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27. mars 2004
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"GM Crops are Good for the Environment and Human Welfare"
Patrick Moore co-founded Greenpeace in the 1960s, but now he is deeply critical at the organisation's luddite positions on biotechnology. Its die-hard opposition to genetically modified (GM) crops does not build on scientific evidence, he argues.
Greenpeace and its allies of "green" terrorists are using bully tactics, sabotage and wholesale destruction of property to make sure no sensible voice is even heard against its scaremongering. Thanks to the hysteric reaction of these luddites, as opposed to calls to caution from more sensible quarters, GM products that could reduce malnutrition and disease in the third world has been stopped or delayed. The GM industry has a massive worldwide PR problem:
Surely there is some way to break through the misinformation and hysteria and provide a more balanced picture to the public. Surely if reasonable people saw the choice between the risk of a daffodil gene in a rice plant versus the certainty of millions of blind children, they would descend on Greenpeace offices around the world and demand to have their money back. How is it that these charlatans continue to stymie progress on so many fronts when their arguments are nothing more than wild, scary speculation?
The main reason for the failure to win the debate decisively is the failure of supporters of G.M. technology to act decisively. The activists are playing hardball while the biotech side soft-pedals the health and environmental benefits of this new technology. Biotech companies and their associations use soft images and calm language, apparently to lull the public into making pleasant associations with G.M. products. How can that strategy possibly hope to counter the Frankenfood fears and superweed scares drummed up by Greenpeace and so many others?
It is worth noting that many of the same crowd who campaign against GM food are also involved in anti-globalisation and anti-Americanism.
This article was brought to my attention by Michel Vuijlsteke from Tales of Drudgery and Boredom. I am prevented from checking out whether his blog lives up to its exciting name since it's written in a language I can't read. Presumably Flamish, which is the version of Dutch non-French Belgians speak..
11:35:41 PM 
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Some weekend French bashing
From WindsOfChange:
The French Government, taking a page from our own Department of Homeland Security has established internal threat levels. Unlike the USA, the French only have four such levels. They are, from low to high: RUN, HIDE, SURRENDER, and COLLABORATE.
11:18:21 PM
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Clarke approved the Bin Ladens leaving the US after 9/11
Remember the story about a number of members of Bin Laden's family being allowed to fly out of the United States very shortly after 9/11-01? Conspiracy theorists and rabid leftists like Michael Moore has made a big stink about this, as if there is some family guilt clause in US anti-terror laws.
Amusingly, the guy who approved the plane to leave the US at the time was the left's new hero Richard Clarke.
Clarke's role was revealed in an October 2003 Vanity Fair article. ``Somebody brought to us for approval the decision to let an airplane filled with Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family, leave the country,'' Clarke told Vanity Fair. ``My role was to say that it can't happen unless the FBI approves it. . . And they came back and said yes, it was fine with them. So we said `Fine, let it happen.' '' ...
I love it when conspiracy theories collide.
Just so nobody misunderstands: I think this was an entirely reasonable permission.
Hat tip to Tim Blair.
1:21:38 PM
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Palestinians see "Allah" on sheep
Palestinians are flocking to see a sheep with a birthmark spelling out, they say, "Allah" in Arabic. Some particularly imaginative people even see "Muhammad" spelled out on the other side. It was born on the same day as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed.
The sheep's owner Yahya Atrash argues this is "clear evidence of God's existence."
Wonder if anybody told Dr Unwin, and what probability he'd assign to it.
Maybe terrorist leader Yassin was reborn as a sheep? Or am I mixing superstitions here?
If you get a strange sense of deja vu at the mention of Palestinians and birthmarks, it is not just your imagination.
2:23:04 AM
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Imam boycotted for asking men to do housework
Mustafa Platin, a Muslim preacher in eastern Turkey, told the men in his village they should help their wives with the housework. Just a little bit.
"Women do all the work in this village. All I said was men should at least carry the water (from the local well)," Mustafa Platin told Sabah newspaper.
Now almost all the men in the village boycott his sermons and go to neighbouring villages instead. They even want to have him removed.
Mr Platin, a 27-year-old father of three, said he meant well.
"Women do the washing, they look after the livestock, they cook. And they carry the water."
"When I told men to help them, they have reacted very harshly."
Guys, when the Imam is the most progressive man in your area, you're really, really backwards. Just a tip.
Via Glenn Reynolds.
12:08:53 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.04.2004; 05:15:50.
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