Month: May 2006

Finding spiritual world’s middle ground

USATODAY.com – Finding spiritual world’s middle ground
President Bush is a classic obligation-keeper — pro-life and pro-traditional-family, with a strong focus on moral clarity. His approach to faith goes back to God’s original covenant with Abraham, whom God promised to make fruitful if he will walk before God and be blameless (Genesis 17:1-2). Bush supports laws banning gay marriage and partial-birth abortion and uses his position to stress the importance of religious obligation and personal morality.

Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is a liberation-seeker — determined to help people in need and protect freedoms such as gay rights and abortion rights. His style of religion can be traced back to Moses and the exodus from Egypt, in which God liberates his people from the oppression of Pharaoh (Exodus 3:7-8). Clinton sees the political profession as a way to answer a call from God to help people, and his focus is on freeing people from captivity, discrimination, injustice and poverty.

Are we running out of oil?

Oil Futures – The Boston Globe

Some experts believe the age of oil is near its end. Others insist that there are trillions of untapped barrels left and that the future of oil depends more on what happens above ground than below.
We’re getting better at stretching our supply. According to Yergin, the 1970s oil shocks set off three decades of previously unheard-of energy efficiency in the US, allowing the economy to grow 150 percent while energy consumption grew only 25 percent. By the time oil production plateaus, he says, ”I think we’ll be driving cars that get 110 miles to the gallon, 120 miles to the gallon.” To assume we won’t be able to adjust in time, Yergin says, ”means you think the technological revolution that began in the 18th century is going to end.”

Yergin, however, is eager to dispel any charge of complacency. He is concerned about the future of oil, he insists, it’s just that what concerns him is taking place aboveground, not below. Today’s tightened supply, after all, is due not to geology but geopolitics the lack of foreign investment in Iran, the chaos in Iraq, the tumultuous politics of Venezuela, rebel attacks in Nigeria.

”It’s politics within countries, the timing of decision-making, the clash of nations, those are the things I worry about. Finding the oil, he suggests, is the easy part.”

Why Bush doesn’t bother vetoeing

Bush challenges hundreds of laws – The Boston Globe
Throughout the past two decades, for example, each president — including the current one — has objected to provisions requiring him to get permission from a congressional committee before taking action. The Supreme Court made clear in 1983 that only the full Congress can direct the executive branch to do things, but lawmakers have continued writing laws giving congressional committees such a role.

Still, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton used the presidential veto instead of the signing statement if they had a serious problem with a bill, giving Congress a chance to override their decisions.

In just five years, Bush has challenged more than 750 new laws, by far a record for any president, while becoming the first president since Thomas Jefferson to stay so long in office without issuing a veto.

Bush’s high spot: a fish

Bush's high spot: a fish – World – smh.com.au
It might sound fishy but US President George W Bush says that catching a bass in a lake on his Texas ranch has been the high spot of his five years in office.

Asked by German newspaper Bild to name the "most wonderful moment" of his presidency, Bush said: "I don't know, it's hard to characterise the great moments.

"They've all been busy moments, by the way.

"I would say the best moment was when I caught a seven and half pound (3.4kg) largemouth bass on my lake." Continue reading “Bush’s high spot: a fish”

Dolphins ‘know each other’s names’

Dolphins ‘know each other’s names’ – Sunday Times – Times Online
They found that dolphins responded strongly to the whistles of their relatives and associates while generally ignoring those of dolphins to whom they had no link.

Janik said: “Bottlenose dolphins are the only animals other than humans to have been shown to transmit identity information independent of the caller’s voice.”

The Populist Latin Revolution

While America has been fixated on fighting the Islamo-Facist Revolution, another Revolution has been going on closer to home in Latin America. A revolution that according to provocative Black scholar Shelby Steele started after WWII:

I believe, in a late-20th-century event that transformed the world more profoundly than the collapse of communism: the world-wide collapse of white supremacy as a source of moral authority, political legitimacy and even sovereignty. This idea had organized the entire world, divided up its resources, imposed the nation-state system across the globe, and delivered the majority of the world’s population into servitude and oppression. After World War II, revolutions across the globe, from India to Algeria and from Indonesia to the American civil rights revolution, defeated the authority inherent in white supremacy, if not the idea itself

With the exception of Cuba, Latin America never had their Revolution to end White Supremacy. As blogger Robert Mayer points out in his response to the ” Why isn’t Socialism Dead” (posted on this blog on May 6):

Latin America, next to Africa, is one of the most in-egalitarian continents in the world. Even Eastern Europe is no comparison. Military dictatorships, billionaire oligarchs, and foreign corporations have had their run of the place. Latin America is also still very much undermined by its Spanish colonial past. Most of the very wealthy in Latin American countries tend to be of European descent — in another word, white. Compare that to the poor, who are predominantly of Indian descent.You have yourself a genuine populist witches brew. A brew where people not only no longer believe in democracy, but advocate the complete redistribution of wealth based on racial terms.

Chile has been the most successful Latin Country to make the transition to a Free Market model, but it had the advantage of a relatively small indigenous population of Mapuche Indians to assimilate. Compare that to Bolivia, where they are over half and just elected Morales, a Populist one-of-their-own, who immediately sent the Army out to seize the gas fields. Problem is their neighbors in Brazil & Argentina (Through Spain) were the investors who developed those fields. Again they are relatively successful primarily European-descendant countries with their own Populist movement histories, as portrayed in the musical “Evita” and starring Madonna in the film version. Now the indigenous populist revolt has spilled over their borders to effect their Socialist economic well-being.

Chavez Strategies backfiring

Strategies backfiring: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Even though oil hit $75 a barrel last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has begun to stumble in his efforts to buy elections for his friends in Latin America.

Simon Bolivar' painting is conspicuous in both pictures with Morales & Sandanista NoriegaIt is clear why Chávez is using his diatribe and his country's oil revenue to try to get allies elected throughout the hemisphere: His anti-American economic block is crumbling. Despite his objections, Peru and Colombia signed free trade agreements with the United States. That came after Central America and the Dominican Republic had done the same.

That was too much for Chávez to take. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have socialist governments, but refuse to accept his leadership or his ego. Brazil encourages moderation in the region as it jockeys with Venezuela to see who can be the true leader for South America. Chile is governed by a socialist president, but continues to practice a free market economic policy.

Mermaid Flying Boat

Mermaid
The all-new Mermaid is the first amphibian to be designed especially to comply with the FAA’s new Light Sport Aircraft rules. The design parameters were challenging: make a certifiable, roomy amphibian that will fit the LSA rules (2-place, 1432 pounds gross, low stall speed), and that will be affordable (Price of an expensive luxury car), reliable, and fun to fly; then give it the speed (100 knots) and range (400 miles)to be practical as a transportation device, and dual controls, for training and peace of mind.

Versatility is the hallmark of true amphibians: even the energy-absorbing seats are quick-removable, so the Mermaid can double as a dockside bed, making those remote camping trips all the more enjoyable. The hydraulic-damped tricycle gear retracts and the stable, quick-planing hull allows water takeoffs, at gross, in just 750 feet and landing speeds in the 30’s.

Fortunes Of Kings, Queens And Dictators

Forbes.com – Magazine Article
What do Cuba’s fatigue-wearing president Fidel Castro and Monaco’s playboy bachelor Prince Albert have in common? Not much other than lofty positions and vast fortunes. It’s a diverse group that includes a British queen, an African dictator and a few Middle Eastern potentates.

Click here to see ten wealthy rulers and click on this link on the next page

For another controversial dictator, Fidel Castro, we assume he has economic control over a web of state-owned companies, including El Palacio de Convenciones, a convention center near Havana; Cimex, retail conglomerate; and Medicuba, which sells vaccines and other pharmaceuticals produced in Cuba. Former Cuban officials insist Castro, who travels exclusively in a fleet of black Mercedes, has skimmed profits from these outfits for years. To come up with a net worth figure, we use a discounted cash flow method to value these companies and then assume a portion of that profit stream goes to Castro. To be conservative, we don’t try to estimate any past profits he may have pocketed, though we have heard rumors of large stashes in Swiss bank accounts. Castro, for the record disagrees, insisting his personal net worth is zero.

Fidel Castro was furious when Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $550 million last year. This year, the magazine upped its estimate of the communist leader’s wealth to a cool $900 million.
Castro had said he was considering suing after Forbes released its 2005 list, scoffing then his wealth was estimated to be close to that of the queen of England.

“Do they think I am (former Zairian President) Mobutu (Sese Seko) or one of the many millionaires, those thieves and plunderers that the empire has suckled and protected?” he said last year, referring to his capitalist archenemy, Washington.