Climate change – the science is firm, and politics is weak

The problem with predicting doom is, sooner or later people are going to notice the lack of doom. One reason the rhetoric has become so overheated is that the climate-change activists increasingly lack a scientific basis for their most exaggerated claims. As physicist Gordon Fulks of the Cascade Policy Institute puts it: “CO2 is said…

Cambodia, and destroying the world

I found this on Instapundit today. It’s so sad, I almost wept reading it. When Khmer Rouge forces seized Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, the couple was living with eight of their children in a rural town called Kampong Chhnang. Three days later, the guerrillas arrived and residents — including Younly — cheered, relieved…

Overreactions – the ultimate irony of the Zimmerman case

I clicked this on twitter last night. This guy is right on the money – with this part at least. You Are Not Trayvon Martin His death wasn’t about race, guns, or your pet issue. It was about misjudgment and overreaction—exactly what we’re doing now to the verdict. Trayvon Martin is dead, George Zimmerman has…

Sensible Sentencing Trust not the first victim?

Those upset about this case… The Human Rights Commission plans to prosecute the Sensible Sentencing Trust for breaching a serial paedophile’s* privacy. It stems from the trust printing the man’s name and details of his offending on its website. The commission says this breaches his privacy because the trust does not mention that he has…

Compare and Contrast

Exhibit a. “The police officer who shot at the great white pointer shark which killed swimmer Adam Strange off Muriwai Beach is in hiding for fear he will be hounded by animal rights activists. Angry comments about the officer’s actions have already peppered social media sites and talkback radio. He’s been called “gung ho” and…

When will the Coroner’s office decide it’s had enough ridicule?

Story: After investigating the 57-year-old’s death, Smith also found that despite council efforts made to improve the crash site at the Hutt Road and Petone Esplanade intersection, they ”still fall short of making the road safe for cyclists”. ”The intersection is in my view a most dangerous area for cyclists to use, no matter how…

Obama has the guts to do with only minimal hesitation what anyone else would immediately know was the right call

One of the weirdest aspects of the election was this idea that “Obama got Bin Laden”. I find/found it weird because: a) As far as I am aware, Obama didn’t do anything to establish the hunt (Bush did that) b) As far as I am aware, Obama didn’t do anything that speed up the hunt (though this might be debatable)…

A Plea for Christian Common Sense and Healthy Skepticism

What this guy is saying is important: I have long been of the opinion that Christians need to be led by their spiritual leaders into a default attitude of healthy skepticism regarding wild claims of supernatural occurrences. I think non-Christians also need to be educated to exercise a certain amount of common sense skepticism about…

Quote of the day, Culture Wars edition

Yep. On sexuality, progressives seem increasingly unable even to understand the worldview of traditional religious communities like Muslims, Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and the Catholic Church. The intuitions are totally different: what traditional religious communities can’t help but see as common sense, progressives can’t help but see as psychological repression and bigotry. Disagreement is profound.…

There’s always a reason

It was interesting to hear today the reasoning behind the name suppression of the Rena captain and second officer. Apparently, it’s because we’re all so upset that someone might lynch them if their names were published. Well, they have been – just not here. So while that might sound like a good reason to give name suppression, it doesn’t work in the…