Danish statistics professor and eco-villain Bjørn Lomborg is still trying to save the world from well-meaning but misapplied environmentalism.
He points out that everything has a cost. Do we spend $100 gazillion to reduce the future temperature by 1 deg C, or do we get fresh water for everybody? How do we decide what to do with our finite resources? No wonder all these environmentalists hate him; they studied sociology for years to get away from math!
Check out this short Wired interview where Lomborg explains the idea behind the Copenhagen Consensus.
I wrote about his recent essay on this very subject a few weeks ago.
Combating HIV/AIDS should be at the top of the world's priority list. That is the recommendation from the Copenhagen Consensus 2004 expert panel of world-leading economists.
About 28 million cases could be prevented by 2010. The cost would be $27 billion, with benefits almost forty times as high.
Right. Human beings are the most valuable resource in the world.
I stopped reading Wonkette some time ago (the day only has so many hours and all that), and when I later found out about Washingtonienne aka Jessica Cutler and that hard-to-believe story, I was just happy I'd missed it. To be blunt, it's not a story the blogosphere needs to be proud about having broken. But this Wonkette interview by Commissar is a must-read!
Even Dean broke his no-Wonkette pledge to link this!
But a controversial interview aired in the last edition of the programme with the widow of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a Chechen rebel leader killed by a car bomb in Qatar in February, proved the last straw.
Two Russian intelligence officers are currently on trial in Qatar for his murder.
I blogged about his killing, and I did guess he was actually killed by Russian intelligence, but I actually missed the arrest of the two intelligence officers. I suspect there is some pressure from Moscow to have them released.
I am having these really ambivalent feelings about Russia and what Putin is doing with it. Remember that a few years ago, under Yeltsin, it was accepted wisdom that Russia was going to hell in a handbasket, eaten from within by corruption, vodka, cleptocratic market "reforms" and the Russian mafia. Now, well, it is clearly much better. This government control of the press means Russia is not exactly a liberal democracy, yet, but I'd still argue as long as there are free elections, there is a limit to how much the government of the day can screw up and still fool people to vote for them through press propaganda. A functioning liberal democracy isn't built in a day or even a decade (lesson for Iraq here!).
I visited Russia a couple of times some years ago (St Petersburg to be exact), and it's difficult not to love the people, the culture and the country. I really hope that what we're seeing here is not the beginning of a new dictature.
PS: That the Russian secret services assassinate a Chechen terrorist abroad doesn't worry me that much. That they got caught is worse.
Michael Moore stole the title to his fictuous documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" from author Ray Bradbury (picture), who in 1953 wrote his dystopic scifi classic "Fahrenheit 451." So what does Ray Bradbury, now 84 years old, think about Moore using his book title for his Bush-bashing movie project?
The answer is, as journalists in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter found out when they called the author, that he is mighty pissed off. Here's my translation of the juicier bits of the interview.
"Michael Moore is a screwed asshole, that is what I think about that case. He stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking me for permission.
Have you spoken to him?
- He is a horrible human being. Horrible human!
That Ray Bradbury thought Moore could take his Palme d'Or from Cannes and stuff it was extremely clear, even if he never expressed himself with those words, when DN reached the author in his home in Los Angeles. [...]
Do you disagree with his opinions...
-That has nothing to do with it. He copied my title, that is what happened. That has nothing to do with my political opinions.
Bradbury said that he had tried to discuss the issue with Moore, but that the director avoided him.
- I called his publisher. They promised he would call me the same afternoon, but he didn't.
When was that?
- A few months ago, when his plans about the movie was first made known.
The conversation touched politics when Bradbury mentioned that Moore had ruined general Wesley Clark's chances to become the democrat's presidential candidate. Like several American commentators Bradbury means that Moore's support to Clark was a kiss of death when Clark did not distance himself from Moore's claim that Bush deserted from his military service.
- He slandered the president to general Clark, and Clark allowed him to do it. Clark should have said: "Don't say that. It is not true." That day Clark lost his chance to become president.
I understand. And you supported general Clark?
- No. I support honesty.
According to Bradbury others have asked him about Moore's use of his title, but "I don't want to make a big story out of it."
- I detest all paparazzi journalism that is so common these days. If I just could make him change his title silently, that would be the best thing.
Do you think that is possible, I mean the movie is very famous under that title now?
- Who cares? Nobody will see his movie, it is almost dead already. Nevermind, nobody cares.
But it won the Palme d'Or in Cannes?
- So what? I have won prizes in different places and they are mostly meaningless. The people there hate us, which is why they gave him the d'Or. It's a meaningless prize.
Ray Bradbury was very clear that he considered Moore a dishonest thief, but refused to answer if he would press charges in any way.
Norwegian left wants to advertise war opposition in the Washington Post
The Socialist Left (SV), a radical political party with a small representation in the Norwegian parliament, is planning to buy an ad in the Washington Post to inform President Bush that most Norwegians are opposed to the war in Iraq and wants to withdraw our forces there. Of course, the message is really intended as a domestic protest against the center-right coalition government, which has committed some of our forces to Iraq.
Now they are trying to collect money for the ad, which will cost $175,000 (NOK 1.1 million).
The Socialist Left tries to say it is "the Norwegian people," not their party, that is behind this campaign. However, on the official site of the campaign, tellhim.no, it admits the bank account of the campaign belongs to the party, that the organisation has the same address as the party, and that members of SV took the initiative for the project. Yet, the ad portrays to come from the Norwegian people.
The ad they plan to put in the Washington Post, which you can see here in PDF format, is full of slogans that are unlikely to impress most American readers, and even less the Bush administration.
Fighting terrorism is too important to be done by waging war.
Beyond the empty slogans, there have been few suggestions about how exactly one does fight terrorism.
I wished our wingnuts stayed inside our borders and not do too much to embarrass the country.
Parody site Watley Review recently had fun at the expense of a small dog race:
Among other findings, the analysis determined that the Chihuahua is actually a type of large rodent, selectively bred for centuries to resemble a canine.
The story spread fast, so Urban Legend debunking site Snopes pointed out that the story is fake, and also that Watley makes no attempt at pretending to be about real news, as this amusing disclaimer demonstrates (disclaimer page is linked with text "Please read before quoting us in court" on every page!)
The Watley Review is dedicated to the production of articles completely without journalistic merit or factual basis, as this would entail leaving our chairs or actually working. Names, places and events are generally fictitious, except for public figures about which we may have heard something down at the pub. All contents are intended as parody and should be construed as such. We have no agenda other than the depletion of Uncle Zeke's whaling trust fund and the dutiful appreciation of smooth, smooth liquor. The Review is updated every Tuesday, when the hangovers wear off.
We call this time of the year "agurktid" for the news media, literally "cucumber time," because newspapers have few real news stories to tell, so they write about things like strangely shaped cucumbers... and small chihuahuas.
Remember Alexandra Polier, who was named as an "intern" that John Kerry allegedly had an affair with? The "scandal" caused a massive Drudge-to-blog-to-press feedback effect back in February, totally turning upside down the life of a young aspiring journalist, who was left with cleaning up the mess as the world quickly moved on to other scandals.
Now Alex Polier (picture) is writing her own story, explaining what happened, of course what didn't happen, what lying scumbags some journalists are (especially The Sun’s Brian Flynn, but what'd you expect?), and leaving quite a bit of doubt about what role Wesley Clarke and his "strategist" Chris Lehane had in breaking this story.
Of course I wroteaboutthestory when it broke, but I did keep a very skeptical position I am glad to say.
The article reveals that Polier no doubt could be a great journalist and writer, but somehow she has become quite turned off by the idea.
I have to admit when I read her bitter remarks about how the Internet contributed to the feeding frenzy, and mentioning the number of Google hits on her name, I wondered if she'd read some of my blog comments. Maybe we should always write our material, keeping in mind "how would I feel about what I'd written were I to meet this person face to face?"
Novak wrote a doom & gloom column about the situation in Afghanistan a few days ago, and he really managed to rile up blogger Sgt Hook. Novak wrote some very bad things about the preparedness of the 25th infantry division, which happens to be where Sgt Hook serves, in Afghanistan.
This is what I see as the great asset of the blogosphere that the ordinary media cannot match. Journalists (and columnists) are professional writers. But bloggers are writers, and also everything else. It is the fact there exists bloggers who are experts in everything, including soldiers, that gives the blogosphere the edge. We have the real experts in real skills. Nobody would send their children to a journalist who merely writes about medicine, would they?
Al Gore easily beat George Bush by 16 percentage points in New Jersey in 2000, but the polls these days show there is only a marginal advantage to Kerry, or a statistical dead heat, in what should be the most certain Democratic win in the union. And while die-hard democrats are clearly set against Bush, the reception to John Kerry is so far lukewarm.
On a national basis, the RasmussenReports tracking poll shows Bush ahead 46-44 today, but it is within the margin of error and may just as well be "statistical noise" even as it is consistent with the approval rating being back up at 52. Already there is a clear trend that Kerry is unable to capitalise on Bush's vulnerability.
Yes, it's still way too early to tell, and many things can (and probably will) happen between now and November.
Michael Moore stole the title to his fictuous documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" from author Ray Bradbury (picture), who in 1953 wrote his dystopic scifi classic "
The Socialist Left (SV), a radical political party with a small representation in the Norwegian parliament, is planning to
Remember Alexandra Polier, who was named as an "intern" that John Kerry allegedly had an affair with? The "scandal" caused a massive Drudge-to-blog-to-press feedback effect back in February, totally turning upside down the life of a young aspiring journalist, who was left with cleaning up the mess as the world quickly moved on to other scandals.
