Discovery Newstag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://112010-03-12T06:33:29Zcovers politics, foreign policy, science, technology, media and culture with
an eye toward issues of conflict between worldviews. It reports otherwise
under-represented developments and discovers facts and points of view that
otherwise might be missed in public dialogue. Contributors include former
Discovery News ambassadors and elected officials, public policy fellows and writers
nation-wide.Movable Type 3.33Joe Biden Flunks His Israel Testtag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.328612010-03-12T05:52:28Z2010-03-12T06:33:29ZSometimes, educational experiences are unpleasant. Vice President Biden was in Israel this week to cheer his "old friends," declare his joy at being "home" and, oh, by the way, encourage Israel not to build any more settlements in Jerusalem and...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
during his visit the Israelis announced (by cooincidence or the unilateral decision of a faction in the Netanyahu government) that they were going to allow another 1600 new settlement housing units in (East) Jerusalem.
This provoked Joe Biden to rebuke the decision, and his mission more or less ground to a halt right there.
In The Israel Test, George Gilder argues that Jewish settlements have not hurt the Palestinian economy of the West Bank, Gaza or Jerusalem, but have greatly improved it. Before the intifadas of the 90s, Palestinians moved into the areas where Israelis settled and gained greatly from the collateral prosperity. Palestinian per capita income tripled in the period.
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per capita basis. Despite nominal political conflict, the country is remarkably safe these days, with crime rates below those of such American cities as Seattle.
Gilder says that Israel is important not only to peace in the Middle East but to the security of the United States. Israeli companies are crucial to our our defense advances. Therefore, he advised a gathering of the American Freedom Alliance in Santa Monica two nights ago, our government needs to make our resolve about Israel clear, and that failure to do so hurts, rather than encourages, peace.
Someone please tell Joe BIden.]]>
Animal Wrongstag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.328412010-03-11T19:14:03Z2010-03-11T19:37:17Z Wesley J. Smith's book, A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy, is gaining traction. Here is an excellent interview of our senior fellow in bioethics at Frontpagemag.com. As with so many issues, the opposition to...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
Wesley J. Smith's book, A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy, is gaining traction. Here is an excellent interview of our senior fellow in bioethics at Frontpagemag.com. As with so many issues, the opposition to Smith's views create a straw man about it, holding that Smith is insensitive to animal welfare--the humane treatment of animals from pets to ranch cattle. The opposite is true, as Smith makes clear.
Radical animal rights is part of the utopian leftism that depreciates human exceptionalism--those qualities that make us distinctly human.]]>
Mexico Deserves Support on Trade Issuetag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.328012010-03-11T06:51:44Z2010-03-11T07:09:58ZThe Obama Campaign in 2008 opposed George W. Bush's efforts on behalf of free trade, including the permission of qualified Mexico truck drivers to bring their goods into the United States. The reason was simple: big labor was opposed; in...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
according to the Wall Street Journal, already have cost us $2.6 billion in export trade and some 25,000 jobs.
]]>
A dreadful, reactionary trend has set in, with America fighting necessary friends like Brazil and Korea, not to mention our South American allies, Colombia and Panama.
What is Washington thinking?
Well, the Administration fortunately is a bit better than its political stance. The funding restriction against the Mexican truck program (it was merely a pilot program, anyhow) has been dropped in the 2011 budget.
But will Congress get rolled again by the short-sighted unions?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is on the case, but it would be gratifying to hear some big business leaders speaking out publicly and forcefully on this topic. Remember the Great Depression? Remember how the Smoot-Hawley Tariff helped cause it? Well, I don't personally remember it, either, but the history books surely do.
A Neglected Feminist Causetag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.327912010-03-11T06:13:35Z2010-03-11T08:54:24Zby Anika Smith Jonah Goldberg has a thought-provoking article up at NRO where he reminds us that “Feminists Get It Right” when it comes to the plight of women subject to abuse simply because of their sex. After giving a...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
a thought-provoking article up at NRO where he reminds us that “Feminists Get It Right” when it comes to the plight of women subject to abuse simply because of their sex. After giving a few examples of grisly practices where women are punished for men’s inability to restrain themselves (particularly the opening scene, where he explains how young girls in Cameroon are disfigured by their mothers in order to discourage the randy local boys), Goldberg explains that this a familiar story on a global scale. “Around the world, women — girls — have to pay the price for the barbarity of boys.”
It’s a fact too often ignored in what Harvey Mansfield calls the gender neutral society, that purposefully obfuscates the differences between men and women, but it’s still true: where men are most brutal, women, being the weaker and more vulnerable sex, suffer most.
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Emily Haines once said, “feminism equals fighting nature.” And who wants such a quixotic quest?
Still, it was the first feminists, the Mary Wollstonecrafts and Susan B. Anthonys, who wanted to elevate and educate women not to stand against nature and common sense, but to provide society with the sort of moral strength that guards against injustice. They empowered women, that women might civilize men.
Goldberg explains:
Female equality seems to be a reliable treatment for many of the world’s worst pathologies. Population growth in the Third World tends to go down as female literacy goes up. Indeed, female empowerment might be the single best weapon in the “root causes” arsenal in the war on terror.
The reason strikes me as fairly simple. Women civilize men. As a general rule, men will only be as civilized as female expectations and demands force them to be. “Liberate” men from those expectations, and Lord of the Flies logic kicks in. Liberate women from this barbarism, and male decency will soon follow.
Of course, this is why standing for human rights and fighting against barbarism usually involves standing up for women and children, as seen in the modern abolition movement and exemplified by former U.S. Ambassador for Human Trafficking and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow John R. Miller.
]]>
Opposition to Obamacare Vulnerable to Quick Collapsetag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.327412010-03-09T23:58:24Z2010-03-10T00:18:50ZIn the course of this one day Rep. Bart Stupak, D-MI, who leads a Democratic pro-life group of about 12 House members, was quoted in support of a possible "sidebar" bill to prevent abortion funding, and then, later, minimizing the...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
minimizing the prospect. This underscores the problem that opponents of Obamacare face. It is only the abortion issue that stands in the way of a narrw majority House vote for the expensive, cumbersome Senate health care bill that President Obama favors.
But all it really will take to reach a successful compromise is a decision by the President and the Senate Democrats to concede this point in language acceptable to Rep. Stupak, either in a "sidebar" bill or in the health care bill itself. That would be painful, and a few House and Senate votes might shift against the bill, but only a very few. In return, Obamacare proponents would get the 12 pro-life Democratic votes for their bill, and with it the prospect of a much bigger government role in health care from now on.
They could and probably would betray Rep. Stupak later on.
Pro-life groups are urging Rep. Stupak to hang tough. The reality is that only when the present legislation is buried can a genuine bi-partisan effort develop that ends some of the bureaucratic sclerosis in the present system, and yet prevents the even worse bureaucratic sclerosis that Obamacare would entail.]]>
Scientism is Seductive Public Policy, and Wrongtag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.327112010-03-09T20:03:30Z2010-03-09T20:19:17ZFrom time to time almost everyone at Discovery Institute winds up taking a swipe at scientism, the philosophy that enthrones science as the ultimate arbiter of morals, as well as facts. Scientism--seen in many a news and opinion article--is an...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
blogs about it at First Things today.
The trouble is, one may dismiss scientism as folly, and yet be seduced by it in particular circumstances. My chief disappointment these days is not with those snake oil salesmen in the scientific community who try to peddle their views as unimpeachable truth, but the gullible laypeople who, lacking a doctorate in science, think they have to defer to the "experts". This is particularly true of journalists and editorial writers. They wouldn't defer so readily to generals on the subject of the advisability of war, would they? Nor to Wall Street gurus on the wisdom of a given tax policy. But some "study" in which "scientists say" something in a "journal" is treated as Gospel.
Gospel, of course, is not treated as Gospel.]]>
Nelson Mandela Versus Winnie Manelatag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.327012010-03-09T06:01:28Z2010-03-09T18:29:41Z CNN interviewed Winnie Maneda, divorced spouse of Nelson Mendela, today and made the woman who once advocated "necklaces" of burning tires for inadequately motivated revolutionaries in South Africa seem proper and almost prim. But another interview, in the U.K.,...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
CNN interviewed Winnie Maneda, divorced spouse of Nelson Mendela, today and made the woman who once advocated "necklaces" of burning tires for inadequately motivated revolutionaries in South Africa seem proper and almost prim. But another interview, in the U.K., printed in the Daily Mail, gives a truer sense of the woman and her poisoned perspective.
Invictus, the film starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, did not get much attention at the Oscars show last night, but it deserves to be listed in the pantheon of films of political redemption. Whereas Winnie's hatred pointed in one direction, the suffering and reflection of Nelson Mandela headed him--and South Africa--in another, and history was transformed. It is not perfect, but, still, it is one of the quiet, beautiful triumphs of our time.]]>
Attack on Wesley J. Smith, and a Responsetag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.326812010-03-08T20:24:59Z2010-03-08T22:19:13ZFormer Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully penned a tough review of Wesley J. Smith's book in National Review last week. This week, Wesley took his turn to respond. The latter article appears in the March 22 edition of National Review....Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
a tough review of Wesley J. Smith's book in National Review last week. This week, Wesley took his turn to respond. The latter article appears in the March 22 edition of National Review.]]>
A New Freedom, Both Free and Importanttag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.326312010-03-06T01:41:23Z2010-03-06T02:02:28ZThe government expansionists have had their eyes on the Internet ever since Al Gore claims he invented it. Of course, the Feds' DARPA did help birth the Internet, but there is no reason why Washington now should imitate the Iranian...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
Orange County Register (in a column that I missed when it first came out) is among those trying to sound the alarm about losing freedom on the Internet.
Take note before they take it away.]]>
A German Island in the Mediterranean: "Viel Spaß!""tag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.325912010-03-05T01:31:52Z2010-03-05T02:46:53Z Some German parliamentary members are advancing an idea for their country to to obtain a base on "Mittelmeer"-- at last, after all these centuries, a seaport on the sunny Mediterranean. It is a proposal to the Greeks to help...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
Some German parliamentary members are advancing an idea for their country to to obtain a base on "Mittelmeer"-- at last, after all these centuries, a seaport on the sunny Mediterranean. It is a proposal to the Greeks to help them alleviate their notorious national debt by lightening their real estate.
Bismark would be astonished and delighted. However, since Germans today are mostly pacific (pardon the pun), do not expect them to build a naval base near Athens. Instead, Germany's new possessions probably will sport casinos and resorts where die Frauen can frolic as Nature intended, outside the gaze of formerly native Greeks. (Not that the Greeks have ever minded.)
Would you like a little spanakopita with your Kielbasa, Mein Herr? ]]>
Connect the Dots Between Scientism and Government Spending: Add up the Human and Financial Coststag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.325612010-03-04T21:01:17Z2010-03-09T20:55:04ZSlowly, if in strange fashion, the truth about the fallacies of scientism are being made manifest. You fall for scientism and soon you get censorship, and then you get a halt--of all things--to scientific progress. Unintentional assistance comes our way...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
scientism are being made manifest. You fall for scientism and soon you get censorship, and then you get a halt--of all things--to scientific progress.
Unintentional assistance comes our way today from The New York Times.
On its front page the Times reports that Darwin skeptics have decided on a new strategy--linking doubts about Darwinian evolution to doubts about man-caused global warming. The article by Leslie Kaufman makes the ludicrous assertion that this is some sort of plot hatched by conservative Protestants.
Of course, this is a hoary old Times trope. In the real world, plenty of Catholics, Jews and other people, regardless of religion, question the alarmist view that human beings are largely responsible for global warming (to the extent there is global warming). The same goes for the responsible scientists of various faith backgrounds, and none, who contend that Darwinian science is collapsing in the face of evidence. And even a larger, more diverse crowd worries about the implications of Darwinism for our culture.
But the Times story does at least correctly and helpfully quote John West of Discovery Institute on a way global warming and Darwinism are connected. "'There is a lot of similar dogmatism on this issue,' he said, 'with scientists being persecuted for findings that are not in keeping with the orthodoxy. We think analyzing and evaluating scientific evidence is a good thing, whether that is about global warming or evolution.'"]]>
A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy, Smith's book just published by Encounter Books. The implications for medical research, not to mention the food supply, are enormous.
Among other things you'll see the same kind of people--indeed many of the very same people, such as Peter Singer and Richard Dawkins--are prominent in promoting all of these issues. They wield the myth of "settled science" as a club to intimidate critics and to gain economic leverage in the promotion of a left wing ideology that promotes government power, nanny state moralism and, most of all, materialism. Politically, they align with those campaigning for a government takeover of health care.
The problem, therefore, is not (as the Times imagines) that some conservatives have noted such linkages, but that so many other conservatives, neo-conservatives and moderates are unable to connect the dots. Or are afraid to. At a minimum they should be able to defend academic freedom, an issue so vital in the sciences that it almost eclipses all others.
Furthermore, Americans of all philosophical leanings should recognize that the suppression of scientific dissent on what seem like side-issues can turn out to be very costly to the economy and one's own wallet. Mainstream science was supportive, for example, of Paul Ehrlich's claims in The Population Bomb in the 60's and 70's--predicting imminent global famine and economic collapse unless coercive fertility control (forced contraception, abortion) was funded. Critics were treated as heretics. Now we know that Erhlich and company were wrong, but at what human and financial costs meanwhile?
Conservatives and decent liberals had better wise up and realize that a society that stifles debate--especially using the power of the state in universities, museums and laboratories, and state supported media--is a society slowing progress and raising costs to its citizens.
Thanks only to persecuted climate change deniers, huge lacuna in the "official" data have been found and call into question the immensely expensive reordering of the world's economy that the Al Gores want. On social issues, the human costs easily equal the financial ones.]]>
Logic and the Gorey Detailstag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.324412010-03-02T02:14:38Z2010-03-02T02:22:03ZMy colleague Jay Richards, writing on the The American blog, was picked up today on Real Clear Politics for this excellent dissection of the logic of Al Gore's Saturday New York Times article on global warming (see my previous post)....Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
writing on the The American blog, was picked up today on Real Clear Politics for this excellent dissection of the logic of Al Gore's Saturday New York Times article on global warming (see my previous post).
I wonder how people who read the New York Times and don't read blogs will get at the hidden assumptions and assertions of the Gore rhetoric. Where on the Times pages will that case be made?]]>
Al Gore Versus Booker on Climate Changetag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.323612010-03-01T09:25:43Z2010-03-01T18:35:14Z Al Gore wants you to know that global warming is still the consensus scientific truth, even if there have been a couple of trivial mistakes made in the thousands of pages of the IPCC report of 2007. Hey, we're...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
Al Gore wants you to know that global warming is still the consensus scientific truth, even if there have been a couple of trivial mistakes made in the thousands of pages of the IPCC report of 2007. Hey, we're all human!
But Christopher Booker of the London Telegraphtears the whole defense to shreds. There are not just a couple of mistakes and they are not incidental to the global warming case. They are legion and they are integral to the climate warming case, and they bespeak intellectual if not financial corruption.
Read the pieces for yourself.]]>
Congratulations, Canada!tag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.323512010-03-01T05:44:43Z2010-03-01T17:44:38Z Reserve used to be a characteristic trait of Canadians. Not patriotic. Defined by what they weren't--that is, not Americans. No more. Canadians these days can't stop singing, "O, Canada" and painting their faces red and white. They shout and...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
Reserve used to be a characteristic trait of Canadians. Not patriotic. Defined by what they weren't--that is, not Americans.
No more. Canadians these days can't stop singing, "O, Canada" and painting their faces red and white. They shout and carry on like, well, I can't help noting, Americans.
Tonight they deserve congratulations and thanks. They have staged a magnificent Winter Olympics in the fabulous world city of Vancouver and the superb modern resort of Whistler-Blackcomb. They could have been stumped by the unseasonably warm weather, but they weren't. They could have been undone by the pressure of media and transportation. They weren't. Their guests are flying out of town feeling happy and grateful.
Especial praise goes to our Cascadia ally, British Columbia. What incredible strides the province has made in a generation or so!
Some said that Canadians should feel chagrined that they didn't win as many medals as the U.S., or even the Germans. Nonsense. Canada is a fraction of the population of the U.S. (even if you only count the states that have winter sports), and yet they managed a huge haul, including, of course the men's hockey gold, which was about all they seemed to care about this sunny Sunday afternoon.
Well, let them have it. We, in turn, are fortunate to have such fine, fun neighbors. They are excellent hosts and friends.]]>
From Philly to Seattle: America's Waterfronts are Urban Development Issue of Decadetag:www.discoverynews.org,2010://11.323312010-02-28T09:20:19Z2010-02-28T05:18:25ZCall it "On the Waterfront" Meets "Philadelphia Story." The remake of the famous harbor of Philadelphia is the major development issue of that big city today. Three thousand miles away, the impending replacement of the Alaska Way Viaduct in Seattle...Bruce Chapmanhttp://www.discovery.org/p/7
explained to a Seattle citizen planning team how his group and the William Penn Foundation, backed by the City of Philadelphia and local media and civic groups, have redesigned the general plan for the riverfront along the Delaware River, a deteriorating area of old piers and warehouses and "big box stores". ]]>
The Central Delaware region includes 1146 acres along seven miles of waterfront. Until three years ago its development was dictated largely by private deals brokered by local politicians and bureaucracies. What Steinberg and his associates accomplished was a professionally led participatory process that built trust that "public good, not private gain" would prevail in the future. The idea is not to substitute the private sector, of course, but to provide a reliable vision and predictable standards.
Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center hosted the Steinberg presentation, in conjunction with former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer and businessman Bob Donegan of the citizen waterfront teams that advise local government on how Seattle's central harbor might function once the Viaduct is demolished and through traffic is diverted to a new upland deep-bore tunnel. Architect and former Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck helped arrange the meeting and Cascadia director Bruce Agnew presided.
On its front page the Times reports that Darwin skeptics have decided on a new strategy--linking doubts about Darwinian evolution to doubts about man-caused global warming. The article by Leslie Kaufman makes the ludicrous assertion that this is some sort of plot hatched by conservative Protestants.
Of course, this is a hoary old Times trope. In the real world, plenty of Catholics, Jews and other people, regardless of religion, question the alarmist view that human beings are largely responsible for global warming (to the extent there is global warming). The same goes for the responsible scientists of various faith backgrounds, and none, who contend that Darwinian science is collapsing in the face of evidence. And even a larger, more diverse crowd worries about the implications of Darwinism for our culture.
But the Times story does at least correctly and helpfully quote John West of Discovery Institute on a way global warming and Darwinism are connected. "'There is a lot of similar dogmatism on this issue,' he said, 'with scientists being persecuted for findings that are not in keeping with the orthodoxy. We think analyzing and evaluating scientific evidence is a good thing, whether that is about global warming or evolution.'"]]>
A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy, Smith's book just published by Encounter Books. The implications for medical research, not to mention the food supply, are enormous.
Among other things you'll see the same kind of people--indeed many of the very same people, such as Peter Singer and Richard Dawkins--are prominent in promoting all of these issues. They wield the myth of "settled science" as a club to intimidate critics and to gain economic leverage in the promotion of a left wing ideology that promotes government power, nanny state moralism and, most of all, materialism. Politically, they align with those campaigning for a government takeover of health care.
The problem, therefore, is not (as the Times imagines) that some conservatives have noted such linkages, but that so many other conservatives, neo-conservatives and moderates are unable to connect the dots. Or are afraid to. At a minimum they should be able to defend academic freedom, an issue so vital in the sciences that it almost eclipses all others.
Furthermore, Americans of all philosophical leanings should recognize that the suppression of scientific dissent on what seem like side-issues can turn out to be very costly to the economy and one's own wallet. Mainstream science was supportive, for example, of Paul Ehrlich's claims in The Population Bomb in the 60's and 70's--predicting imminent global famine and economic collapse unless coercive fertility control (forced contraception, abortion) was funded. Critics were treated as heretics. Now we know that Erhlich and company were wrong, but at what human and financial costs meanwhile?
Conservatives and decent liberals had better wise up and realize that a society that stifles debate--especially using the power of the state in universities, museums and laboratories, and state supported media--is a society slowing progress and raising costs to its citizens.
Thanks only to persecuted climate change deniers, huge lacuna in the "official" data have been found and call into question the immensely expensive reordering of the world's economy that the Al Gores want. On social issues, the human costs easily equal the financial ones.]]>