Scotland's most pro-British historian has performed a remarkable about-face and declared his support for Scottish independence.
Michael Fry, a former Scottish candidate for the Conservative and Unionist Party, says the break-up of Britain is essential if Scotland is to thrive.
His conversion is a symptom of the growing support north of the border for a separate Scotland, with more people now saying they would back independence rather than the status quo in a referendum.
Fry's epiphany came as he was writing a book on the union between Scotland and England, with the 300th anniversary falling on May 1 next year.
The tercentenary comes two days before Scottish parliament elections due on May 3, in which the Scottish National Party is expected to make its strongest challenge for power so far.
As a Conservative candidate in the 1980s and 1990s, Fry was a staunch defender of the union with Britain - but now he is a nationalist. "I have changed my mind," he says. "I believe in an independent Scotland. I will do what I can to bring it about."
His change of heart was brought about by the failure of the devolution of power from London to Edinburgh, he said. "Devolution has proved to be completely hopeless, if anything making Scotland a worse country rather than better. You can do more, and do better, under independence than you can by basically rattling the begging bowl at the British Government, saying, 'Can we have some more money'."
Fry, one of Scotland's most prolific historians, caused outrage last year with his revisionist claims about the Highland clearances, when Scottish crofters were driven from their smallholdings by big landlords. He said this was an inevitable product of economic change, and that critics were romanticising a culture in which the Scots were portrayed as victims.
Fry now says his conversion to independence is in line with his Conservative philosophical outlook, and points to Estonia and Ireland as two thriving independent countries that Scotland could learn from.
Public opinion north of the border is at its most nationalist for years. A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times showed the SNP capable of winning power next year if it formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. In the poll, 44 per cent of Scots backed independence, 42 per cent opposed it, and 15 per cent were undecided. SNP leader Alex Salmond was preferred as first minister, beating Jack McConnell, Labour leader of the current administration.
Fry's announcement follows a similar conversion to independence by Scottish historian Niall Ferguson, professor of history at Harvard University.
#3
I have some distant cousins on my mother's side in Scotland. When they were visiting one summer about fifteen years ago or so, I made the mistake of referring to the U.K. or the royal family or Maggie Thatcher as "you guys" or words to that effect. Oh boy, were they ever upset about that! "That's nae us, laddie; ye're talkin about th' English." A few apologies and a couple of Johnny Walkers later, peace was restored, and I was careful to never again underestimate the passion of the Scottish separatist movement. I'm not all that sure my relatives aren't more typical of Scots public opinion than is generally appreciated.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/02/2006 9:30 Comments ||
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#4
Yes but is the Scottish separatist movement an EU Scottish separatist movement, too?
From what I've been reading you can probably trace 75% of Scotland's "troubles" of the last 10 years to the EU.
These buffoons probably think that they'll join the EU and have power. Hah. The EU regionalization scheme will break up all of the UK in the not so distant future.
#6
Ugh. Morons. Gee, devolution didn't work - our own socialist bullshit didn't thrive under partial independance. What we really need is total freedom to piss our sorry dung-hill of a decayed backwater down the drain!
Hope the rump UK steals the North Sea wells from them when it comes time to divvy up the family silverware.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/02/2006 11:11 Comments ||
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#7
If everyone joins the EU then there is no point to having the UK. Some regions in Europe will be cast off so the rest of the EU can help with the welfare payments, others will want to keep more of their wealth rather than dealing with an additional level of taxation.
For example Bavaria is the economic engine of Germany yet they are frequently disrespected. What is to keep Bavaria from joining the EU seperately and cutting German power/prestige off at the knees? Same with the industrialized Northern section of Italy.
I'm less familiar with the poorer regions but I think Scotland and Wales might see more cash coming in from the UK than they add.
I imagine the EU project will die when people start to realize that and national pride starts to reappear.
#9
I should think they'd devolve into smaller groupings rather than simply redo the borders.
Redoing the borders is fascinating. It reminds me of the movie Amerika about the occupation of the USA by the soviets. The soviets redrew the whole thing to remove the connection to states and nation and unto the "new" states. Sort of colonialism's next step.
#10
The EU oligarchs are after nothing more than continental power through a bloodless, legalistic, take over.
Sort of like the Byzantines exhusting themselves getting back a good portion of the old Roman Empire just to have the muzzies then come screaming out of Saudland to conquer the lot up to Tours. Twice is going to be a farce. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!
#13
Um... no. Ireland got its wealth by initially sponging off the EU. Don't think the EU will fall for it a second time. Even they aren't that stupid.
Don't know about that, Pappy.
Ireland lived too long under the Agrarian socialist policies of De Velara. At one time it was the most socialist country outside the USSR.
His demise and the rise of a new breed of politicians coincided with the entry of Ireland into the EU.
The subsidies it received were a pittance compared to what it achieved by adopting a pro-market/pro-business philosophy. This led to a massive inflow of US investment into the old sod.
Ireland accounts for only 1% of the EU market, but it receives 30% of the US investment in the EU.
Chavez Says He Has White House Informant (AP) - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he has received warnings from within the White House that the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his left-leaning government. Gotta be Rove... or Woodward.
Citing what he said were warnings from an alleged White House informant, Chavez told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally that President Bush has ordered him to be killed before he leaves office in 2008. I'm toast.
Bush "has said that before he goes, Hugo Chavez shouldn't be the president of Venezuela," Chavez told the crowd. "The president of the United States has said it, especially in recent days. What he doesn't know is that I have friends in the White House." Backchannels within backchannels.
The Venezuelan leader has claimed before that the U.S. government is out to kill him - allegations that U.S. officials deny. US: Who?
The latest accusation came a day after he alleged that there had been a recent attempt to assassinate him and said those responsible had since fled to neighboring Colombia. It was this close, I tells ya!
Chavez appeared to link the alleged plot to his main rival in upcoming presidential elections, Gov. Manuel Rosales of Zulia state, claiming that he is in constant danger from opponents seeking to get rid of him. It's a conspiracy! Yeah, that's the ticket!
He said a sniper had waited with a long-range gun and planned to shoot him after he debarked a helicopter, he said. He did not elaborate further on the alleged plot. I can say no more!
Chavez vowed to win the Dec. 3 vote and continue governing this South American nation until 2021. "Fourteen more years, that's what's coming," Chavez said. I've hired Jimmuh again to make sure it's all legal and legitimized and everything.
Venezuela's Constitution allows a president to be re-elected only once in immediate succession. If Chavez wins a second six-year term in December, he wouldn't be able to run again in 2012 - without a legal change. Details, details.
Chavez has floated the possibility of changing Venezuela's constitution to allow indefinite re-election. And voila! - it floats! - if you pack the courts and do the counting.
#1
2014-2018 > RUSSIA-CHINA > WAR AGAINST AMERICA IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED. Hugo's successor after 2021 is .......... OOOOOPPPPPSIES, no successor need apply becuz Hugo ruled to the end. Running away to America = Amerika to escape Communism-SOcilaism doesn't mean anyting becuz the WOT > WAR AGAINST [ISLAMIST/FORMS OF] FASCISM > by definition WAR FOR FASCISM'S ANTITHESIS > WAR FOR COMMUNISM. A WOT > WAR AGAINST GOD/FAITH-BASED TOTALITARIANISM-GLOBAL SOCIALISM > WAR FOR SECULAR TOTALITARIANISM + SECULAR GLOBAL SOCIALISM, is it not???
#2
Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep. It starts when you're always afraid: step outta line, George Bush come and take you away.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/02/2006 9:15 Comments ||
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#3
Chavez may not really believe it himself. It could simply be the ol' "We have always been at war with Oceania" ploy, an attempt to keep Venezuela's patriotic fervor up and rally 'round El Presidente. It may even work for awhile.
#4
stirring up the rustics. Allows him to accuse his opponents of unpatriotic conspiracies (prisontime!), change the constitution, declare martial law.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/02/2006 15:47 Comments ||
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Brazilian officials investigating the Sept. 29 crash of a Boeing aircraft in which 155 people died said the plane collided with a corporate jet in midair before plunging into the Amazon jungle.
A Legacy jet that was flying in the area at the time of the crash made an emergency landing after the passengers and crew felt a jolt, said Leonardo Mota Neto, a spokesman for Brazil's airport authority. A photo of the Legacy posted on Brazil's civil aviation agency's Web site shows the tip of one wing missing.
``The commission's initial conclusion is that there was a collision between the Legacy jet and the Boeing plane,'' Denise Abreu, director of the civil aviation agency, which set up a commission to investigate the crash, told reporters in Brasilia last night. ``It's not yet possible to say if the collision was because of equipment failures or pilot error.''
Data from the black box of the Legacy, which was made by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, helped investigators reach their conclusion, Abreu said.
Black boxes are crashworthy devices that record data about an aircraft's flight, such as airspeed, heading, and pilot procedures.
Brazilian Airline
The flight, operated by Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, was on its way to the capital Brasilia from Manaus in the heart of the Amazon when it crashed in Mato Grosso state in central-western Brazil.
Two unidentified bodies had been found and transported to a military base near the crash site, according to a statement posted last night on the Brazilian Air Force's Web site, which confirmed there were no survivors. Debris from the Boeing was scattered over an area of 20 square kilometers (7 square miles), the statement said.
The search for bodies and debris, including the Boeing's black box, was hindered by the dense jungle surrounding the site of the crash. A 100-man force of army paratroopers, firemen and jungle-rescue troops had to be lowered from helicopters by rope to reach the wreckage, said Mota Neto
There were 149 passengers and six crew members on board the Boeing Co. 737-800, which was delivered to the Sao Paulo-based airline on Sept. 12. The plane had logged only 234 hours of flight time, said Gol's Chief Executive Officer Constantino Oliveira Jr.
The Legacy jet was en route to the U.S. from Embraer's headquarters at Sao Jose dos Campos near Sao Paulo, Mota Neto said.
#1
A mid-air with a 737 and the little plane lives? Just the free air turbulence alone is enough to send a corporate jet down. Something just aint right with this.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/02/2006 15:13 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, its curious. I guess if the tip connected with the cockpit window or the stabliser then it would be game over wi no time to radio
1000 to 0ne?
#3
Serious question.
Which Aircraft has the higher cruising speed?
Did the Boeing hit the Legacy, or the other way around, it seems to me that the faster aircraft would be the one that was struck in the front, and the slower on the wing or from behind.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/02/2006 20:09 Comments ||
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HALFWAY down the main avenue, through a blue door, was the telephone centre with 14 outside lines and booths for privacy. Seven stores further down, past the video arcade where you could play a game shooting up police officers, was the internet cafe with high-speed access. A bookshop across the way offered religious titles as well as an academic tome, La Tortura, with insights on mental and physical abuse. For lunch you could sit down in the local pizza restaurant or, if you were in a rush, grab a burger and beer from one of the stalls.
This was the democratic republic of Pavon. Officially it was a prison farm outside Guatemala City, a patch of scrubland where inmates could grow vegetables and tend livestock in one of Latin America's more progressive penal institutions. Envisaged more as a rehabilitation centre than a jail, Pavon was situated at the end of a dirt track, invisible from the motorway, and ringed by an eight-metre wire fence.
Last week a very different image emerged. More than a decade ago Pavon, population 1500, stopped being a prison in the normal sense and became a feudal state ruled by drug lords who thrived on extortion, kidnapping and intimidation. Known as the "order committee", these alpha gangsters were the sole authority because successive Guatemalan governments simply abandoned the prison. The macabre playground that evolved was a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Sopranos. Inmates with money had access to plush homes, restaurants, spa baths, prostitutes, cocaine and internet access, all contained within the wire-fence perimeter. Those of modest means were condemned to squalid dormitories and indentured labour at crack and cocaine laboratories, as well as cannabis operations. Some inmates were forced to hand over wives and daughters to the committee as concubines, said Alejandro Giammattei, the director of penal services. "It was a state-within-a-state, one without sentiment or scruples."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Did the Duke of NY survive the onslaught?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/02/2006 0:13 Comments ||
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Uh, just curious, but why is this posted under Britain?
#3
Fred put it there. I'm moving it to 'Caribbean-Latin America' right now (00:50 EDT) but if you find it back under Britain in the am, consider me reproached :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2006 0:48 Comments ||
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#4
La Tortura?
Next screw job for McCain, Graham, and admiral holsey
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/02/2006 0:50 Comments ||
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#6
FREEREPUBLIC.com > BILL CLINTON eyed DEMI MOORE???
Of course we need more pics to fully ascertain the extent of how innocent inmates were corrupted by female beguilings, plus why Dubya is at fault.
(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won 50 percent of votes in a first ballot and may head to an Oct. 29 run-off against rival Geraldo Alckmin, exit polls show. Lula, 60, led Alckmin with 50 percent of votes, according to exit polls by Ibope, which has a 2 percentage points margin of error. Lula needs 50 percent plus one vote to win in the first round.
Alckmin, 53, a former governor of Sao Paulo state, had 38 percent of the votes, according to the exit polls, released on Globo television. ``I still expect Lula to win the election relatively easy in the second round,'' Riordan Roett, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University and chairman of its western hemisphere program, said in a phone interview from Baltimore. ``It's a short time between today's vote and the second round so president Lula will be able to hold on to his core support.''
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2006 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Defense Ministry to go ahead with the withdrawal of Russian troops from bases on Georgian territory in compliance with the action plan, the president's press secretary Alexei Gromov said on Sunday. Russia had temporarily suspended its planned withdrawal of troops from the South Caucasus on Saturday amid a growing row over Georgian authorities' detention of four Russian military officers.
Russia inherited four military bases in Georgia from the former Soviet Union and has withdrawn two of them. Russia and Georgia signed an agreement in late March that set out the deadline and details of the pullout of Russian military bases from Georgia. Under the accord, the two sides agreed to complete the phased withdrawal of the Russian bases and other military installations in Georgia by the end of 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2006 00:00 ||
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SYDNEY - Women in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) should be allowed to fight on the front line alongside men, a member of parliament said on Monday. Suitability for ADF roles should be entirely competency-based, the ruling Liberal Partys Mitch Fifield said. Merit should be the only criteria.
Fifield urged Prime Minister John Howard to drop rules that allow women to kill people from a jet-fighter but not from a tank, to patrol a civilian airport but not a military one.
Under changes brought in this year, 87 per cent of ADF posts were opened to women. They can to serve in support roles on the front line, driving trucks for instance, but are still excluded from actual combat and serving in the elite Special Air Services regiment.
There are 52,000 people in the ADF, but only 7,000 of them are women. To try and boost numbers to 55,000, women have been urged to join, recruitment standards have been lowered and provisions for same-sex couples introduced.
Australia is a nation of over 20 million people. It has a per capita GDP within spitting distance of the US. I'm all for having women serve in the military, but they can't find 3,000 soldiers?
Soon, overweight, asthmatic, tattooed, former-cannabis-smoking men may be eligible for ADF service, while women will remain ineligible for combat roles, Fifield said. Its not the lack of women in combat roles that should be troubling, but the denial of opportunity.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Make sure you keep those tatooed guys on the sidelines. Can't have that.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/02/2006 0:10 Comments ||
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#2
If they look like Janet Reno, perhaps
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/02/2006 0:52 Comments ||
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#3
Soon, overweight, asthmatic, tattooed, former-cannabis-smoking men may be eligible for ADF service
Hey, I really resent that! I mean, I'm not tattoed.
#4
Rest easy, a5089, you aren't Australian, either. And both situations can be rectified. Even the asthma may ease soon if you are serious about giving up cannabis smoking for good, not just because you used up your last stash on Friday. ;-)
#5
Quite right lorrie-woman Alice, both right rear tires have gone flat indeed! Find a couple of off-duty lads and get them changed out and ready for movement in 20 minutes will you? Right SGM, I'm on it!
#6
Suitability for ADF roles should be entirely competency-based, the ruling Liberal Partys Mitch Fifield said. Merit should be the only criteria.
One of the criteria for combat troops is if they can carry the fricing machine gun during the whole night and on steep terrain. If the sun rises before you are in position you are dead abd a lot of other peolle too. Another criteria is how fast can you run with the fricking machine gun in oder to put it into that enfilading position. If you are too slow, then you and a lot of other people will be dead.
Women should be allowed to serve in combat so long as this guy goes loan with them and shares their fate.
#7
The problem today is the old suits have dragged the issue out for too long by not establishing high standards of physical fitness for the job. I think deep down they're scared that if they do return to a draft a lot of males won't qualify.
For those who qualify, they can do the job. It's already been done.
Anchorage, Alaska - Four Alaska villages are picking principle over petroleum. I heard on the radio early this morning that King Salmon natives are also refusing the help, even though astronomical fuel oil prices are hurting them. They were insulted over the remarks made by Hugo Chavez about the President at the UN. Politicians could take some lessons in principles from some Alaskans.
The villages of Nelson Lagoon, Atka, St. Paul and St. George have voted to reject a gift of free fuel offered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez, through Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp., is giving the fuel to poor people across the United States to help them stay warm this winter.
But Chavez has been critical of the United States, even calling President Bush a devil.
The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association says it can't support the political agenda attached to the donation. Instead, the group has set up accounts to help the villages pay for winter fuel.
[*snip*]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/02/2006 11:20 ||
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good for them at least we know some ppl in this country have their heads on straight
Posted by: Mike ||
10/02/2006 13:16 Comments ||
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CITGO, Kennedy and heating oil for New York:
"Our federal government has made billions and billions and billions of dollars just this year on the royalty payments the oil companies pay to the government of the United States," he said.
But when it comes to help for low-income Americans, Kennedy said, "What do we hear from Washington? 'Sorry, boys. There's no money in the till."
I guess Alaskan folks think different that New Yorkers? Nobody spoke up except for the fat boy.
#4
Ummm, Hello fat bobby, you ARE 'The Government of the United States"
How much do you plan to return to the taxpayers?
Oh, None?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/02/2006 20:15 Comments ||
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#5
I'll chip in a couple of bucks to help our neighbors in the north make it through the winter. So would a large number of US citizens around this nation. We don't need gifts from horse-mouth.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/02/2006 21:38 Comments ||
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#6
Kudos to the folks passing on Chavez's offer, but considering the many billions in Alaska's Permanent Fund, why aren't these people getting help from the state if they can't pay their fuel bills?
#1
Today the weather here was not what was predicted yesterday. For the last two years the ocean temperatures have not been what would have been predicted in 2003. Anybody here think that scientists know what they're talking about for the years 2050 or 2100?
And how do they call it "short term" if it's the last two years of data with no indications that it will change back?
#2
Note that much of the "Global Warming" discussion is now prefaced with the neutral title "Climate Change". No matter which way the science goes, political pressure can be maintained. You gonna pay either way.
Posted by: john ||
10/02/2006 21:03 Comments ||
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#3
Academic whores: "keep them grants a coming. We may be entering an ice age. Greenhouse gases...er.....cigarettes...er sumpthing"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/02/2006 22:15 Comments ||
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Greens 'aid destruction of planet' A leading scientist has warned that opposition to nuclear power by environmental campaigners is irrational as well as dangerously misguided Environmental groups are setting back the fight against global warming with misguided and irrational objections to nuclear power, according to Britains leading thinker about the future.
Climate change will be the greatest of many significant challenges for humanity over the next century, and every tool available, including nuclear energy, will be needed to prevent it wrecking the planet, James Martin told The Times.
While the anti-nuclear campaign is well-intentioned, it fundamentally misunderstands the safety of the latest generation of reactors and threatens to hold back a technology that could be critical to the worlds future, he said.
The criticism of groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth by Dr Martin, a computer scientist and physicist, will be keenly felt as he is himself a prominent green who has spent much of his large IT and publishing fortune on research into global warming and environmental science.
Last year, he donated £60 million to the University of Oxford to found the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilisation, the first school of its kind dedicated to studying problems of the future such as climate change and emerging technologies.
Though nuclear power generates very low carbon emissions, most green lobby groups are opposed to it because of the problem of disposing of waste that remains radioactive for thousands of years, and the risks of an accident.
In The Meaning of the 21st Century, his new book published today, he names climate change as the greatest challenge currently facing humanity, and openly endorses nuclear power as part of the solution.
The fourth-generation nuclear plants that could be built now are profoundly different from older designs, with safety features that make meltdown impossible, low waste output, and fuel that is not suitable for bombs, Dr Martin said.
He is keen on the pebble bed reactor, an experimental South African and Chinese design, in which the fuel is incapable of melting. A prototype has been built in Beijing. With the pebble bed reactor, the fuel is easily disposed of, and it can be divorced absolutely from the bomb industry, he said.
Green critics of nuclear power, he said, are delaying adoption of this technology.
I think they are misguided. South Africa would have had a pebble bed reactor running by now if it hadnt been for Greenpeace.
His book sets out a number of grand challenges for the next 100 years. While the greatest of these is global warming, he also lists water shortages, which will lead to wars, the loss of global biodiversity, terrorism, diseases such as pandemic flu and HIV/Aids, and the emergence of biotechnology and artificial intelligence that could change the fundamental nature of humanity.
Nathan Argent, a Greenpeace spokesman, said: While the fourth generation of reactors produce less waste by volume, they produce more of the most radioactive and long-lived waste, and there is still no safe way of dealing with this. We argue that the better way to tackle climate change is to decentralise power generation and make it more efficient.
CHALLENGES FOR 21ST CENTURY
The environment: Global warming threatens to wreck the planet. Water is being used unsustainably and is running out. Animal and plant species are being wiped out.
War and terrorism: Weapons of mass destruction make it possible for humanity to wipe itself out. Terrorists are becoming more likely to gain access to these weapons. Both the means and causes of war need to be addressed, with measures to tackle nuclear proliferation, poverty and environmental inequality, especially access to water.
Transhumanism and the singularity: Genetic engineering, robotic implants and cognitive enhancement drugs will enable the transformation of the human species. Computer intelligence will improve to reach a singularity where it matches that of humans.
Wealth and lifestyle: Overall wealth should increase dramatically beyond inflation. There will be more leisure for more people, with opportunities for enhancing happiness. Population, though, will grow to 8.9 billion, and it will not be possible for all these people to enjoy sophisticated lifestyles.
Creativity and wisdom: Few people fulfil their creative potential. The pursuit of wealth and knowledge is often conducted without reflection on what this means for the future. Science and technology are accelerating furiously, but wisdom is not, Dr Martin writes.
#1
So does this mean "the Plan" is NOT to build SPACESHIPS/SPACE ARKS to transport humanity into deep space > you know, to save humanity from that Big, probably GOP-Conservative Fascist Meany THE SUN, + RIGHT-LEANING ASTEROIDS-COMETS-PLANET X's, whom won't listen to Lefty intellectuals and activists as to how to run its solar = space cycles. OWG NOW, D ** IT > TREASONOUS SUNBEAMS ARE EVERYWHERE.
#2
This is the James Martin who got rich peddling obvious schlock to morons.
Back in the 80's when systems theory was little understood, he churned out 2 or 3 books a year detailing a paint-by-numbers approach to software development.
He had a great run until it dawned on people his stuff doesn't work.
-Unproven that it exists beyond a statistical blip.
-Proven warming trends in the past during historical times were associated with wealth and development of arts and sciences. This squares with the word "wreck" only if you are an anticapitalist.
Water is being used unsustainably and is running out.
-Where, precisely, is it going? At least on the scale of centuries/millenia, water on the surface of earth is in a closed system. It can't run out.
Animal and plant species are being wiped out.
-Some extinctions are inevitable. That is how life changes over time. Are Bush and Halliburton responsible for the extinction of the trilobites and dinosaurs? If we save species which should have gone extinct, have we not tinkered to the overall detriment of the biosphere?
Terrorists are becoming more likely to gain access to these weapons.
-This is occuring precisely because people like this guy have turned their back on Western traditions and refuse to recognize that the solution is to project sufficient force to prevent said access.
Overall wealth should increase dramatically beyond inflation.
-And which economic system allows this to happen - collectivism, or capitalism?
Population, though, will grow to 8.9 billion, and it will not be possible for all these people to enjoy sophisticated lifestyles.
-NO economic system can GUARANTEE "sophisticated lifestyles" for everybody, but collectivist, highly regulatory ones guarantee that you create a society where the MINIMUM number of people have said lifestyles.
Few people fulfil their creative potential. The pursuit of wealth and knowledge is often conducted without reflection on what this means for the future. Science and technology are accelerating furiously, but wisdom is not, Dr Martin writes.
-This is just nuts. Never does it occur to this guy to wonder whether or not people WANT to fulfill their potential. It probably doesn't occur to him, either, that the way to encourage this isn't through the government forcing it to happen, but to set up a society where people can sink or swim, choose their vocations and avocations, and allow people the freedom to do this, without coercion to do so, so that everyone can find their own peace voluntarily.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/02/2006 7:23 Comments ||
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#4
It's no secret that the enviro-wacko's policies have done and will continue to do great harm to the 'planet', and consequently, the people.
Wrap your mind around this one for example: DDT was demagogued and then banned for no good reason. In fact the 'environmental' movement used junk science, Rachel Carson's propaganda book 'Silent Spring', and incomplete and now discredited studies to ban DDT in order to increase their power and influence. EPA administrator Ruckelshaus banned it in 1972 after ignoring his own department's studies and the decision of his own administrative law judge. He didn't even read the EPA reports on DDT.
At what price? It's estimated that Malaria, for example, affects between 300 and 500 million people per year, with a resulting death toll of approximately 2.7 million. Most of these are children. DDT may have prevented more than two thirds of these deaths. If you do the math, using a conservative estimate, the ban on DDT has cost the world TWO MILLION UNNECESSARY DEATHS per year since it was banned.
2,000,000 X 34 Years = 68,000,000 people. That's more than all the deaths in World War II. These clowns could care less, because they worship the god of mother earth, and not the God who made man in his own image.
#5
Don't forget how our aversion to 'nasty' predators and love for "Bambi" are causing us to drown in goose droppings. See Rantburg Article
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/02/2006 8:41 Comments ||
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#6
Yes, Daddy's path to riches and fame (he invented an enzyme or something that made DDT effective at orders of magnitude decreased usages levels) was cut off after only a year when Carson's "Silent Spring" came out. In his frustration he turned to cancer research, and discovered interferon. But he was forced into retirement before he could run the experiment series to demonstrate efficacy, so others got the prizes and magazine covers a decade later.
Thailand's military rulers unveiled a stop-gap prime minister and constitution on Sunday, fulfilling a promise to step back in favour of civilians within two weeks of their coup against Thaksin Shinawatra. In other signs of the situation stabilising, the tanks that had stood outside Government House since the Sept 19 putsch rolled back to the barracks and four of Thaksin's most powerful ministers were released from army custody.
Shortly after television stations announced the interim constitution, army chief and coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin confirmed that Surayud Chulanont, a retired general, would be prime minister under a gradual plan to restore democracy. "I went to his house and spent half an hour convincing him to take the job while the country is in crisis. He has agreed to take it," General Sonthi told reporters at a news conference.
Later, at a ceremony at Government House, Sonthi read out a short statement confirming King Bhumibol Adulyadej's approval of Surayud as Thailand's 24th prime minister in 74 years of democracy. Surayud, 63, then announced that a new cabinet would be picked in a week. He said his government would focus on "people's happiness" above economic growth.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2006 00:00 ||
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He said his government would focus on "people's happiness" above economic growth.
Oh Shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/02/2006 20:16 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Scotland's most pro-British historian has performed a remarkable about-face and declared his support for Scottish independence.
(AP) - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he has received warnings from within the White House that the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his left-leaning government.
HALFWAY down the main avenue, through a blue door, was the telephone centre with 14 outside lines and booths for privacy. Seven stores further down, past the video arcade where you could play a game shooting up police officers, was the internet cafe with high-speed access. A bookshop across the way offered religious titles as well as an academic tome, La Tortura, with insights on mental and physical abuse. For lunch you could sit down in the local pizza restaurant or, if you were in a rush, grab a burger and beer from one of the stalls.
(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won 50 percent of votes in a first ballot and may head to an Oct. 29 run-off against rival Geraldo Alckmin, exit polls show. Lula, 60, led Alckmin with 50 percent of votes, according to exit polls by Ibope, which has a 2 percentage points margin of error. Lula needs 50 percent plus one vote to win in the first round. 
Environmental groups are setting back the fight against global warming with misguided and irrational objections to nuclear power, according to Britains leading thinker about the future. 
