Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Questions, Questions

I've been having fun 'debating' with some of Andrew Bolt's pet contrarians on the issue of Climate Change/Global Warming/AGW/CAGW/Climate Crisis/weather.

Poster AS mocks Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott thus:

More like Abbott has leap even further into the realms of stupidity.

It is remarkable that he can be making policy in respect of science and he shows no more comprehension of the issues than talkback radio hosts.
Sadly the fine fellow kicks an own goal.

Among many, many other commenters was my humble contribution:

Show me some true science AS and I might agree with you.

But we’re not getting science from Flannery et al, we’re getting crystal ball prognostications based on computer modelling based on many assumptions which may or not be correct.

That’s not science that’s superstitious voodoo with increasingly hilarious alarmist predictions viz-a-viz the state of the Great Barrier Reef.

And yet, like all acolytes of the neo-pagan environmental movement, you and others keep repeating the mantra of ‘science, science, science’ like it will protect you like a talisman from the excesses of a vengeful Gaia.

Science is simply the systematic study of the nature and behaviour of the material and physical universe - it is subject to revision - it is not truth in of itself.

This hysteria that you’re clearly a part of AS, fails to take into account the extremely complex nature of our atmosphere due to a myriad of influences both internal and external to the system.

Unless you are a stuck in the mud contrarian, you would do better to broaden your perspective and ask a few more questions. Many spring to mind:

-- What influence does the sun have on our atmosphere?
-- Are there any other external influences (like cosmic radiation external to the sun)?
-- Are the changes to the climate truly global or localised?
-- Are the changes to the climate cyclical over short, medium and long periods of time?
-- What influence does ‘black smokers’ and other deep sea phenomenon have on sea temperatures and atmospheric composition?
-- Are the climate models being used accurate? How can it be proved?
-- Is the detail used to run the models accurate? How can it be proved?
-- Is there any guarantee that the earth will cool at all, let alone in 1000 years?
-- Is there any proof that the climate of 1000 years ago was any better?
In all seriousness, these are questions each one of us should be asking ahead of any government implementation of a tax or trading scheme that negatively impacts on economic growth and standard of living.

-- Nora

Monday, March 28, 2011

Dead Men Don't Talk (Back)

Ho hum:

Mahatma Gandhi was bisexual and left his wife to live with a German-Jewish bodybuilder, a controversial biography has claimed.
Author Joseph Lelyveld is a gay-friendly journalist who is simply following the playbook written by gay activists and marketing experts Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen.

In their 1989 book After The Ball, they wrote that historical figures were especially useful in promoting a gay agenda because, as Paul Rondeau wrote in the Regent Law Review, it could be claimed they were homosexual, thus associating gays with positive images in the same way advertisers use celebrity endorsements, but without the risks of the figure denying their claims.

Famous historical figures are considered especially useful to us for two reasons: first, they are invariably dead as a doornail, hence in no position to deny the truth and sue for libel. Second, and more serious, the virtues and accomplishments that make these historic gay figures admirable cannot be gain said or dismissed by the public, since high school history textbooks have already set them in incontrovertible cement.
'Truth'?

-- Nick

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Welcome To The Hotel California

Oh, ok - I'll say it again: when will the education industry publicly apologise for its institutionalised sexual abuse of children and, like the Catholic Church, begin to make restitution?

A MAN has been charged by officers investigating the sexual assault of students at schools in Sydney's southwest during the 1980s and 90s. Police allege the 61-year-old man was teaching at a secondary college in Kingsgrove in 1992, when he allegedly assaulted a 14-year-old male a number of times.
While we're at it, when will we also learn to call a spade a spade? The intro should have read:

A MAN has been charged by officers investigating the homosexual assault of students...
Meanwhile:

Apple removes 'gay cure' app from iTunes store ..."We removed the Exodus International app from the App Store because it violated our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AFP.
Rhianna and Lady Gaga are offensive to large groups of people but Apple will happily sell their music on iTunes and also stock 'Grindr - Gay, bi, & curious guy finder of the same sex':

Find gay, bi, or curious guys on your iPhone with Grindr. Fast, fun, and free, it’s the place for gay, bi, or curious men to hang out with the same sex. Grindr has the largest network of guys on the iTunes App Store... Grindr is a convenient location-based app that works with your iPhone GPS or iPod Touch Wi-Fi to connect you to nearby men... it’s a free download on iTunes.
You can have all the help in the world if you're 'curious' but you're on your own if you don't want to be 'gay' anymore.

Being homosexual is like being a guest at the Hotel California - you check out any time you like but you can never leave.

-- Nick