Wednesday, October 17, 2007

A major meterologist on global warming

I have long been a "fan" of Dr. William Gray. Well, OK. Not a fan, but at least I know who he is. He's recently spoken out about global warming and the effects humans have on it. A brief story about it appeared on Focus on the Family's Citizen Link website. Good reading, and good to hear that Dr. Gray has his head screwed on straight. I always thought he did.

That blurb on the FotF website references an organization called Cornwall Alliance. I had not heard of that group, but their website is worth a look, especially for Christians who care about God's creation but remain skeptical about how much damage we humans do to it. It's here.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Another venerable institution loses it's luster

It was bad enough when Focus on the Family's Dr. Dobson announced that he's willing to let radical liberals like those supported by moveon.org run our country. My respect for the man and the institution he built has moved down from 100% for the first time ever.

Now, hard on the heels of that shocker comes word that Al Gore is one of the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. What Gore's work has to do with peace is beyond me. What his work has to do with truth is an even deeper mystery.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee has made some stupid blunders in it's history, but this ranks right down there with the worst.

What is this world coming to?

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

More views on the US election

The BBC's Matt Frei always provides an interesting perspective on our political system, written to those who don't understand it. His latest post is here.

A couple of posts back he took a look at NASCAR and the election, so adding another American phenomenon that his readers don't understand well. It's here. Good reading, as always.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Dr. Dobson heads down a dangerous path

I could hardly believe it when I first heard it, but now Dr. James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family has published his 2008 Presidential election plans in the New York Times.

Basically, he says that if the nominee from the Republican and Democrat parties are both not perfectly pro-life and pro-family, he'll vote for someone else. Can he not see that there are worse possibilities than having a President who doesn't line up squarely with one's position on a few issues? How about having one who lines up exactly opposite one's positions on a lot of issues?

Let's suppose that Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton are the nominees. So Rudy doesn't match Dr. Dobson point-for-point on abortion and family issues. He doesn't match me point-for-point, either. But refusing to vote for him simply gives her another vote. We must not allow her to become President, for that would be a far, far worse thing for this country than nearly any other alternative I can think of.

You can read Dr. Dobson's editorial here.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Water bottles

According to the October issue of Fast Company magazine (page 155:

Last year, Americans threw away 38 billion plastic water bottles, about $1 billion worth of plastic.(1) That's a huge waste, especially considering 1.5 million barrels of oil -- enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year -- were used to produce the bottles.(2) And that's not even including the oil used for transportation.

(1) Fishman, Charles: "Message in a Bottle?" Fast Company, July 2007.
(2) Arnold, Emily; Larsen, Janet: "Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain," Earth Policy Institute, February 2, 2006: earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htm

A motto for the UK?

Gordon Brown reportedly wants to come up with a motto for the UK. The ever-helpful BBC has asked readers to send in suggestions. My personal choice, "The UK - At least it's not France" is the first one listed.

Some of my other favorites:

Britain - All it needs is a coat of paint.
Si non confectus, reficiat (If it's not broke, fix it anyway)
UK: Obesité, Apathé, Hostilité
Bothering foreigners since 1066
It'll brighten up later
May contain nuts

Read the rest here.