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Ninety Years of Economic Progress

In what was the British East Africa Protectorate – ten million people face starvation, partly because farmers in crucial food-producing areas who fled their homes last year have not returned, instead withdrawing deeper into their ethnic enclaves, deeper into fear. At the same time, public confidence in the Kenyan government is plummeting. Top politicians have been implicated in an endless string of scandals involving tourism, fuel, guns and corn.

También ayuda a estimular el mifarmaciaespana.com de la mujer logrando una relación muy satisfactoria para ambos. Esta planta se considera un aproximación para la disfuncion erectil depende de la causa. Con una gran cantidad de trabajo todavía se está haciendo en la tecnología, hacer que las personas y luego hacer las cosas que no queremos.

Resources:

Wikipedia: Kenya
New York Time: Starvation and Strife Menace Torn Kenya

966 replies on “Ninety Years of Economic Progress”

In mounting an aggressive push toward universal health care, President Barack Obama is exposing one of the central ironies of offering insurance to all: The states most likely to profit are the ones that voted against him last November and whose congressional leaders are least likely to support it.

Red states across the South, which now offer limited benefits to low-income residents, stand to receive billions of dollars to cover large populations of uninsured citizens. Blue states in the North and Midwest, which are wealthier and already offer insurance to many, are likely to take a financial hit.

Obama may have been alluding to some of those divides when he predicted that geography could play a major role in the coming health care fight.

“Some of the issues surrounding health care — the way it cuts isn’t even going to be Democratic/Republican,” Obama said in a little-­noticed aside at a White House fiscal summit last week. “There may be regional differences. There may be a whole host of other differences,” he added.

“The political dynamics of all this are super interesting,” said Kim Rueben, a researcher at the Tax Policy Institute. “The places that would benefit monetarily are those that oppose it, and the places that would be spending more money to shift revenues to other places generally would support it.”
Or put another way, many of those who voted for Obama are going to feel the pinch, while those in states which voted for his opponent reap the rewards.

read the whole story on Politico

That will have a very interesting effect on the Red States at the next election in 2010.

Watch this space:

The spreads on credit-default swaps for U.S. government debt jumped to 97 basis points Tuesday, nearly seven times higher than a year ago and 60% higher than the end of last year, to a level roughly in line with those of France, according to data supplied by Markit. The spreads also hit a record last week.

There will be a whole lot of voters that rarely vote because the government doesn’t do anything for them. They will now have a reason to vote for the Democrats.

NEWS (not):

Over paid young gorillas that like to drink and maul each other in public behave badly.

(I can’t be the only person to say d’oh!)

Pelosi Raises Prospect of Second Economic Stimulus Package This Year.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the door to the possibility of another stimulus plan — or bank rescue — following a Tuesday meeting with dozens of Democratic members that was attended by a panel of four prominent economists.

Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, told reporters after the meeting that the $787 billion stimulus package signed into law in February might not be the last move by Congress to deploy taxpayer money to save the economy.

“Another stimulus package is a reasonable possibility,” said Zandi, a key consultant for Democrats on the economic stimulus package (PL 111-5) signed into law Feb. 17. And, he added, “more money for the banking system is likely, very likely.”

Asked by a reporter if she agreed with Zandi’s assessment, Pelosi said: “I do.”

Pelosi, D-Calif., said the initial actions of the 111th Congress have been effective.

“I think it’s important not to lose sight that the policy response to date has been very good and very aggressive,” Zandi told reporters.

But the Obama administration has repeatedly warned that it will take time for the results to be felt. The unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February, and, though it rose dramatically Tuesday, the stock market has generally continued to sink to multi-year lows. Added to that is a growing fear that some of the nation’s largest financial institutions may be “zombie banks,” fundamentally insolvent but propped up by taxpayer cash.

Stocks surged Tuesday on news that Citigroup reported profits during the first two months of this year and a renewed commitment by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to back a far-reaching overhaul of financial industry regulations, including closer supervision of institutions deemed “too big to fail.” But that is likely to be a temporary uptick, as investors continue to fret and demand greater clarity about the true financial status of major institutions.

“It’s tough for politicians to have patience, but we have to have patience,” said House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller , D-Calif.

Democrats “left the meeting much better equipped to make important decisions,” Pelosi said.

the rest of the story can be found on CQ Politics

paddy, they’re both superb covers, as cheese and chalk as a CBGBs punk-out and San Francisco Park concert. Jerry’s solo is a beauty, however the raw energy and power of the young band of Goths really got me going. The clip itself is OK but their sound……Sen-fucking-sational.
Many moons ago, saw The Saints at a dingy Sydney pub when Bailey and Kuepper were in their twenties. “Stranded” had just been released and was getting airplay on the 2JJ 1540 AM. None of the commercials would touch it at the time.
Anyway, ya can’t get the stuff no more; guess that’s why when the Chemicals slammed me against my seat as end-credits rolled on “Watchmen”, well……they moved me with their interpretation. Wouldn’t have called it a pogo, but sure did a little hop or two filing out of the theatre.

609
Kirri, overpaid gorillas mauling each other is bad enough.
But (allegedly) doing it to under aged girls seems a bit rich. 🙁

Meanwhile in the real world…..Sea level rise is getting a run on Lateline.
Good to hear someone mentioning the fact that global warming and sea level rise doesn’t magically stop at 1-2 meters in 2100.
It will keep on rising. 🙁

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Ecky, after I posted that clip and checked out your’s, I suddenly realized the connection to “watchmen”.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie!! 🙂

yeah paddy, looking forward to a good natter about it when folks who want to see get a chance to do so.

Kirri, DJI shot up 5.8% yesterday. I sense it a dead puma bounce and expect it to go careening to ~6500 today. As jen’s friend , Dart Board Dubya, used to say, “Ah feel it in mah gut”.
Alan Kohler reckons the pincer graph effect of P/E ratios and ROIs meeting is going to trigger large buys soon on ASX. Who TF knows? If you were going to place a large “air bet” on quo vadis today’s indices, would you plonk it on Blue (up) or Red (down)?

Fast learners? Nup, you couldn’t really say so.

Remember when Big Ben Bernanke told us that sub-prime was a little storm in a minor teacup of the financial system and was ‘contained’?

Well, now he’s saying that the recession could be over by the end of this year and growth return in the US in 2010.

Any guesses why any sane person would quote this guy? It’s sure not his track record, is it? LOL

Ecky, I’ll tell you that when Citi says it made a profit for a couple of months and it’s enough to put world markets on steroids, we are well and truly in a parallel universe. (They are still insolvent! Go figure! LOL)

Shorts get nervous and cover like mad, punters rush in to squeeze their goolies, and everyone has a good time talking it up to suck in anyone silly enough to raid the stash under their mattress.

Yep, bear market rallies are a sight to behold, but they are the triumph of delusion over despondency.

Listening to Satyajit Das the other day, and opinions from others like Stephen Long and Martin Wolf, I’d have to say we are no where near the worst of this thing yet.

The biggest problem coming at us is the fact that the huge black hole for the world’s capital, ie the US, but also the UK and Europe, will literally ‘suck the oxygen out of world capital markets’ and everyone else in the room will asphyxiate. What that means for us is that the portion of borrowings our banks make overseas (about 30% from memory), will get VERY expensive IF they can get any at all.

This sudden dearth of capital to lend, and its price, will severely restrain business and lead to higher unemployment and deepen the recession. Asset prices will continue to fall, BUT, this time interest rates will be dramatically rising.

So if anyone tells you the recession will be over later this year, just make sure they get back on their medication.

Yep, Citi announcing a “Bailout Profit” sure smells fishy a moi aussi. My humble mattress therefore, remains unmoved. 🙂

So, Kirri, if interest rates rise, releasing the Inflation Dragon, which in turn will put foreclosure pressure on a lot of mortgagees, the dwellings then all hit the market at the same time driving house prices down?
Is that how you figure it?
——————————-

Plastic Fantastic No More:

“The easy availability of credit cards encouraged people to live beyond their means—studies suggest that people really do spend more when they can pay with a credit card, and that big credit lines further encourage extravagance. And the high price of credit-card debt meant that billions of dollars in interest and late fees went to credit-card companies instead of to more productive uses. Smaller credit lines and less borrowing make sense. But in the short run they’re going to throw a lot of sand into the economy’s gears.”

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2009/03/16/090316ta_talk_surowiecki

Yeah, I think that Steve Keen is right Ecky: house prices here will follow the trend ie down.

Everyone says that Australia is different in that we don’t have a huge surplus of housing, (does the UK or Spain?) but there are two things in the equation: houses and money. If the supply of money dries up, you can see house price move south very smartly. This is the scenario that I see with the capital markets basically trying to suck a dry well.

What was inflated with cheap and readily available money will deflate even quicker when the plug is pulled on the supply of what keeps it there.

We are not, as some assume, immune from that process.

I heard Das say that the recent German bond sale fell over ie not enough buyers (for German bonds!!! It ain’t some third world debt ridden hole, after all), and one Brit trader told him their recent sale was a fiasco.

So now:

Bank of England’s Bond Purchases Open New Front in Fight Against Deflation The Bank of England opens a new front in its effort to ward off deflation today as it prepares to buy government bonds with newly created money.

(Bloomberg)

…just ‘create’ the money and then ‘buy’ government debt with it!

Bingo! Problem solved.

Couric wins award and moose everywhere heave a huge sigh of relief!

(They dodged quite a lot of bullets! LOL)

” America wasn’t founded as a nation where winner takes all, but over the last couple of decades that’s the way it has turned out. The central vision of “We, the people” has been distorted and manipulated by the powerful and privileged doing their damnedest as they wage class war to sustain their way of life at the expense of everybody else, even in this current crisis.”
http://www.truthout.org/031109A

Jim Cramer 2006 short selling.

Jim Cramer Shorting Stocks, Manipulating Markets, Saying The SEC Doesn’t Understand.
In light of the current economic crisis, and with the hullabaloo ignited recently by Jon Stewart over the accuracy of CNBC’s reporting, we thought it might be useful to revisit this shocking 2006 interview Jim Cramer gave to TheStreet.com’s Aaron Task.

In it, the host of Mad Money says he regularly manipulated the market when he ran his hedge fund. He calls it “a fun game, and it’s a lucrative game.” He suggests all hedge fund managers do the same. “No one else in the world would ever admit that, but I could care. I am not going to say it on TV,” he quips in the video.

see the video on The Huffington Post

Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston Split Up: Tabloid.
Gov. Sarah Palin’s office on Wednesday refused to comment on a report that the Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin had broken off her engagement with fiancé Levi Johnston.

According to Star magazine, 18-year-old Bristol Palin and Johnston are no longer together:

Now’s Levi’s sister, Mercede is telling all exclusively to Star and the picture she paints of life in Wasilla, Alaska is not a pretty one. Bristol, 18, has virtually cut Levi out of the life of their two-month-old son Tripp.

“Levi tries to visit Tripp every single day, but Bristol makes it nearly impossible. She tells him he can’t take the baby to our house because she doesn’t want him around ‘white trash’!” Bristol won’t even allow him to watch the baby for a few hours — unless he’s babysitting!

read the rest in The Huffington Post

Not that i play the markets but if i did i would lean toward your advice Kirri for obvious reasons. Interesting that having a browse over the fence there are are a couple throwing their arms in the air with glee that it is all over as the market has bounced back two days in a row.

629
Chris
Isn’t young love grand.
If only Sarah had havs taught Bristol more about abstinence.
Like how to do it and not get it from someone who has got one and wants to get rid of it.

Did anyone else hear the guest say to Jon Stewart that on 9/10 they had intercepted a message which said “tomorrow is zero hour” but they did not have anyone to translate it until 9/12?

And why?

Because they’d dismissed hundreds of Arabic translators because they were….wait for it….gay!

The smart country, not.

Like I said Ecky, the smart country, not!

And they scoff at Islamic fundamentalists who only read the Koran! Meanwhile a large number of these people deny evolution which is to deny science, period.

Listening to the climatologists from Copenhagen we should all be very alarmed.

I know I am.

KR at 631,

I think that that is not a true story.

THe military has in fact dismissed a large number of Arabic translators because they were gay. It is not in the hundreds, however (or anywhere near it). Further, the first round of such dismissals that I am aware of was in 2002.

Obviously, there might be some information that I am missing here.

Even though the actual anecdote is likely false, the basic fact that they are dismissing people over their sexual orientation is a very serious issue. The fact that these people have talents and skills that are desperately needed should help hammer the fact that this policy is not only damaging to the individuals involved but damaging to the country/business doing it.

Yes, that was his point DG, that the US is losing many worthy people from the military. Some where even deemed “mission critical” by the Pentagon. All because they are gay.

I wasn’t trying to claim his anecdote was factual, just that it makes no sense to sack vital staff for their sexuality.

One very funny moment was when he criticised Clinton for “don’t ask, don’t tell” by saying that someone must have briefed him with: “well Mr President, it’s like you taking off your wedding ring when you leave the Whitehouse and NEVER mentioning Hillary”, to which he replied “OK, I’m comfortable with that”! LOL

Time for a new TV advertisement in South Australia:

“Mummy, please, please, can I have a drink of water”

“Sorry, there isn’t any water anymore because Senator Xenaphon voted against stopping climate change”

“Vote for sensible representation in the double dissolution!”

_________________________________

Let’s see how fast Nicky Boy suddenly changes his tune, eh?

I doubt that Rudd will go for a double dissolution. The evidence is that going early with a lead in the polls is not a wise thing for Labor governments to do, given NT, WA and the increasingly shaky Anna in Queensland.

Re the gay issue, it is a completely pointless policy.

But, in defence of Clinton, it would have been very difficult for him to go much further even if he had wanted to.

Yeah, Clinton has being tied down by the rightwing on it and just had to make a compromise.

But unlike the gay issue, climate change in THE big one. If Rudd backs down on it he’s toast. He was, after all, elected to make changes that Howard wouldn’t, and he’d seriously lose respect if he doesn’t deliver at least his already watered down trading scheme.

Nicky boy will probably hold out for some shekels (again), or maybe they can fund some religious nutbaggery to get Field on side. (He’s slow, but he’s probably feeling a bit stupid after Xeno’s last stunt).

It’s the Greens who will be the real problem: they think the entire ETS is a crock, and although I agree in part, we MUST start somewhere. Killing it off will be very bad for the Greens too, and the government should be able to make some adjustments for them to save face.

DD? Well yeah, tricky, but I doubt the electorate would see it as just political opportunism if the issue was climate change.

The news coming out of Copenhagen is much bigger than politics.

On climate change, though, Rudd cannot really lose. Who are people going to vote for, the Liberals?

Even if they vote for the Greens, the preferences will be sufficient to keep Rudd in power.

In some ways, I suspect that getting this blocked will be politically good for Rudd. He can say: ‘I tried to do something, and the Liberals blocked me. They cannot be trusted on climate change.’ And he does not get the negative effects of business sacking people and increased energy prices.

As I keep saying, even with the threat of climate change looming, 47 per cent of people preferenced the denialists in the Liberal Party. Labor won the election not on climate change but on Work Choices. People concerned most about climate change voted Greens and preferenced the Labor Party. That is not going to change.

But times are a changing DG. Yanks may be dumb enough to think climate change is being ‘overstated’, but after the Victorian fires (and record temperatures), massive flooding in the north, and the decibel level of climate science rising faster than sea levels, is the Australian population so dull as to think it’s NOT the most important issue of our times?

Fewer by the week I’d reckon.

If Ruddy squibs it, he’s toast. But if he stands up for it I really think he could pull a DD on it.

Sure, costs will go up, jobs will shift, but hey, just look a what a bunch of bankers and weak regulation has done to the economy! This can be sold as part of the cure, a move to the long term sustainable model.

KR,

Yes, the Australian population is so dull as to think it’s not the most important issue of our times.

Most of the people I know are climate change deniers or do not really think about it as a major issue that will affect them.

As to Rudd being toast, again I ask: who are the Australian people going to vote for instead? Turnbull?

And, yes, I know that me knowing people is simply anecdotal evidence. But what scares me is that these people are not dumb. They are all very bright people who are generally on the left on other issues.

Rush Limbaugh Weighs Down Heavily on Republicans.
Overview

With a national debate raging over the place of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in the Republican Party, a new national survey from Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner finds that Limbaugh weighs down heavily on an already weakened Republican Party – putting Republican leaders and their party’s conservative base voters out of sync with not only Democrats and independents, but even the bloc of moderate Republicans. On virtually every question the great majority of the mainstream rejects Limbaugh’s ideas and vision of the Republican Party, which severely constrains Republican elected leaders. It does not help that some of the key voters in the 2006 and 2008 elections, like younger voters, are particularly uncomfortable with Limbaugh’s politics. Conservative Republican voters, however, embrace Limbaugh, giving him a very high favorability rating; they say he shares their values and urge Republican leaders to defend him when he is criticizing President Obama.

Remarkably, voters view Limbaugh negatively by a two-to-one ratio (53 to 26 percent), with nearly half the country, 45 percent, viewing him very, very negatively. Among independents, the ratio rises to three-to-one. More important are the values that Limbaugh espouses. By a nearly two-to-one ratio (57 to 32 percent) a majority of voters – and independents – say Limbaugh does not “share their values,” but Republicans are in a different world where, by two-to-one, they believe he shares them.

the entire memo can be read on Democracy Corps
We just need to keep the boogie man there for as long as possible. Rush is our version of reds under the bed. 😈

Now lets see a Republican Party led by Sarah Palin and backed to the hilt by Rush Limbaugh. I’d like to see that. What loony could they have as VP?

Dems have chance at 60-plus in Senate.
It’s been two election cycles since a Republican won a Democratic-held Senate seat. And though the GOP’s prospects for reclaiming lost territory look promising in the House, the party once again finds itself with few standout opportunities in the Senate.

In fact, given retirements in swing states and embattled incumbents, the GOP will face a very real challenge in maintaining a large enough Senate contingent to achieve a filibuster.

all potential senate seats reviewed on The Hill
As long as Obama keeps on the straight and narrow with no major glitches, the Democrats will pick up at least nine of these seats. If Sarah stands in Alaska, that will be a no. Add in Sarah and Rush to the mix it may be more. During the depression the Republicans only held 16 seats.

All that doesn’t include the possibility of corruption court cases etc running at the time.

Obama creates women’s panel.
President Barack Obama invoked his grandmother, single mother and two young daughters on Wednesday in creating a White House panel to advise him on issues facing women and girls.

Obama, standing with prominent members of his administration and with his wife sitting nearby, signed an executive order creating an across-the-government council designed to help Cabinet agencies and departments collaborate on ways to make sure women were provided opportunities offered to men.

“I sign this order not just as a president, but as a son, a grandson, a husband and a father because, growing up, I saw my mother put herself through school and follow her passion for helping others,” Obama said. “But I also saw how she struggled to raise me and my sister on her own, worrying about how she’d pay the bills and educate herself and provide for us.”

He said he signed the order to honor all the women who came before him, such as his grandmother who was a bank vice president but was denied promotions because of her gender. He said the fight for gender equality is far from over.

more of this article can be read on the Associated Press

4-5 MILLION Voters Disenfranchised in 2008.
And this refers only to those who “encounted registration problems or failed to receive absentee ballots.”

The former category would include, along with those sidelined by the voter ID laws in Indiana and Georgia, all those who were registered, but showed up at the polls only to find that they’d been stricken from the rolls. And such disenfranchisement was either “legal,” as BushCo’s DoJ had been conducting quiet voter purges nationwide, or illegal, as partisan free-lancers cleansed the voter rolls of those who would have cast a ballot for the Evil Ones. (Those voter rolls now being electronic, such deletion is a snap for anyone with access to them.)

Now, the number of those disenfranchised certainly was even higher than MIT’s report suggests, since it refers exclusively to registration hurdles and missing absentee ballots.
There were also many voters who could not wait on the endless lines that formed in Democratic precincts only, there having been too few machines placed there, and/or machines that didn’t work. (The same thing happened in 2004 and 2006.)

more on Op Ed News
Depending where these votes were as to how much this will increase the Democrats vote when remedied. If Bush et al were suppressing the vote, I suspect it would help a lot.

Oh well, goodbye planet.
I’m sure when Melbourne turns into another Venice, the rising sea levels will be blamed on the greenies letting so many sharks live in the ocean. 🙂

EU banks named in dirty money report.
Europe’s biggest banks are happy to do business with corrupt regimes in Africa and Central Asia, according to a new report by UK-based NGO, Global Witness.

As late as November 2007, Barclays in Paris held a private account for Teodorin Obiang, the study says. A scion of the ruling family in Equitorial Guinea, Mr Obiang in the past 10 years spent €4.5 million on sports cars even as 20 percent of children die before their fifth birthday due to poverty in the oil-rich country.

more in the EU Observer

Brussels pushing finance deregulation in third world.
While EU and other global leaders have talked tough about re-regulating the financial sector in the wake of the economic crisis, they remain committed to pushing through banking deregulation in the developing world via trade deals.

This strategy is undermining poverty reduction in these countries and is reproducing the same type of circumstances that led to the crisis in the first place, warns a new report published on Wednesday (11 March) by the World Development Movement, an UK-based anti-poverty NGO.

the rest of this story can be found in the EU Observer.

European Parliament tightens shipping regulations.
Lawmakers at the European Parliament tightened regulation on the shipping sector Wednesday in hope of avoiding life-threatening and environmentally dangerous shipwrecks.

The package of measures marks the third time the EU has beefed up its maritime safety legislation since the Erica oil tanker sank off the coast of France and the Prestige went under off Spain in 2002.

“The zero risk accident at sea doesn’t exist along the stormy and heavily frequented coasts of our continent,” said French Socialist Gilles Savary, one of the rapporteur’s behind the bill.

the rest of this article can be found in EU BUsiness
Hopefully the US will bring in similar laws, making it uneconomical for these ships to work.

DG, I hate to break this to you, but anyone who claims to deny that climate change is occurring, and is mostly caused by human agency is ipso facto NOT intelligent. This issue has been corrupted by the anti-science brigade and the right wing for too long, and like religion, is based on nothing but blind faith.

The facts, however, say otherwise.

So, will your ‘intelligent’ friends be unpersuaded when the price of food rises due to global warming? Or does their scepticism not extend to economic realities that bear down on upon them personally?

Already we’ve seen a massive reduction in agriculture here, and will witness a hell of a lot more in the VERY near future.

These kinds of ‘in your face, and in your pocket’ effects will suddenly make these ‘intelligent’ people aware that the facts are not only clear for all to see, but are having real impacts on their lives.

We can make a big effort to educate the public about what is going on, but truly, it’s in the press EVERY day of the week. I seriously do not think people are so stupid as say nothing is happening, nor that science is not able to ascertain the causes.

KR,

I disagree on the intelligent part. I know many intelligent Christians, for example. Their intelligence has been hijacked, but they are still intelligent.

I know many intelligent people who think that George Bush and co planned 911. Their intelligence has been hijacked, but they are still intelligent.

And so on.

The example that you used – of the price of food rising – will be interpreted by these people as businesses taking advantage of the global warming scare to rip off the public.

Mistrust in institutions is one of the factors in this. These people do not trust the government, business or science.

Indeed, if we make the mistake of thinking that only stupid people believe differently than we do it becomes very difficult to converse with them in a way that will gradually alter minds.

And I agree that it is in the press every day of the week. But many people do not trust the mainstream press. They get their news from conspiracy theory web sites, for example. And even if they do read the mainstream press, the viewpoint of the sceptics is often given equal weight.

I also think that you are not aware of just how much anti-science and pseudo science thinking is in the heads of people.

Every day of the week, you can read this type of story:

Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are acidifying the oceans and threaten a mass extinction of sea life, a top ocean scientist warns.

Dr Carol Turley from Plymouth Marine Laboratory says it is impossible to know how marine life will cope, but she fears many species will not survive.

Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 emissions have already turned the sea about 30% more acidic, say researchers.

It is more acidic now than it has been for at least 500,000 years, they add.

The problem is set to worsen as emissions of the greenhouse gas increase through the 21st Century.

—————————

It’s so huge a problem, and is showing up in so many areas of science, I find it impossible to see how anyone could claim ‘intelligence’ and yet somehow just wave it all off as wrong.

Sorry, that’s not ‘intelligence’, it’s indulgence. Too lazy to be bothered.

Tories leaving Europe’s EPP group.
David Cameron has come a step closer to fulfilling his pledge that the Tories will leave the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament.

The Conservatives earlier informed the European People’s Party (EPP) that they intend to leave it.

The BBC understands they are likely to leave in May and seek to form a new grouping after the European elections.

Labour and the Lib Dems said the decision put the Conservatives on the “fringe” of European politics.

To qualify as a grouping and access EU funding, the Conservatives would have to be joined by MEPs from at least six other countries – it is thought they will try to attract allies from the Czech Republic and Poland among other countries.

the rest of this article can be found on the BBC News
This can go two ways. Labour can win again and take the UK even further into the EU or the Conservative can win and take the UK out of the EU. This would allow the EU to race ahead without the interference of the UK. I have been very disappointed with the UK’s pace in the EU since Blair came to power. I was expecting much more from him after Thatcher.

KR,

So if someone is brilliant in areas X, Y and Z but does not believe that global warming is happening, they are not intelligent?

I think you need to rethink.

Ignorance is not the same as stupidity.

DG and KR with Rush Limbaugh leading the charge, most intelligent people will side against him. Rush is helping a re alignment.

You also talked about it showing up in so many areas of science.

If someone does not trust science, how does that help to convince them?

Put it this way DG, the facts are there: Victoria hit 47 degrees recently. We can all see small changes to our local climate, and over time these will get bigger.

Denying it is truly the cult of the reactionary, and is not, in my opinion the activity of the intelligent. Unless of course they are seriously disturbed, like say, la Bolta! LOL

As an example, Einsten rejected quantum mechanics because it did not fit within his belief system. While he was significantly older than Niels Bohr, he was still very intelligent, as demonstrated by him coming up with thought experiments designed to disprove Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. These thought experiments were indeed very clever, but Bohr found the flaws in them.

Einstein never accepted quantum mechanics, despite the mountains of evidence for it.

Nothing to do with intelligence; everything to do with a particular world view.

Does not “trust” science?

Nah, but they drive cars with GPS, fly in planes, watch television, expect MRI scans, and yet suddenly, when asked to consider that our lifestyle is NOT sustainable, only THEN do they NOT believe in science! LOL

That’s pure selfishness, and intellectual dishonesty, nothing less.

KR,

We all cannot see changes in our local climate. One of my denialist friends says that Canberra is much cooler than he remembers from his childhood, for example.

I think it is a serious mistake to dismiss these people as unintelligent.

KR,

It is called cognitive dissonance, and has nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence. Hence those intelligent Christians.

Hussey, there’s got to be an opening for old style boat-builders supplying gondolas for the Lygon Street trade. People will still have to get around and eat and promenade.
As noted last year, until coastal dwellers suddenly discover that their two million dollar “waterfront” properties are only good for $2,000 a year oyster leases, only then will they twig that there is a problem. Lifestyle addiction needs a turkey that is both cold AND wet, it would seem.

David, broadly speaking, the otherwise smart climate change myopics to which you refer are focused solely on their own short term objectives.

For business people, it’s the three-monthly bottom line; for the pollies, it’s the next election; for a smoker….it’s a Kent. 🙂
Also agree that Kevvy would be realpolitikally savvy to set up a double-diss trigger. Keep the marginal seat occupants on their toes on both sides of the house.
If Kevvy pulls said trigger he could diminish Senate conservative numbers, although in such a scenario, Ruddster would be dealing with Bobby Brown and other Greens of renown to pass legislation.

Good result for the planet.

I’d have to say that using the individual example of Einstein not admitting quantum physics, not because he did not ‘believe’ in it, but because he could not reconcile it with his theory of general relativity, is NOT the same as intelligent people denying climate change.

Einstein had proof, he worked at it! His ‘proof’ did not extend to the quantum paradigm, and we now know that.

No, this is a different beast altogether, and is NOT based on theory or hard work, but laziness. The exact opposite.

Battery that ‘charges in seconds’.
A new manufacturing method for lithium-ion batteries could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that can be charged in just seconds.

Batteries that discharge just as quickly would be useful for electric and hybrid cars, where a quick jolt of charge is needed for acceleration.

The approach only requires simple changes to the production process of a well-known material.

The new research is reported in the scientific journal Nature.

Because of the electronic punch that they pack, gram for gram, lithium-ion batteries are the most common rechargeable batteries found in consumer electronics, such as laptops.

However, they take a long time to charge; researchers have assumed until now that there was a speed limit on the lithium ions and electrons that pass through the batteries to form an electrochemical circuit.

more of this article on BBC News

KR,

Einstein did not reject quantum mechanics because he could not reconcile it with general relativity, a scientific question. He rejected it because it was non-deterministic, a philosophical one.

Here’s on for KR and DG on their topic of the moment.

EU needs ‘brutal’ science advice.
European commissioners and MEPs need better, more “brutal” scientific advice, the UK government’s chief scientist has said.

Professor John Beddington said that Europe should follow the US president’s lead and step up its scientific agenda.

“Compared with the new Washington line-up, European science advice looks very deficient,” he said.

Professor Beddington is leading efforts to update Europe’s system and is calling for more independent advisers.

US President Barack Obama has appointed a “dream team” of scientists to senior positions in his administration to advise him on policy.

John Holdren, an expert on climate change, will be his personal science advisor. Working with him will be a plethora of world-renowned scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners.

find the rest of this article on BBC News

And for some of these people, it is certainly not laziness – they spend a lot of time researching rebuttals to my arguments.

I would also argue that it is much more to do with world view than perceived self-interest – for example, the view that science in general is politicised and that the IPCC in particular has been captured by left-wing loonies.

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David Gould

relativity is deterministic (well, if you can get your head around space/time! LOL)

quantum mechanics is NOT.

Einstein rightly said that the latter could not be reconciled with relativity.

We now know he was right, it can’t, but that does not make it invalid for describing quantum events.

CB I just read that article on batteries….before you posted it. SPooky, or what?

Yeah, the world’s scientists are all working for world domination through climate change falsification.

What a lot of cultish nonsense.

Of course it’s political, HUGE vested interest do NOT want change to the way they make money and we HAVE to force them, and OURSELVES to change.

That’s political.

The facts are that the carbon dioxide levels ARE rising suddenly and quickly and the climate IS changing as a result.

That’s science.

KR,

I know. But the clash between the two theories – which clash on grounds other than determinism/indeterminism – was not the basis for Einstein’s objection.

Einstein rejected indeterminacy and, to be even more specific, the notion of complements in Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle on purely philosophical grounds. No amount of evidence was going to shake that belief.

In any case, though, I am happy to drop Einstein as an example. There are plenty of other intelligent people – many Christians, for example – who hold beliefs in spite of vast amounts of evidence against them.

KR,

I agree. But I do not agree that being in a cult, of whatever sort, makes one unintelligent.

Confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance and other memetic defence mechanisms all help trap intelligent people in unintelligent beliefs.

I’d defy anyone to objectively read the article I partially quoted above about ocean acidification and NOT be alarmed by the implications:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7936137.stm

…our global economy may have fallen off a cliff, but that can recover. What if our biosphere falls off a cliff, and it cannot be recovered?

A very dangerous experiment, indeed.

OK, if you don’t ‘believe’ in science, then pick up this gun with 5 live rounds and put it to your head, or this one with one live round…

now, pull the trigger.

We need to make the message clear: the risks are huge, the costs are large but not impossible.

The alternative is unthinkable.

You can be alarmed by the implications and not think humans are responsible.

You can even think that this particular science is lying – or even that scientists in general are lying. Conspiracy theories are very popular, as we can see from this very site.

I agree that we need to make the message clear. Assuming that the people we need to convince are stupid will not assist us in doing so.

Gentlemen, as neither of you have provided a definition of “intelligence”, may one suggest that your exchange may be at cross purposes? Though I’m enjoying it immensely. 🙂

God may in fact “play dice”, but I don’t think it’s very wise if we do. OK, god’s just messing with some fundamental particles, we on the other hand, are messing with the only ball in space that can sustain us.

I’ve not said ‘stupid’, I have however said ‘lazy’ and ‘selfish’.

EC,

You may well be right.

I am reasonably happy – not perfectly happy, but reasonably happy – with IQ score as a measure of intelligence.

If that is not acceptable, I am willing to accept more general and perhaps subjective analysis of culturally relevent things such as numeracy, literacy, memory, conversational skills, research skills, ability to debate a topic and so forth.

The kind of intellectual dishonesty exhibited by la Bolta for example is one where every utterance is made to ‘prove’ the scientists are either incompetent or just hyping it up to get more funds.

The comical behaviour of this buffoon is so patently apparent I can’t for the life of me understand why he even gets into print, except that the media is always ready to feed the ignorant and ill-informed with conspiracy theory because it is so easy.

This is fodder for the lazy and selfish. I don’t want to think about it, do anything about it, or pay for it, so this guy tells me what to think.

Easy.

Too easy.

Still wrong.

KR 692,

While you have not used the word ‘stupid’, you have denied quite specifically that they can possibly be intelligent. Would you agree that someone can be intelligent but lazy and selfish or not? If not, then if they are not intelligent, why would the label ‘stupid’ not be appropriate?

Well there goes his job.
Michael Steele: Abortion Is An “Individual Choice”.
In an interview with GQ’s Lisa DePaulo, Michael Steele declares that abortion is an “individual choice” — a fairly startling policy position for the leader of the Republican Party. However, the impact is somewhat diminished by the fact that Steele seems to have no idea what he’s talking about.

read the rest in The Huffington Post
I don’t think he wanted it any more.

DG: “Conspiracy theories are very popular, as we can see from this very site.”

David, “cospiracy theories” and elsewhere “left wing loonies”, very interesting turns of phrase.

OK, then, do you consider Flat Earthers to be stupid, especially the ones who receive no beneficial interst from say the oil and coal industries?

I would also add here that much of the problem comes down to science communication and science teaching.

Comments are closed.