Mike Huckabee's Letter To The Editor

We are on the same page with former Arkansas governor (1996-2007) and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on environment, energy and climate change. In a recent (10-30-07) Letter To The Editor, here is what to The Wall Street Journal:

"I believe that we must be good stewards of our environment and support many paths to reducing our emission of greenhouse gases, such as more nuclear power and alternative sources of clean energy. As part of our overall effort, I also support a cap and trade system, which has worked well for reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions. However, I do not agree with those who want all allowances to be auctioned off because I believe that will create too great a burden on businesses. The alternative to cap and trade is a carbon tax, which I don't support."

We agree completely. We really like this Huckabee guy. And it doesn't hurt that he loves the Rolling Stones and plays bass.

Oil hits $94.53 a barrel

Marketwatch

Taking bets on what day we see $100.

Glad we don't drive.

Oil hits $94.53 a barrel

Marketwatch

Taking bets on what day we see $100.

Glad we don't drive.

Greensumption

Shopping won't save the planet.

Greensumption

Shopping won't save the planet.

Tough issues at NIF forum, Part 1

Nearly 300 people sacrificed most of a beautiful Sunday (October 20) to participate in the New York leg of a multi-city program of the New Israel Fund (NIF) entitled "Towards a Progressive Vision for Israel." Hosted at New York University’s strikingly-modern Kimmel Center for University Life, overlooking Washington Square, this was an unusually polite forum on difficult issues.

Book-ended by opening and closing plenary sessions, small-group discussions focused upon a myriad of topics relating to Israel and social change: multiculturalism and Israeli identity, religious pluralism, religious feminism, global climate change, environmental peacemaking, human rights and security, the status of migrant workers and non-Jewish refugees, Israeli-Ethiopian identity, multiculturalism in the Negev and the place of Israel in contemporary American-Jewish identity.

According to the keynoter, the former Knesset deputy speaker and Meretz MK Naomi Chazan, Israel has a per capita income of $33,000, exceeding that of Belgium. But as she also pointed out, Israel has recently surpassed the United States for the widest income gap between rich and poor in the developed world. Twenty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, as do one of every three Israeli children.

Dr. Chazan indicated that Israel began as the only underdeveloped country of the many that achieved independence after World War II that has become a fully industrialized society. She also noted that Israel, together with India, are virtually the only examples from among these newly independent states that have remained democratic. Having begun impoverished in the late 1940s and the ‘50s, Israel’s been an enormous success, but the social divides remain daunting — among rich and poor, secular and religious, Ashkenazi and Mizrachi and especially between Arab and Jew.

According to Prof. Chazan, nearly 90 percent of Israeli Arabs and Jews never socialize with each other and (perhaps more shocking) 80 percent of secular children don’t even know a fellow Israeli who wears a kippa. "Israel is a multicultural society and doesn’t know it," she declared, adding that it does not have a "multicultural ethic."

By this she meant that Israelis need to learn to respect their compatriots with different backgrounds, beliefs and values, rather than to necessarily regard them as wrong or unenlightened. Israelis don’t understand that "democracy is about the rules of the game for dealing with disagreement."

The day’s events returned frequently to this central concern of building an Israel with a citizenry as diverse as it is, that is more engaged with each other and society as a whole, to overcome apathy, distrust and alienation. This was discussed in the context of a "Jewish state," what is meant by this term and how this relates to American Jews. In this connection, Eliezer Yaari, executive director of the NIF in Israel, stated a preference for a factual description of Israel as being a "state of Jews" rather than the ideological construct of a Jewish state— but this thought was not fleshed out much, even after Yaari was challenged; my impression isn’t that Yaari was hiding anything but that it can be a genuinely difficult issue even for one to think through on one’s own. Click to continue

Harlem Compared to Prince George's County

Harlem is the most famous Black community in America but Prince George's County is the richest majority Black county in the country. Harlem has more culture but PG looks better. Harlem has Central Park on its border but PG has the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (USDA). Harlem has the Hudson River and PG has the Potomac River. Harlem has the Harlem River and PG is near the Anacostia River.

Harlem has two sewage treatment plants and PG is near DC's. Harlem's smog is worse than PG's smog. Harlem has a subway but PG does not. Harlem has the Apollo Theatre and PG has Andrews Air Force Base (where Air Force One is parked). Harlem has a MLK Ave and so does PG. Harlem has a Malcolm X Boulevard but PG does not (one close by in DC). Anybody have anything else?

I. Howard Marshall on Pauline Theology in the Thessalonian Correspondence

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

I. Howard Marshall, "Pauline Theology in the Thessalonian Correspondence," M.D. Hooker & S.G. Wilson, eds., Paul and Paulinism. Essays In honour C.K. Barrett. London: SPCK, 1982. Hbk. ISBN: 028103835X. pp.173-183.

Professor Marshall compares and contrasts the theology of the two letters to the Thessalonians with the rest of the Pauline corpus and concludes that despite some omissions many of the main elements of Pauline Theology are present. For further reading see:

Over the Oil Peak

The world has reached the point of maximum oil output and production levels will halve by 2030 -- a situation that will eventually lead to war and disaster, a report claims.

The German-based Energy Watch Group released a report Tuesday saying the world's oil production peaked in 2006 and from now on will drop by around 3 percent a year. It says that by as early as 2030, the global availability of oil will be half of what it was at its peak.

CNN International

Over the Oil Peak

The world has reached the point of maximum oil output and production levels will halve by 2030 -- a situation that will eventually lead to war and disaster, a report claims.

The German-based Energy Watch Group released a report Tuesday saying the world's oil production peaked in 2006 and from now on will drop by around 3 percent a year. It says that by as early as 2030, the global availability of oil will be half of what it was at its peak.

CNN International

Best Places to Grow Your Ass in the USA

The Supersized Empire of Lard.

Forbes

Best Places to Grow Your Ass in the USA

The Supersized Empire of Lard.

Forbes

Environmental Justice on Wall Street: Subprime Mitigation?

Will E. Stanley O'Neal now be made the face of the collapse of the housing market? Will he become Subprime Stanley? It looks like the fix is in. His picture started appearing more and more as it looked like Merrill Lynch might be having some trouble. His picture and articles did not appear nearly as much when he was having great success at Merrill Lynch. Most Americans probably did not even know that one of Wall Street's largest firms was run by an African American. They know now. Now that he is gone.

Fannie and Freddie and the Fed wanted to create more home ownership for marginal buyers. Home ownership was sold big time to people who could not afford the mortgages. Now many of those chickens are coming home to roost. Was it a good strategy to try to get low and moderate income people to get the title of 'homeowner?' Idealistically yes. Realistically no. Now the buyers are hurt. The lenders are hurt. Washington Mutual is hurt. Countrywide is not far behind. Fannie and Freddie could be next. But when many say low and moderate income, minorities come to mind for many. And now an African American Wall Street CEO who dabbled in subprime is taking a fall for restating earnings ($7.9 billion write-down for 3rd quarter) and trying to shop an 11th hour deal with Wachovia Bank. Our verdict: No harm no foul. Capitalism tried to expand its base and lost. Many participated and many will lose. Just do not make O'Neal the face of the Subprime mess.

Update: Charles Prince, chairman of Citigroup, was fired a week after O'Neal for a third quarter $6.5 billion write-down, did not receive a fraction of the headlines, ink or television coverage that O'Neal did.

San Francisco's Big Decision: Yes on A, No on H

When San Francisco goes to the polls on November 6, two initiatives will be competing for public support. The outcome of this election may determine whether San Francisco continues on the "Transit First" path toward a becoming a livable city, or becomes a smaller version of the auto-dominated Los Angeles.

This election is shaping up to be a classic big business vs. community battle.

Volunteers needed. If you have a few hours over the next week, you can plug into the campaign here.

Carfree USA recommends. No on H, Yes on A.

Here is why.

PROPOSITION H
Shall the Planning Code be changed to increase the number of parking spaces that developers are permitted to build and ease restrictions on building new parking spaces for residential and non-residential buildings?

No on Prop H

Prop. H would undo decades of careful planning to improve the livability of San Francisco.

It hearkens back to the days before the freeway revolt, when the push to add space for cars, no matter the cost, led engineers to plan highways through Golden Gate Park and city neighborhoods.

San Franciscans have spoken on this issue: we want livability, not traffic.

Prop. H would:
Create traffic and pollution for our neighborhoods.

If Prop. H passes, over 20 years, 20,000 new cars will be congesting San Francisco roads each day. Prop. H would increase parking in new buildings to such an extent that the roads would be clogged with commuters – making Muni run even slower. Our city works because many people get to work on transit, making commuting easier for all San Franciscans.

Create loopholes that allow for uncontrolled parking development and new traffic.

The measure exempts “low emission vehicles” from any limits whatsoever. That means virtually every new car sold in America qualifies. Want examples? The Hummer H1 and H3, Cadillac Escalade, Ford Expedition, and Range Rover. This measure removes essentially all limits on parking through this clever loophole.

Remove street trees and bus stops.

Today, you cannot add a curb cut if it would require removal of important street trees, bus stops, and other important features of our neighborhoods. This measure changes those provisions, giving private individuals an unfettered right to add curb cuts no matter the impact on our community.

This is the most radical anti-environment, anti-planning, measure to ever appear before San Francisco voters. In the era of global warming, it is deplorable for such a measure to be on the ballot. Don't support it.


PROPOSITION A
Shall the Municipal Transportation Agency be provided greater governing authority, and additional funding, and be required to develop a Climate Action Plan, and shall the City not increase the maximum number of parking spaces allowed for new private development projects unless approved by a super-majority of the Board?

Yes on Prop A

Muni suffers from poor work rules, excessive bureaucracy and underfunding. Prop. A will fix it.

Restructures our transit agency (MTA) to cut waste.

It allows the General Manager to recruit people outside of the bureaucracy – and be able to fire anyone who does not perform. This is the most significant expansion of management accountability in decades.

Creates clean emissions standards to reduce global warming.

It requires the MTA to create a Climate Action Plan by 2009 with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from San Francisco's transportation sector to 80% of 1990 levels by 2012.

Increases funding for MUNI—without raising taxes or fares.

It allows the MTA will be able to keep 80% of parking revenue money, instead of sending half of it to the General Fund today. This amounts to $26 million to help keep Muni affordable and reliable.

Allows for fixes to broken work rules.

For decades, transit reform in San Francisco has run into an immovable obstacle – a Charter-imposed cap on salaries that eliminates the ability of managers to negotiate for new work rules that help make the system run better. This measure gives unions the incentive to join management for new rules that will increase reliability and efficiency.

Creates more efficient traffic management.

This measure consolidates responsibility for bus stop placement, lane striping, stop light signal control, and most of the minutia of traffic management. It gives responsibility for these technical issues to the MTA, the agency charged with coordinating all modes of transportation in San Francisco.

San Francisco's Big Decision: Yes on A, No on H

When San Francisco goes to the polls on November 6, two initiatives will be competing for public support. The outcome of this election may determine whether San Francisco continues on the "Transit First" path toward a becoming a livable city, or becomes a smaller version of the auto-dominated Los Angeles.

This election is shaping up to be a classic big business vs. community battle.

Volunteers needed. If you have a few hours over the next week, you can plug into the campaign here.

Carfree USA recommends. No on H, Yes on A.

Here is why.

PROPOSITION H
Shall the Planning Code be changed to increase the number of parking spaces that developers are permitted to build and ease restrictions on building new parking spaces for residential and non-residential buildings?

No on Prop H

Prop. H would undo decades of careful planning to improve the livability of San Francisco.

It hearkens back to the days before the freeway revolt, when the push to add space for cars, no matter the cost, led engineers to plan highways through Golden Gate Park and city neighborhoods.

San Franciscans have spoken on this issue: we want livability, not traffic.

Prop. H would:
Create traffic and pollution for our neighborhoods.

If Prop. H passes, over 20 years, 20,000 new cars will be congesting San Francisco roads each day. Prop. H would increase parking in new buildings to such an extent that the roads would be clogged with commuters – making Muni run even slower. Our city works because many people get to work on transit, making commuting easier for all San Franciscans.

Create loopholes that allow for uncontrolled parking development and new traffic.

The measure exempts “low emission vehicles” from any limits whatsoever. That means virtually every new car sold in America qualifies. Want examples? The Hummer H1 and H3, Cadillac Escalade, Ford Expedition, and Range Rover. This measure removes essentially all limits on parking through this clever loophole.

Remove street trees and bus stops.

Today, you cannot add a curb cut if it would require removal of important street trees, bus stops, and other important features of our neighborhoods. This measure changes those provisions, giving private individuals an unfettered right to add curb cuts no matter the impact on our community.

This is the most radical anti-environment, anti-planning, measure to ever appear before San Francisco voters. In the era of global warming, it is deplorable for such a measure to be on the ballot. Don't support it.


PROPOSITION A
Shall the Municipal Transportation Agency be provided greater governing authority, and additional funding, and be required to develop a Climate Action Plan, and shall the City not increase the maximum number of parking spaces allowed for new private development projects unless approved by a super-majority of the Board?

Yes on Prop A

Muni suffers from poor work rules, excessive bureaucracy and underfunding. Prop. A will fix it.

Restructures our transit agency (MTA) to cut waste.

It allows the General Manager to recruit people outside of the bureaucracy – and be able to fire anyone who does not perform. This is the most significant expansion of management accountability in decades.

Creates clean emissions standards to reduce global warming.

It requires the MTA to create a Climate Action Plan by 2009 with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from San Francisco's transportation sector to 80% of 1990 levels by 2012.

Increases funding for MUNI—without raising taxes or fares.

It allows the MTA will be able to keep 80% of parking revenue money, instead of sending half of it to the General Fund today. This amounts to $26 million to help keep Muni affordable and reliable.

Allows for fixes to broken work rules.

For decades, transit reform in San Francisco has run into an immovable obstacle – a Charter-imposed cap on salaries that eliminates the ability of managers to negotiate for new work rules that help make the system run better. This measure gives unions the incentive to join management for new rules that will increase reliability and efficiency.

Creates more efficient traffic management.

This measure consolidates responsibility for bus stop placement, lane striping, stop light signal control, and most of the minutia of traffic management. It gives responsibility for these technical issues to the MTA, the agency charged with coordinating all modes of transportation in San Francisco.

We are doomed

Eyesore of the month.

We are doomed

Eyesore of the month.

Discussion with Meretz chair Yossi Beilin

The following is a report by Meretz USA staff:
With Condoleezza Rice visiting the Middle East to consult with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on composing a joint declaration of principles before the Annapolis summit, currently scheduled for late November or December, Meretz-Yahad party chairman, Dr. Yossi Beilin, addressed Meretz USA on Thursday, October 18th.

Throughout his presentation, Dr. Beilin stressed the importance of the upcoming peace conference at Annapolis, arguing that time for a two-state solution is rapidly running out. As evidence he cited the fact that more and more people, including Israeli settlers, Palestinian extremists, and post-Zionist leftists are beginning to believe that some variant of a single state solution is the only way forward.

Although Dr. Beilin acknowledged that the Annapolis conference is emerging from bizarre circumstances – specifically, there are three weak 'protagonists' leading the 'show' – he argued that this might offer great potential. In the first place, each of the three leaders has legitimacy: some 70 MKs [a strong majority] – many from the opposition – would support a peace process led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; President Mahmoud Abbas was elected by 62% of Palestinians; and President George W. Bush remains, for now, the 'leader of the world.'

Additionally, both parties now know each others' "red lines." Many previous agreements [and failures] can provide guidelines for the negotiations, and the lead negotiators have a good deal of experience with the issues.

Despite these positive feelings, Dr. Beilin expressed disappointment that not all relevant parties had been invited to participate in the conference. In particular, he stressed the importance of Israel negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, which will not accept being ignored while the Israelis deal solely with Abbas. If left out, Dr. Beilin said, "They will try to spoil the party." He also pointed out that the main opposition to negotiations with Hamas comes from Fatah, which wants to talk to Hamas eventually, but on its own terms.

Dr. Beilin next turned to the question of what must happen for the conference to succeed. He suggested that rather than agreeing on a final-status framework, the negotiators should reach a definitive agreement in principle on a single core issue. This issue, he suggested, should be that of borders and what land must eventually be swapped across the Green Line. For the other issues, the Annapolis negotiators should make do with more general solutions.

Explaining what the Meretz party should do to further the peace process, Dr. Beilin said that it would support the Prime Minister in his negotiations with the Palestinians, as long as he shows sincere intentions to make progress. As for the United States, Dr. Beilin emphasized that the U.S. Administration should not merely facilitate negotiations – the Israeli and Palestinian governments already talk – but should, instead, create the dynamic the parties will make concessions to the United States which they might not want to make directly to the other.

Concluding, Dr. Beilin turned away from the peace conference to the environment, citing the decision to 'take the party green.' Historically, Meretz has been the Israeli party most concerned with the environment. But in the last few years, the issue has not been emphasized; no Meretz MK has devoted his/her time to it. Yet, in the meantime, the issue has become much more important globally — it is now an "existential question." In addition, the nascent Israeli Green party has, in the last few years, taken votes away from Meretz — but without receiving enough of its own votes to actually become part of the Knesset. Becoming green once again is, therefore, not only allows Meretz-Yahad to take on an extremely important issue but to also, hopefully, gain more seats and influence on the Israeli government.

Live Earth Carbon Assessment & Footprint Report

Live Earth 7707 aimed to have the event and leave a "zero net impact" in terms of generating greenhouse gases (GHG). After the Live Earth concerts, they calculated their estimated gross carbon emissions throughout a ten-month planning and execution process (including the concert day itself) at 19,708 tons. Live Earth is purchasing carbon offsets (greenhouse gas credits) to mitigate the portion of its carbon footprint that could not be avoided by energy reduction.

After an 11-week accounting and audit, the Live Earth Carbon Assessment & Footprint Report was published. The report shows you how they did it, what some other events have measured and where they think the industry should be in terms of carbon performance.

Senator James Inhofe Makes Global Warming Speech

Human activity-caused global warming skeptic Senator James Inhofe, right, gave a major speech on global warming today on the Senate Floor. Although we disagree with the former chair of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee on his general position on global warming, we agree with many of his concerns and observations. One particular concern we share in regards to any climate change legislation is the potential effect on the poor.

AAEA has developed a program call the Environmental Justice Allowance Reserve (EJAR) to address Senator Inhofe's concerns. These allowances would come from a special reserve, similar to the current Acid Rain Program Renewable Energy and Conservation Reserve, when the initial allowance allocation is made. They would be awarded to utilities, automakers and others that undertake environmental justice practices and programs designed to mitigate or reduce price shocks, increase the installation of pollution control equipment, promote community education and enhance health-related activities. Utilities and automakers could choose to work with organizations and businesses that conduct environmental justice activities related to climate change mitigation and reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury.

Senator Inhofe on how the poor will pay for symbolic climate measures:

What few Americans realize is that the impact of these policies would not be evenly distributed. The Congressional Budget Office recently looked at the approach taken by most global warming proposals in Congress - known as cap and trade - that would place a cap on carbon emissions, allocate how much everyone could emit, and then let them trade those emissions. Let me quote from the CBO report: "Regardless of how the allowances were distributed, most of the cost of meeting a cap on CO2 emissions would be borne by consumers, who would face persistently higher prices for products such as electricity and gasoline. Those price increases would be regressive in that poorer households would bear a larger burden relative to their income than wealthier households would." Think about that. Even relatively modest bills would put enormous burdens on the poor. The poor already face energy costs much higher as a percentage of their income than wealthier Americans. While most Americans spend about 4 percent of their monthly budget on heating their homes or other energy needs, the poorest fifth of Americans spend 19 percent of their budget on energy. Why would we adopt policies which disproportionately force the poor and working class to shoulder the heaviest burdens through even higher energy costs?

Is Meretz USA part of ‘Israel Lobby’?

In their best-selling book, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy," Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt muddy the waters in how they define the "Lobby," damningly including many organizations (including apparently our own) that work for what they (M & W) claim to support – a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

They continually try to protect themselves from the charge of anti-Semitism by saying that lobbies are part of the democratic process and that they mean no ill for Israel, and then go on in detail to attack both the "Lobby" and Israel— accusing them wrongly of being a "necessary but insufficient" cause for the war in Iraq. This tends to get Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Powell off the hook. It also resembles anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of the past that accused Jews of conspiring and manipulating great events to the detriment of non-Jews— although I don’t see this as their intent.

There is a case to be made against AIPAC and a few groups that run with it. There is also a case to be made against the neocons, but they are not the same thing as the amorphous "Lobby" that they identify. AIPAC can be rightly criticized for making Israeli-Arab peacemaking more difficult but had virtually nothing to do with Iraq. The neocons strongly favored attacking Iraq, but they were not the decision makers, and they are not the same thing as a lobby for Israel. To be sure, they like Israel, but they also like Britain. And the highest-ranking neocon personage during Bush's first term, Paul Wolfowitz, is likewise known for advocating rights for the Palestinians. In other words, M & W are often (usually in fact) off the mark.

In their book, they refer to Meretz USA twice. Once, as part of a list of dovish Jewish groups, including Americans for Peace Now (APN), that support a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. But the point here is really to assail even dovish parts of the "Lobby" for supposedly not conditioning US aid to Israel on an end to settlement expansion in the West Bank. Yet APN did, in fact, precisely support the withholding of US loan guarantees while settlements were being expanded, during the term of the senior President Bush. But of course, M & W had no idea, as they make the point that APN, Meretz USA, Ameinu, Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek are really part of the Israel Lobby and therefore bad somehow.

Meretz USA did not exist during the senior Bush administration. Americans for Progressive Israel, a predecessor of Meretz USA, advocated a more complex point of view than APN: that because the loan guarantees were important to help settle the massive wave of about one million new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, this was but another reason for Israel to end expanding settlements in the occupied territories. API’s bottomline position was to oppose the settlements, arguing that their expansion endangered the loan guarantees.

M & W wrongly place the Jewish Voice for Peace in that list of dovish Jewish organizations that support a two-state solution because JVP is agnostic on two states and can be said to lean toward one state. Yet the JVP alone among those listed is praised by M & W for supporting the withholding of US aid to Israel as leverage against the settlements; they even suggest that JVP is, therefore, NOT part of the Lobby— high praise indeed in the eyes of M & W.

Their second mention of Meretz USA is in recounting how it was refused membership in the Conference of Presidents of Major American-Jewish Organizations; this had to do with Meretz USA’s dovish leanings. There is also a mention of the Union of Progressive Zionists being attacked by the Zionist Organization of America for sponsoring a tour of "Breaking the Silence," former IDF soldiers protesting the occupation and that the UPZ was supported to remain in the coalition for on-campus Israel advocacy. This victory for the UPZ over the ZOA does not seem to have impacted their line of argument, however.

The fact that the UPZ was founded and supported by Meretz USA and Ameinu is not noted. That Jewish and even Zionist organizations consider themselves to support Israel’s well being but don’t automatically support Israeli government policies goes unexamined because it complicates M & W’s simplistic thesis.

Condi Stares Down Anti War Nut Case

Where is a taser when you need one? Note how cool Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was when the nut case approached her with red paint on her hands. Condi looked at her like "I will kick your ***. Sorry folks, this aint exactly environmental but it does seem as though the antisocial environment is heating up. Bill Maher on the other end of the spectrum was harassed by nut case so called 911 Truthers on last Friday's show. Bill literally leaped out of his chair and jumped down into the audience to help throw out a heckler. Our president was recently disrespected by a some eco hillbillies who want to close all coal plants. We think it is taser time. And when the nut case screams, "Don't tase me bro," he or she should be tasered again.

Condoleezza Rice Video With Antiwar Activist

Now our president was respectful when he met Secretary Rice at the Climate Summit.

Car Gas Economy, Hybrids, All-Electric and Ethanol

America is playing around with vehicles, oil, moonshine and climate change. Federal car gasoline economy standards are 27.5 miles per gallon and the current energy bill wants to raise that to about 36 mpg. Will not happen. John Dingell is Chairman of the powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee and he believes increased standards will hurt Detroit. And he represents Detroit.

Hybrids still use gasoline so such vehicles will reduce but will not eliminate carbon dioxide and smog forming emissions. All electrics still have lithium ion battery technology hurdles to overcome before becoming commonly available. The batteries do not like heat. Think laptops spontaneously combusting around heat.

And ethanol will create more smog because it produces more nitrogen oxides, a component of smog. The 10 percent ethanol additive decreases mileage by about 3% according to some estimates. Congress wants to use the current energy bill to increase the 2005 Energy Policy Act requirement of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol as the oxygenate additive to 36 billion gallons by 2022. There is also a 54 cent per gallon tariff on imported ethanol to protect domestic ethanol profits. Ethanol is also suffering from overproduction, which has led to a glut and low prices at the same time ethanol refiners are paying more for corn to produce ethanol.

Yet none of these measures will significantly reduce global warming, our dependence on imported oil or smog. And we hate sounding like gloom and doom deep ecology eco extremists. But we thought you should know.

President Bush Visits Southern California Wildfire Area

President Bush toured the devastation in Southern California where he had already declared the situation a federal disaster, making the state eligible for federal assistance. He joined Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Diane Feinstein for the tour of the fire disaster area. This situation is in stark contrast to the enmity between Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, who created the delay in the federal response to the Katrina disaster. President Bush praised Gov Schwarzenegger for his quick response and organized approach to the disaster.

And to think that Gov Schwarzenegger sued the Bush Administration this week over the federal governments delay in approving California's greenhouse gas regulations.

Transit Geek Porn

Transit Maps of the World is the first and only comprehensive collection of historic and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. Using glorious, colorful graphics, Mark Ovenden traces the history of mass transit-including rare and historic maps, diagrams, and photographs, some available for the first time since their original publication. Transit Maps is the graphic designer’s new bible, the transport enthusiast’s dream collection, and a coffee-table essential for everyone who’s ever traveled in a city.

Penguin

Available in USA on October 30, 2007.

Transit Geek Porn

Transit Maps of the World is the first and only comprehensive collection of historic and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. Using glorious, colorful graphics, Mark Ovenden traces the history of mass transit-including rare and historic maps, diagrams, and photographs, some available for the first time since their original publication. Transit Maps is the graphic designer’s new bible, the transport enthusiast’s dream collection, and a coffee-table essential for everyone who’s ever traveled in a city.

Penguin

Available in USA on October 30, 2007.

Google and ESRI, Map out a powerful partnership in Federal

Posted by Rob Painter, Senior Federal Manager

The coffee and bagels were great, but it was more than a free breakfast that convinced folks to battle the traffic into downtown DC for the Google Federal User Group meeting. A few hundred government employees and engineers from the aerospace industry gathered in Washington DC to experience firsthand how ESRI's GIS product offering and Google's Earth and Maps enterprise products can powerfully co-exist and inter-operate to deliver an exciting and intuitive user experience.

Michael Bradshaw, Google's Head of Federal and Jeff Peters, ESRI's Federal Director, kicked off the event and set the stage for a number of live demonstrations. First, members of ESRI's technical marketing team walked the audience through a short series of presentations that highlighted ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Server, and data from ESRI's Business Analyst with interactive results seamlessly presented within Google Earth and on Google Maps. The demos showed how someone unfamiliar to DC could find an apartment using Google Earth, ArcGIS server and external web content sources such as Craigslist. The demo also showed how one could edit vector data in ArcGIS by moving and adding nodes within a dataset and then via a network linked KML that referenced an instance of ArcGIS Server, changes in the data were promptly reflected on Google Earth globe. Additional demonstrations showed models combining ArcGIS and Google Earth data on issues such as international health and the socioeconomic risks intrinsic in natural disasters. Google engineers then demoed the new releases of Google Earth Fusion 3.0 and Google Earth Enterprise Client (EC) 4.0. We've previously shared some of our customers’ reactions to the launch of these new Google Earth Enterprise products and posted them on this blog and we also shared some of the specific details of these new products themselves on Google's official Lat Long Blog.

We look forward to continuing to work with ESRI and our customers to leverage the power of geospatial information. If you would like to learn more about our products and how we compliment an ESRI enterprise or want information on how to register for the next Federal User Group meeting or in, contact us here.

Painful Bike Commute

Bike Snob NYC faces numerous obstacles on the way to work.

You are invited to ride along on this humiliating ride.

We can do better than this, can't we?

F.F. Bruce on the Authority and Power of the Bible

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Lausanne Covenant - 2: The Authority and Power of the Bible," The Harvester 55 (November 1976): 320-333.

F.F. Bruce explains and critiques the section of the Lausanne Covenant which deals with the authority and power of the Bible.

F.F. Bruce on the Holy Spirit in the Qumran Texts

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Holy Spirit in the Qumran Texts," Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society 6 (1966/68): 49-55.

F.F. Bruce compares the teaching about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

An American Salute to Pétanque

Here are the original pictures from the Petanque 100 Album.

American pétanque can really be proud. As far as I know - from looking at other blogs and federation websites - we were the only country outside France where a concerted effort took place to celebrate and bring folks together. Especially new players or those who had simply forgotten about petanque.

Some of the Alliance Française chapters were super creative: cakes, posters, and even T-shirts with the "100" logo were prepared for the occasion.

"Chapeau bas aux boulistes Américains !"


Slideshow (3:45 min - with truly American music ;-)
Make sure to look in the top left corner to see the locations.

An American Salute to Pétanque

Here are the original pictures from the Petanque 100 Album.

American pétanque can really be proud. As far as I know - from looking at other blogs and federation websites - we were the only country outside France where a concerted effort took place to celebrate and bring folks together. Especially new players or those who had simply forgotten about petanque.

Some of the Alliance Française chapters were super creative: cakes, posters, and even T-shirts with the "100" logo were prepared for the occasion.

"Chapeau bas aux boulistes Américains !"


Slideshow (3:45 min - with truly American music ;-)
Make sure to look in the top left corner to see the locations.

Fees announcement

The government announced today that it has decided not to proceed with its proposals to amend the FOI fees regulations. Instead it has announced measures designed to make government more open including a review of the 30 year rule and consultation on extending the scope of the FOI Act.

In a speech on liberty the Prime Minister said:

"In the last ten years in Britain we have created a new legislative framework requiring openness and transparency in the state's relationships with the public. The Freedom of Information Act has been a landmark piece of legislation, enshrining for the first time in our laws the public's right to access information.

Freedom of Information (FoI) can be inconvenient, at times frustrating and indeed embarrassing for governments. But Freedom of Information is the right course because government belongs to the people, not the politicians.

I now believe there is more we can do to change the culture and the workings of government to make it more open -- whilst of course continuing to maintain safeguards in areas like national security.

When anything is provided without cost, it does risk being open to abuse. However the Government does not believe that more restrictive rules on cost limits of FoI requests are the way forward. And so Jack Straw has decided, and has announced today, that we will not tighten FoI fees regulations as previously proposed.

We do this because of the risk that such proposals might have placed unacceptable barriers between the people and public information. Public information does not belong to Government, it belongs to the public on whose behalf government is conducted. Wherever possible that should be the guiding principle behind the implementation of our Freedom of Information Act.

So it is right also to consider extending the coverage of freedom of information and the Freedom of Information Act. And we are also today publishing a consultation document to consider whether additional organisations discharging a public function - including in some instances private sector companies running services for the public sector - should be brought within the scope of Freedom of Information legislation.

Freedom of Information is not simply about current discussions within government but about the restrictions we place on the publication of historical documents.

It is an irony that the information that can be made available on request on current events and current decisions is still withheld as a matter of course for similar events and similar decisions that happened 20 or 25 years ago.

Under the present arrangements historical records are transferred to the national archives and are only opened to public access after thirty years or where explicitly requested under the FoI Act. It is time to look again at whether historical records can be made available for public inspection much more swiftly than under the current arrangements.

There are of course cost and security implications of a more open approach which we will need to examine thoroughly. So I have asked Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers and member of the Press Complaints Commission - working with Sir Joe Pilling, former Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland Office, and the eminent historian David Cannadine - to review this rule. And we look forward to receiving their proposals in the first half of 2008."

The Campaign for Freedom of Information welcomed the announcement in a press release. The Campaign's director Maurice Frankel said:

"We are extremely pleased that instead of restricting the Act the government is proposing to extend it. The original proposals would have severely undermined the legislation and suggested that the government regretted introducing the FOI Act. Now for the first time we are seeing signs that it is taking pride in it instead."

The Government's response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee’s Report, 'Freedom of Information: the Government’s proposals for reform' has also been published today. Commenting on the Government’s response, Chairman of the Committee Rt Hon Alan Beith MP said:

“Obviously we greatly welcome the fact that the Government has seen sense and accepted our position - and that of the many people and organisations who have made good use of freer access to information - and not changed the charging regime as they had planned. To go ahead with their proposed changes would have been a great mistake – as the expression goes; it wasn’t broke, don’t fix it.

The government's response to the fees consultation and a summary of the responses is available here.

The consultation on extending the scope of the Act - 'Freedom of Information Act 2000: Designation of additional public authorities' is available here.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Some people really shouldn't own a car.

Schwarzenegger Sues Bush Over Climate Change

California is suing the Bush administration over delays in their request to implement a program to limit auto carbon dioxide emissions, which are linked to global warming. California asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December 2005 for permission to enforce the California law. The EPA's approval is needed for California to implement a law more stringent than federal clean-air standards, and the agency has granted every such request California has made over the past 30 years.

In April the U.S. Supreme Court, in a suit filed by California and other states against the EPA, ruled that carbon dioxide can be regulated by EPA." The current California suit was filed in a Washington, D.C. federal court. Imagine that: State Attorney General Jerry Brown and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger teaming to fight President Bush. EPA is reviewing more than 100,000 written responses and thousands of pages of documents it received during the public comment period and publicly states that it will act on the request by the end of the year.

The 2002 state law (Assembly Bill 1493) requires new vehicles sold in California to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The restrictions take effect with the 2009 models and increase to a 30 percent reduction from current levels by 2016. Car makers have sued to overturn the law, stating that the only way to cut greenhouse gas emissions is to increase automobile fuel economy standards, which is regulated exclusively by the federal government through the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. the model for statutes passed later in 11 other states. AB 1493 is the model for statutes passed later in 11 other Northeastern states. (More)

Giving Developing Countries "The Internet in a Box"

Since its inception a major aim of the Theology on the Web project has been to make available high quality theological material in countries where it would otherwise be impossible to obtain. Being part of the Widernet Project goes a long way towards making that vision a reality. Run by the University of Ohio the E-Granary Project now provides Universities in developing countries with 750GB of data from selected websites on a hard drive - effectively giving them "the Internet in a Box". I warmly commend the project - you can read their latest newsletter here.

F.F. Bruce on Jesus and Paul

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Jesus and Paul," Theological Students Fellowship Bulletin 46 (Autumn 1966): 21-26.

F.F. Bruce surveys the progress of the debate concerning the relationship of Paul and Jesus in the mid-sixties. My thanks to All Nations College library for their help in supplying originals of this and a number of other F.F. Bruce articles. All Nations is one of two UK Bible Colleges who are currently assisting the development of the website by providing copies of articles free-of-charge. I am attempting to develop relationships with other colleges who may be prepared to help in this way.

F.F. Bruce on the Fourth Gospel in "recent" Interpretation

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Fourth Gospel in Recent Interpretation," Terminal Letter of the Theological Students' Fellowship (Spring 1958): 2-6.

"Recent" is a relative term in this case, but I still found much of the material of interest. My thanks to UCCF for their kind permission to reproduce it on-line.

Interop, Innovation and IMAP

Posted by Pam Saenger, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Greetings from Interop, NYC.

Matt Glotzbach, Enterprise Product Management Director, announced this morning during his keynote the launch of IMAP support for Gmail, the newest Google Apps release since the suite of communication and collaboration tools debuted in February of this year. That's right -- you can now sync actions taken in your Gmail account across all of your devices, instantly and automatically.

Matt's keynote also dealt with innovation best practices and included some startling facts (for example, approximately 2.4 billion people -- 1/3 of the world's population --carry a cell phone; every minute, there are 7 hours of video uploaded to YouTube). He explained that there are multiple ways that companies can innovate successfully, all of them important and none of them mutually exclusive: product, process, service and business model innovation. Matt also talked about the importance of building products with the aim of meeting user needs and placing an emphasis on iteration and rapid change.

If you're in town, stop by the Google booth (#861-863) for a product demo or to chat with someone about Google Apps, the Google Search Appliance, AdWords or whatever else is on your mind.

The Google Booth at Interop, NYC

Guide to the Perplexed – The Annapolis Peace Conference

< A must-read for any one who wants to understand the issues surrounding the upcoming peace conference!

Prepared by Ron Skolnik, Assistant Director, and the Staff of Meretz USA

During an address on the Middle East on July 16, US President George Bush issued a call for, “an international meeting … of representatives from nations that support a two-state solution” between Israel and Palestine. Bush’s announcement has produced a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, the likes of which have not been seen since the heady days of Camp David and Taba at the end of the Clinton Presidency. The print and electronic media have similarly been awash with countless stories that seek to stay abreast of the latest developments.

In the face of such an information overload, the following “Guide to the Perplexed” was conceived as a way of zeroing in on the key players and central questions pertinent to the upcoming conference, which is scheduled to take place later this fall. Cutting through the public posturing, disinformation and diplomatic fog that are part and parcel of any Middle Eastern negotiation, this “Guide” will help distinguish between what we know for sure and the various rumors that are circulating in both the press and blogosphere.

Click here to read the analysis in full.

SIC orders release of NHS Lothian PFI contract

News release: 24th October 2007

The Scottish Information Commissioner has told NHS Lothian that it must disclose full details of its contract with Consort Healthcare covering the provision of building, maintenance and support services for the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.The Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, rejected the claim by NHS Lothian that the whole PFI contract was confidential, and in his decision highlighted shortcomings in the way in which NHS Lothian responded to the initial freedom of information request and his subsequent investigation.

The Commissioner found that NHS Lothian had:

• only belatedly established the full extent of the contract documentation - with over 5,000 additional pages being discovered well into the investigation;

• failed to provide justification for withholding all of this information as confidential;

• failed to provide arguments for withholding any specific portions of the contract as confidential;

• incorrectly claimed that the cost of providing the information would be excessive.

Kevin Dunion, Scottish Information Commissioner said:
"It is the responsibility of NHS Lothian to provide detailed justification for withholding the information requested. In this case it sought to claim that a blanket exemption of confidentiality covered every one of the thousands of pages of this detailed contract. However, other than broadly indicating why Consort Healthcare did not wish the information disclosed, NHS Lothian provided me with virtually no arguments to justify withholding the contract. As a consequence I have ordered that the contract must be disclosed."

Ends

Read the SIC decision

Anderson Cooper Hosts "Planet in Peril" on CNN

Anderson Cooper, below, is hosting a two-part, four hour documentary on our planet's environment. He is mainly covering four broad issues: 1) climate change, 2) vanishing natural habitats, 3) disappearing species and 4) human overpopulation.

The documentary, called "Planet in Peril" is airing at the same time as the catastrophic wildfires in Southern California. We guess Anderson taped some studio footage for the documentary and then flew out to cover the fires. Southern California is in real peril right now because a million of people have been evacuated and about 2,000 homes lost.

This is CNN's first high def production. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins Anderson as a correspondent for the documentary. We would like to produce one of these documentaries. We would do it just a little bit differently from this traditional format.

Oh oh. At the end of the endangered species and polluted China segments, Cooper's blood test for various heavy metals showed that he has an elevated level (above 95th percentile) of Phthalates (compound in make-up & other cosmetics). And this description of the compound from Wiki: They are chiefly used to turn polyvinyl chloride from a hard plastic into a flexible plastic. Yikes. Coop. Go natural. Although it was played down on the show, we bet performers everywhere will now look more carefully into the makeup they are using. We know Coop will.

London Olympics 2012 will be Carfree

The London Olympics in 2012 will be an experiment in shifting British travel habits from cars to public transportation, according to the London Times, which calls a new plan to regulate traffic during the games "the most aggressive anticar policy ever applied to a major event."

Times of London

"A Public Affair"

Dear Friends,

I just did an hour-long interview with WORT-FM in Madison, WI, that might interest you. I haven't tried it myself, but the host told me after the show that the program could be downloaded by going to www.wortfm.org, clicking on Archives, and then going to the listing for "A Public Affair," 23 October 2007. I personally felt the hour went by in the blink of an eye. Most of the time is devoted to call-ins and my responses. Enjoy!

-mb

California Wildfires Blaze Huge Path of Destruction

Hundreds of thousands of people have evacuated their homes. Hundreds of miles of land have been scorched. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. The flames are burning up a good part of Southern California. It is clearly a disaster area and has been declared so by the State and the Fed. Our prayers go out to all of the people affected by the wildfires in Southern California.

We are also very concerned about people with asthma, emphysema, heart disease and other medical conditions. The soot, gases and dust will exacerbate any medical problem if inhaled. We hope all with medical conditions will seek shelter or even better, get out of the area if they can. Even healthy people can be sickened by the toxic air being produced by the fires. Again, if at all possible, try to leave the area until the air clears. And a surgical mask will do virtually nothing to protect you from the toxic air mixture.

Hooray: EPA To Add Comment Feature To Blog

We were concerned that EPA's new blog did not have a comment feature under each article. They simply had a general comment link over in the left hand column that did not relate to the specific articles.

Here is what we wrote to EPA:

"EPA should really put a Comment link under each article. It is not really a blog without this feature. We know it is a lot more work to screen ALL the comments you would get, but it would be worth it. The State Department seems to handle comments okay. Please, please, please, as James Brown would say, add a Comment feature under each article."

And here is EPA's answer:

"A new moderated comment feature will be added as of November 1, 2007.Thank you for your interest in Deputy Administrator Peacock's blog."

PRESIDENT'S CORNER: Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Gasoline

By Norris McDonald. We are curently examining a process that would convert carbon dioxide into diesel fuel and gasoline, while producing hydrogen for fuel cell production. We are looking into combining nuclear plants with coal plants that would use pure oxygen combustion in the firebox to reduce the volume of stack gases. A scrubber would still be needed for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury (Selective Catalytic Reducer).

The nuclear plant (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, Gen IV) is used to produce hydrogen via electrolysis (or high temperature electrolysis) or the sulfur-iodine cycle that will be piped away to produce fuel cells. The oxygen from the electrolysis process will be piped to the coal plant for use in the firebox. The hydrogen will also be mixed onsite with carbon dioxide from the coal plant stack in a water to gas shift to produce carbon monoxide, which will then be mixed with hydrogen using the gas to water shift in the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce a synthetic petroleum product (diesel fuel or gasoline). These processes need very high temperatures of about 900 degrees Celsius.

So carbon dioxide will be used from the coal plant to make a vehicle fuel while an adjacent nuclear plant will produce hydrogen for fuel cell production and oxygen for the coal plant firebox. The oxygen from the electrolysis will be used in the coal firebox to reduce the volume of emission gases by 80 percent, which represents nitrogen in the air. Excess carbon dioxide and CO2 from maintenance down times will be piped for sequestration. There will be little to no CO2 emitted from the coal plant because the gas will be used to make vehicle fuel. There will be CO2 released from vehicle use but these emissions would occur anyway from vehicle use. We are still studying the energy penalties for these processes and the economics. If you have any input we would appreciate it. In the Fischer-Tropsch model pictured above the coal would be replaced with carbon dioxide. (Source: Ken Schultz)

AAEA Outreach Meeting In EPA Office of the Administrator

AAEA President Norris McDonald met with Bill Briggs, left, EPA's new Director of the Office of Public Outreach to discuss local, regional, national and international environmental issues. EPA's Office of Public Outreach establishes and maintains close working relationships with a broad range of public-and private - sector organizations to anticipate and address stakeholder concerns regarding agency and environmental matters; keep senior EPA officials apprised of stakeholder needs, perspectives, and issues; promote and support stakeholder involvement and public participation in agency decision making; and identify opportunities for public/private partnerships. The Office of Public Outreach is in the Office of the Administrator and serves as the Agency-wide point of contact for the planning, development, and review of all Agency print and electronic products intended for the public.

J. Harold Greenlee on the Importance of Greek Syntax

The following article now available in PDF:

J. Harold Greenlee, "The Importance of Syntax For the Proper Understanding of the Sacred Text of the New Testament," Evangelical Quarterly 44.3 (July-Sept. 1972): 131-146.

Dr. Greenlee explains why word order helps us in our understanding of the Greek New Testament.

Two Blacks Featured in Anti Nuke Video

Although AAEA is pronuclear and we disagree with the message of the video, we also recognize that they are including African American voices in their message. This is quite unusual for the antinuclear and environmental movements because they are some of the most segregated and narrow-minded sectors in American society. Thus, we have to conclude that Bonnie Raitt probably had a lot to do with their participation and not the green antinukers. Bonnie is really cool and we really like her. Interesting note: our president met Bonnie Rait in 1982 after one of her antinuclear charity concerts.

Ben Harper and Keb' Mo' join with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash to make a half decent tune with a bad message. Now we like these cool cats and kitten, just not their message. Ben, Keb, give us a call. Let's talk about this. We'll explain the great benefits of nuclear power as a smog and global warming mitigator. And we have players that can cut a funkier tune too. Another interesting note: Ben Harper is married to Laura Dern. See video below:

Iranian Nightmare

I regard Norman Podhoretz as an extremist and a buffoon, as exemplified by his eager advocacy of a US attack on Iran. The fact that he is a foreign policy adviser to the Republican presidential frontrunner, Rudy Giuliani, is a reason in itself to be alarmed at Giuliani’s candidacy.

Still, Podhoretz’s concern about the looming danger of a nuclear-armed theocratic regime in Iran is reasonable. Unfortunately, I see no viable military option for either the US or Israel (especially not for Israel, which even Podhoretz knows, lacks the military capability) to destroy the hardened Iranian nuclear facilities — let alone to bear the costs of Iran’s inevitable acts of retaliation, directly and by proxy terrorists (e.g., Hezbollah and Hamas) and economic means (i.e., oil).

But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (although not the ‘supreme leader’ under Iran's theocratic system) is, unlike Podhoretz, a head of state; and supreme leader Ayatollah Khameini has made at least one creepy recent speech proclaiming that every square meter of Israel is reachable by Iran's missiles. Ahmadinejad did not simply make some idle, abstract statement that Israel should "pass into history," as my frequent e-mail debater, David McReynolds (the retired head of the War Resisters League and a leader of what’s left of the Socialist Party), has indicated by way of excuse.

The source of legitimate concern about Iran's intentions comes from the frightening confluence of a number of things. It is not enough to dismiss these separately as idle ravings; taken together, they are evidence of a grave potential threat:

1) Ahmadinejad's official backing for Holocaust denial
2) His official sponsorship for "a world without Zionism," as an international gathering in Tehran put it
3) His repeated statements that Israel should "disappear"
4) His insistence upon the development of nuclear energy without allowing adequate access to international inspectors to guarantee only peaceful applications
5) Iran's possession and development of missiles with the capability of hitting Israel with nuclear weapons
6) Iran's sponsorship of Hezbollah and Hamas and its supply of missiles to Hezbollah
7) His statements (and/or those of some others associated with the regime) that Iran could survive a nuclear exchange but that Israel could not, because of how small it is
8) Evidence that Ahmadinejad's religious convictions include a doomsday scenario, a Muslim version of the extreme Christian theology of Armeggedon, with the "Mahdi" returning to rule the earth rather than Christ.

Again, I do not believe that either the US or Israel has a viable military option. Some artful combination of diplomatic overtures and economic threats seems to be the wisest course. Israel’s best bet is to rigorously pursue peace with Syria and the Palestinians.

A great benefit of peace with Syria would be to interrupt the flow of missiles and other support to Hezbollah and to disentangle Syria from its close alliance with Iran. An additional benefit of peace with the Palestinians would be to get Iran off Israel’s back, as even Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying that if the Palestinians are satisfied with an agreement with Israel, Iran would go along with it. This, of course, still leaves open the possibility that if Hamas or others close to Iran reject an Israeli-Palestinian peace, that Iran would continue to pose a danger.

IT at Google - It's all about "choice over control"

Posted by Matthew Glotzbach, Product Management Director, Enterprise Team

Working at Google has its perks - great food, amazing people, the shuttle to and from work. But one of the best "perks" of working at Google is being in an environment that is designed to bring out the best in all of us. Every aspect of Google is tailored to the individual and the team, and making those teams more productive, fostering creativity, and designing solutions to really big problems that can have game-changing effects.

I also count myself lucky to spend some time now and then with Douglas Merrill, VP of Engineering and our CIO here at Google. I've learned a lot from him in our conversations, and now he's shared some of his thoughts on the role of IT and the future it will play in companies in the latest issue of CIO magazine. I found it an insightful read, and highly recommend it to anyone who has a technology role in business.

Superior Scientist Says Blacks Inferior In The Head

Supremacist scientist James Watson, left, has made news by sharing his view that Blacks are not as smart as Whites. WOW. Now this is news. We are shocked that a supremacist DNA scientist would think something like this. Simply shocked. And was what he said so bad? He said, he "hopes that various races have equal intelligence, [but] people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true." Maybe the man has struck on something here. Is this why there is employment discrimination? Hell this ugly old man could lead the environmental movement. His messiah (Darwin Monkey) is pictured at right.

But don't the vast majority of environmental and evolutionary indicators actually show that Whites are intellectually superior? Don't Darwin's "Origin of Species: by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" and survival of the fittest point to superiority in species as a positive attribute? A quality to be desired? A useful survival mechanism? Of course, Hitler took this concept to its ultimate human destination. Adolf was an ardent environmentalist too. He telegraphed his intentions in Mein Kampf and hailed the superiority of the German people among all humans (See also Nation & Race). And the Nazi scientists were second to none. Regardless, this notion of superiority is extremely important to some people. (Wash Post)

Black-on-Black Murder

No Noose Needed

Bible Translator Vol. 11 - 20 Table of Contents On-line

As I mentioned before The Bible Translator has been on-line for some years. I have created a more search-engine and user-friendly front end for the PDF documents in the form of a HTML table of contents. Here are some of the articles from volumes 11-20 that caught my eye:

J. Harold Greenlee, "'If' in the New Testament," Bible Translator 13.1 (Jan. 1962): 39-43.

Harold Keeling Moulton, "The names and attributes of God," Bible Translator 13.2 (April 1962): 71-80.

J. Clifford Hindley, "The meaning and translation of covenant," Bible Translator 13.2 (April 1962): 90-101.

Harry Mowvley, "The concept and content of "blessing" in the Old Testament," Bible Translator 16.2 (April 1965): 74-80.

Edgar V. McKnight, "Is the New Testament written in 'Holy Ghost' Greek," Bible Translator 16.2 (April 1965): 87-93.

William A. Smalley, "The place of linguistics in Bible translation," Bible Translator 16.3 (July 1965): 105-112.

Peter R Ackroyd & Michael A. Knibb, "Translating the psalms," Bible Translator 17.1 (Jan. 1966): 1-11.

Ronald E. Clements, "Divine titles as a problem of Old Testament translation," Bible Translator 17.2 (April 1966): 81-84.

Charles R. Taber, "Exegesis and linguistics," Bible Translator 20.4 (October 1969): 150-153.

Israeli Jets Destroy Partially Constructed Syrian Nuclear Plant

Israel's neighbors from Syria to Iran seem determined to build a nuclear facility to produce nuclear weapons. Israel is just as determined to prevent them from constructing these facilities. While the U.S. gnashes its teeth about these facilities, Israel bombs first and doesn't ask any questions later. The Israeli air raid in September was to destroy a partly constructed Syrian reactor that appeared to be based on North Korea's design. Clearly we are entering a dangerous period in human history when Middle Eastern countries are working so diligently to arm themselves with nuclear weapons.

Nuclear reactors can be used for both peaceful and non-peaceful purposes. There are two paths to building a nuclear weapon, 1) A reactor's spent fuel can be reprocessed to extract plutonium, 2) enriching uranium in centrifuges. The Syrians were pursuing the former and Iran is being accused of pursuing the latter. Israel conducted a similar raid in 1981 when it destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq shortly before it was to have begun operating. Syria is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which gives it the right to construct nuclear plants to produce electricity.

This incident, along with the saber rattling about an Iranian centrifuge/reactor shows the importance of establishing an international program (GNEP) to manage nuclear fuel without the prospect of building nuclear weapons. Unless the rogue nations can somehow construct such a facility in complete secrecy (think Manhattan Project), they will always be destroyed by a stakeholder country.

Evangelicals and Global Warming

The Family Research Council (FRC) is having their annual conference in Washington, DC right now. What better opportunity to share their views on climate change. The FRC champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society. FRC shapes public debate and formulates public policy that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family. Believing that God is the author of life, liberty, and the family, FRC promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society. Here is what they believe, according to their president Tony Perkins, right, about global warming:

"What do evangelical Christians see as the top issues that our nation must get right in the coming decade? If you listened to the media you would be inclined to believe it was creating more government programs, which are supposed to help the poor, expand government education or to adopt radical policies to fight global warming. But if you actually listen to evangelicals you will find a much different answer. That is what George Barna did in his most recent survey of Americans. While Americans as a whole identified the overall care and resources devoted to children as the number one issue, which is laudable, the number one issue for evangelicals was improving the health of Christian churches followed by upgrading the state of marriage and families, and improving the spiritual condition of the U.S. Last on their list is the environment. So much for the global warming hype. Despite what the media may want to project upon evangelicals, they understand that if we, as a nation, get the spiritual issues right and build strong marriages and families - most of the other problems will be solved in the process."

AAEA has to respectfully disagree with Mr. Perkins about the role of government in addressing climate change. Although we do agree that an inappropriate program could be ineffective in mitigating climate change and global warming, an appropriate program could be very successful. Such a program would have to have the market as the prime mover and the government as more of a referee. A command and control program will probably fail. The Acid Rain Program is a good example of how government can operate a successful environmental program. Industry, environmentalists, government agencies and just about everybody else agrees that the ARP was successful. Thus, it is a good model for a global warming and climate mitigation program. Such a cap and trade system will tap into private sector ingenuity while avoiding the litigious landmines of a command and control program.

F.F. Bruce on Myth & History

The following article is now on-line on PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Myth & History," Colin Brown, ed., History, Criticism & Faith. Four Exploratory Studies. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976. Pbk. ISBN: 085111315X. pp.79-99.

My thanks to IVP (UK) for their kind permission to reproduce this article.

Bruce concludes:

Let us repeat: it is the person and work of Christ that are at issue. How much mythology has entered into the traditional concept of the combining of the divine and human natures in his person? None, we may say, in the sense that the long-accepted formulations are cast in metaphysical and not mythical language. But if the term ‘myth­ical’ or ‘mythological’ is used with a wider range of meaning, it can properly be applied to any statement about Christ which gives the impression, however faintly, that there was something vaguely ‘un­real’ about his manhood―that his temptations, his sufferings and his death were not as ‘real’ as ours are. Since God created man in his image, humanity provided a congenial medium for the revelation of God to this world. The ‘human face of God’ is a real face, not a mask assumed for a dramatic purpose. It is in the manhood of Jesus, not merely through it, that the divine glory shines for those who have eyes to see it. It was in ‘the form of a servant’ that the ‘form of God’ was most adequately displayed on earth (Phil. 2:6 f.). John the Evan­gelist knows what he is doing when he speaks of Jesus’ being ‘lifted up’ on the cross as the means of his being ‘lifted up’ in glory: the royalty of the God whom we adore is fully seen in the crucified one. To the same effect Mark the evangelist associates the moment of Jesus’ death with the rending of the temple veil and the centurion’s confession: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God’ (Mk. 15:38 f.). It is not on the dying and rising god of a ritual drama but on the once­-for-all event of the passion and triumph of Jesus of Nazareth that the gospel of our salvation is firmly based.