succeed once put in charge of the Beast?

The Brits handed off their golden ball to Washington in the middle of the last century. America would have been better off not receiving it. The object is a curse on the body politic. In the wisdom tradition it is a child's toy. America is the naive child of Mother England. She has reached rock bottom and has no place left to turn. She should drop the ball and get on with the task of growing out of her immaturity.

Consider yourself in the place where Obama now sits. What would you do if you wore his shoes? Would you take them off, or would you find a way to drop the cursed ball?

What happened to the "welcoming" society?

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

So a computer glitch has wreaked havoc across this year's green-card lottery which allows 55 thousand foreigners applying for US work permits to get access to the US work market. In result the 2011 lottery was called off and will be invalidated.

But instead of working to fix the software problem, the proposal coming from the GOP is what? Scrap the whole green-card lottery system altogether. One of the reasons? It's "possible" that some terrorists could get into the US through obtaining a green card. Wow.

Last time I checked, "America is a land of immigrants" and "America is a welcoming society, the land of the unlimited opportunities" were two of the most often used patriotic soundbites used by all politicians and pundits in the US. Along with "Land of the free" and "The American dream", of course. So what has changed?

Iceland Vs Whales

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14223673

The US has opened the door to trade sanctions on Iceland over its hunting of fin whales and exports of whalemeat.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has formally told President Obama that Iceland's hunt threatens the species, which is globally endangered.

The president has 60 days to give his response, which can include trade bans.


Since it started so much debate I decided to post this as a followup to my other post about whaling.

The question is, of course, if the US will actually hit Iceland with trade sactions. Since the president seems to be in a hardball mood I could see it happening. No doubt the GOP would us such an action to accuse the president of "hindering trade in these hard economic times." But if the US does do it my bet is that Iceland will cave. Their economy is a wreck and bad relations with the US is something they can't afford right now.

So for the president it seems to be the question of dealing with giving the GOP ammo leading up to an election year Vs scoring points with the enviromental lobby and the PR points that come from giving a European nation a whack with rolled up newspaper on the world stage.

I say we go for it!

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Collapse...

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

While going through NCO (Non-Comissioned Officer) school I was often told that being "Smart" is not the same thing as being "Right".

The popular refrain to this statement was "A stupid idea that works isn't stupid".

But what does this have to do with politics? you ask...

Show me a successful complex system, and I'll show you something that evolved via trial and error.

Looking across the current political landscape I can see numerous examples of Dr. Cochrane's "God Complex". Rather than stepping back to re-evaluate when reality fails to conform to expectations both sides simply forge ahead.

They are subverting the most tried an true path to progress simply to salve thier own egos.

I'd actually find the situation rather depressing if there weren't such a rational case for optimism. You see, something the advocates of sustainability (be it fiscal or enviromental) inevitably fail to mention is that, by defininition, a situation that is in fact unsustainable will not be sustained.

From the 18th through the mid-19th century, whales were the primary source of heating and lamp oil. At its peak, whaling employed 70,000 people and was the United States’ fifth-largest industry. The industry was widely seen as unassailable, with advocates scoffing at would-be illumination substitutes like fossil fuels or electricity. Without whale oil, so the thinking went, the world would slide backward toward darkness.

Draw what political analogies you will.

The whales are still here and in a 1000 years so to will we.

The newest country in the world

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

On Saturday a digital clock in Juba counted the last minutes to the birth of the newest country in the world. The Republic of South Sudan celebrated all night its secession from Sudan with flying flags, dancing people and honks. This was a result of a long struggle, a civil war which lasted for five decades, hundreds of thousands of dead, millions of displaced people, lots of tears and pain. And a peaceful referendum in the end. That was possible thanks to the efforts of the international community. Eventually Sudan had to accept the will of the South Sudanese, and their choice was almost unanimous - nearly 99% voted "Yes" on the referendum.

So what now? OK, the most immediate needs of the new country may be the new passports, post stamps, a national currency, anthem, an internet domain, phone code and a flag... It actually got its flag already. Oh, and of course its own soccer team. In fact the first official international match of South Sudan was played in Juba against a Kenyan club, Tusker. And though the visitors won 3-1, it didn't spoil the party of the enthusiastic crowd.

So far so good. The way the whole process happened may serve as a lesson. The South seceded thanks to a popular referendum, which was closely observed by the international community. For decades the largest African country was torn by religious and ethnic conflicts, because the population in the North is Arab and Muslim, and that in the South is Nilotic (black) and mainly animist and/or Christian.

The independence of the oil-rich South Sudan from the central power in Khartoum was paid for with blood and tears - 1.5 million victims of the longest war in Africa. The referendum naturally followed the course of events which started in 2005 with the peace treaty that put an end to the bloody civil clash and defined the southern part as an autonomous entity.

In case you are still wondering where the hell South Sudan is (and in case you care somewhat), here:

( How did this happen and what's next )

Link Spam

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

OK, so I promised not to link spam, but I really wanted to share this one with folks. So in the interests of this being more than just a link, I'm asking other people to share any nifty sites they might have come across.

Anyway, mine is The Conversation. This is a new news site out of Melbourne. The goal seems to be to be a blog for academics. It seems the majority of the content is provided by academics and people are encouraged to give their full name and qualifications when they register. It already has some high profile commenters, especially from the climate denial lobby in Australia (including the guy who has put up $100K of his own cash to bring Lord Monckton out to share his crazy) and some of the scientists producing the work that the same denial lobby uses as its science. It's only about a month old, so it may be unfair to judge this, but it is pretty clearly left wing. AFOF is doing the backend work on the site and apparently this is not supposed to be the case. I guess going left is just what happens when you study reality for a living :P

I was originally going to post this to TP Nonsense, but I've decided that paragraph up there looks big enough to qualify as opinion and analysis :P