Global Warming and Science

The following citation is an interesting breakdown of the issues surrounding global temperatures over the last sixty or so years. It identifies five different issues with the 2007 IPCC claim which attributes most of the rise of 0.7 ° C over that period to human GHG.

This article identifies five different issues with the Hadley ("Climategate") data which is the basis for the IPCC claim. These five issues break down into two different types: those which modify the original 0.7 ° C itself and those which attribute a different cause. Of those which suggest different causes, some are not anthropogenic, but one is (soot).

So let's correct the original number to 0.47 ° C by eliminating the sea surface temperature errors and the non-climatic signal change ("urbanization"). We then identify four possible causes contributing to this change. Two are anthropogenic and two are not. Those causes we are not responsible for are Stratospheric water vapour and the Sun. Stratospheric water vapour contributes about 0.06 ° C. The Sun's contribution is more problematic.

We don't actually know what, if anything, the sun contributes to our climate variations. The seasons themselves seems to indicate a large role--less sunlight equals colder temperatures. But what about longer-term changes in climate? The scientist cited comes up with different hypotheses that range from no contribution to 65% of the observed warming over the last sixty years. He then cited plumps for 33% for no reason cited. Yet the graph only drops 0.1 ° C. So something is being done with these successive graphs that I'm not understanding.

Of the two anthropogenic causes Black Carbon (soot) contributes 0.1 ° C or about twenty percent of the total. The remainder includes GHG and any other causes as yet unidentified. This apparently amounts to about 0.2 ° C or about 40% of the total. In other words, we seem to be contributing more than twenty percent to current warming, but possibly less than sixty percent. That still seems pretty serious to me, so I'm at a loss to explain the articles conclusion which reduces GHG's contribution to less than a third (which it may, in fact, be) by merging all the various issues indiscriminately.

Most of the Observed Warming since the Mid-20th Century Likely Not from Human GHG Emissions?:

A few weeks ago, over at the blog MasterResource.org, WCR’s Chip Knappenberger took a look at just how confident one should be regarding the amount of warming that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have caused since the mid-20th century.
The IPCC claims that it is “very likely” that “most” of the warming since then has been [...]

Read the whole thing.

(Via World Climate Report.)

Climategate

may be getting some uncomfortable exposure over the pond. I'm still agnostic. But the behaviour attributed to some of these scientists seems completely normal given Original Sin.

Opening Night Reviews in the UK Press:

Richard Drake sent in an interesting selection of opening night reviews for the Parliamentary Inquiry from UK parliamentary reporters, most of whom seem to be new to the climate wars and offering a relatively fresh perspective.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Climate Audit.)

Are We Being Manipulated

by the MSM when it comes to gender?

Down the Memory Hole

This Classical Values post, and the video below, raise some good points about the disparate treatment of men in post-modern Western culture.  Add to this disproportionate differences in homelessness and suicide, the disproportionately greater expenditures on women's medical issues, and you have a sense that if these factoids didn't favor women, they would be considered a

Read the whole thing.

(Via Lex Communis.)

Realsim and the Resurrection

Oswald Sobrino has some interesting things to say on these subjects vis-a-vis an atheist friend of his:

Who Is the Realist?:

One of my favorite friends and conversation partners is the "village atheist" where I live. He is an eminently decent and pleasant man. One of his main concerns is not to live under the allegedly false illusion of religious belief.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic Analysis.)

An Exercise in Moral Reasoning

especially in light of Catholic Moral Teaching:

More on Thiessen’s Moral Muddles:

For those interested in a detailed discussion of the flaws in Marc Thiessen’s use of double effect to justify “enhanced interrogation techniques,” as well as a sober overall judgment about the moral status of our interrogation policies after 9/11, see Christopher Tollefsen’s analysis on The Public Discourse.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

You Decide

This is an opportunity to see an actual debate between ACC(GW) proponents and critics. How many university courses do I need to take to confidently reach my own conclusions?

Quick Response to Ben Santer’s Comments at RealClimate:

Ben Santer has an article over at RealClimate defending himself against some claims made recently by Fred Pearce in a series of articles Pearce did for the U.K.’s Guardian in recent weeks.
In particular, Santer discusses a 1996 paper that he (and colleagues) published in Nature magazine in which they reported to have identified a human [...]

Read the whole thing.

(Via World Climate Report.)

Global Warming

remains a concern for me. Is it happening? How fast? Are we responsible for it? What, if anything, can we do about it? These are important questions that need to be answered.

But it's difficult to answer when information is being offered by experts that is questionable:

Update on Global Drought Patterns (IPCC Take Note):

We are sure you have heard that global warming is causing more frequent and intense droughts throughout the world. Right? The claim is easy to make – higher temperatures increase evaporation rates, soil moisture is depleted, and drought conditions result. Indeed the Technical Summary of the most recent IPCC assessment includes “More intense [...]

Read the whole thing.

(Via World Climate Report.)

Let's Engage in a Thought Experiment

What if the unborn were as important as rain forests?

The Satanic Inversion of Values Gets Pwned:

H/T: Brutally Honest

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

Archaeology

is an enduring interest for me:

New Discovery in Jerusalem:

The AP is reporting some big news about important new find in Jerusalem: JERUSALEM - An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era. If the age of the wall is correct...

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

Catechesis and Discernment in a Year-Round RCIA Process

These were important themes for me by the end of my brief (three-year) stint on the Team. We were still a September-to-May type of process. This is an interesting take on these issues:

Integrating a Systematic Catechesis with a Year-Round R.C.I.A. Process:

This presentation was given by Dino Durando and Stacy Phillips from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Modesto, CA at the Diocese of Sacramento’s Catechist Ministry Day on September 26, 2009 in Sacramento, California.

Read the whole thing.

(Via The Blog That's All About R.C.I.A..)

What is the New Media?

I can see how blogging plays an important new role in trying to keep the MSM somewhat honest. (Hello, New York Times. Welcome to the Climategate controversy.) What other medium is part of that process? Or are we using the plural (-ia) as a singular? Maybe medium has confusing and irrelevant connotations in English. Let me check my crystal ball...

"Kate Zernike...are you in the room?":

Here is Part 1 of Andrew Brietbart 's speech upon receiving an Accuracy in Media award for his work as 'whistleblower' against mainstream media bias. At 6:05 find his comments about Zernike's venom spitting attack , posing as a NYT 'journalist'. You don't have to be conservative to be scandalized by obvious lying and proselytizing by bankrupt journalists, but it helps if you're not a liberal...

Read the whole thing.

(Via island breezes.)

Fraud

from the MSM?

Media Malpractice at March for Life

via Heart, Mind & Strength.

Torture and Definitions

John DaFiesole asks some pertinent questions for those who are still on the sidelines about torture:

:

Some questions for those whose need for a definition of torture has not yet been met

1. What are you going to do with your definition once you get it?
   
   I ask this because lexicographers, moral theologians, legislatures, courts, governments, and international bodies all have definitions that meet their needs.
   
   Read the whole thing.
   

(Via Disputations.)

Humour-Challenged

is what I sometimes think people are about some subjects. Read the disclaimer at the bottom of this to get the context:

37th Anniversary of legalized baby killing ...:

... and Robert George says he's "moderately pro-choice"!!:

I am personally opposed to killing abortionists. However, inasmuch as my personal opposition to this practice is rooted in sectarian (Catholic) religious belief in the sanctity of human life, I am unwilling to impose it on others who may, as a matter of conscience, take a different view. Of course, I am entirely in favor of policies aimed at removing the root causes of violence against abortionists. Indeed, I would go as far as supporting mandatory one-week waiting periods, and even non-judgmental counseling, for people who are contemplating the choice of killing an abortionist. I believe in policies that reduce the urgent need some people feel to kill abortionists while, at the same time, respecting the rights of conscience of my fellow citizens who believe that the killing of abortionists is sometimes a tragic necessity--not a good, but a lesser evil. In short, I am moderately "pro-choice."

Read the whole thing.

(Via Musings of a Pertinacious Papist.)

Abortion and Economics

The other night a friend mentioned the Freakonomics hypothesis that Roe v. Wade had led to a decrease in the crime rate. The idea is that crime comes from the poor and abortions tend to reduce the number of the poor, ergo a decrease in the crime rate.

I couldn't remember the details on that one, but I did suggest a counter example: the decrease in the population from abortions may be having a devastating impact on our economy. Lo and behold:

Researcher: Abortion is $38.5 Trillion Drag on the Economy:

In its latest estimate on the economic impact of abortion, the Movement for a Better America is reporting that the abortion toll is projected to climb to a new high of 52,333,000 as of January 22, 2010, the 37th anniversary of Roe V. Wade.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic Exchange.)

Can Anyone Remember the Shoe-Bomber?

Because if you can this looks scary stupid:

Kristol: Dennis Blair vs. the Intelligence Community:

We can and we must outthink, outwork and defeat the enemy's new ideas.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

Framing the Question

sometimes determines the answer you get. In the abortion debate (to the extent there is one) the philosophical analysis frequently ignores the obvious biological relationship the two parties have: mother and child:

The Right Way to Think About Unborn Children:

I give you a wonderful quote from Francis Canavan's excellent book The Pluralist Game:

If
we take the principles of liberal individualism as axiomatic, we find it
possible to think of the fetus and the woman as the parties of the first and
second part arguing over their respective rights.  We are then able to blind ourselves to the
natural fact that they are related as mother and child and that the child is in
the only natural place for him to be, his mother's womb (italics added).

(Via Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments.)

Really Scary People

are marching boldly into moral chaos:

Denying Intrinsic Human Dignity in Bioethics:

An article in the journal Bioethics proposes dumping intrinsic human dignity as a basis for determining bioethical principles and policies.  But that would expose the most defenseless among us to the worst forms of exploitation, which the author, Alasdair Cochrane, acknowledges. From his article “Undignified Bioethics” (link to abstract):

…if all individual human beings possess dignity, then they should not be viewed simply as resources that we can treat however we please.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

Mark Shea

saves me the trouble of writing and thinking (hopefully not in that order) about the Christmas bomber and reactions to him:

A rather sensible and sober take:

on the security issues raised by the Christmas bombing attempt.

Me: I don't think we are serious--and I say that about both a) the fools who think we should subject blue-haired old Lutheran ladies to the exact same scrutinies as single male Nigerian Muslims with a documented history of crazy Islamic opinions and b) the idiots who think that Dick Cheney's policies of torture and terror are Manly Realism.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

ID and Enthymemes

What is an Enthymeme? It's an argument that fails to state all it's premises and which is defeasible because of that. (Gee, I miss college-level philosophy.) All of which is an excuse to point out this well-reasoned post:

A Walk to the Moon:

As Jim Croce once sang, “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, You don’t spit into the wind, You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t match wits with David B. Hart.” (At least I think those are the lyrics, its been awhile since I heard the song.) Hart’s commanding intellect and depth of knowledge are so daunting that only the foolish would rush to disagree with him. While I’m naturally reticent to disagree with anything he writes, he made a claim about intelligent design theory (ID in his review of Richard Dawkin’s latest book that I believe is worth challenging.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

I Won't Be Cheap

But I'd sell out if the price were right:

Predictions for 2010:

—Bloggers will continue to mau-mau the mainstream media in the hopes of being able to sell out and be co-opted by an establishment media company.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

Emotional Fish?

I'm as fascinated by the scientific study of brain as the next guy. So when they start applying fMRI technology to fish, I'm interested. Then I find out that our emotional fish is dead:

Are fMRI Studies a Red Herring?:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique for measuring brain activity by detecting the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

Peer review

should be a kind of quality assurance system for scholars. But it doesn't necessarily work that way:

Peer review: Life, death, and the British Medical Journal:

This controversy erupted over estimates of war deaths since World War 2 (1939-1945:)

Researchers from Canada, the UK and Sweden have slammed the influential British Medical Journal (BMJ) for publishing an error-filled study on global war deaths, refusing an equivalent rebuttal article and having a flawed peer-review process.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Post-Darwinist.)

There Are Facts and There Are Facts

I'm still struggling with the competing narratives of the CACC(GW) so more competition is not welcome. Trying to remember that we're in the Holocene epoch of the Quaternary period isn't too much of a strain. Terms like the Holocene Climatic Optimum and Younger Dryas stadial are starting to test me, though. The net result of my research to date is to confirm that we are in an interglacial interval in the current ice age. that has had some significant climate fluctuations

Pressing issues include was there a Medieval Warm Period? How warm was it compared to today? (Or can we even reasonably know that?) The same issues arise with the Little Ice Age. Different scientific opinions can be read differently. These are deep waters for a high school graduate.

It's not only that different folks massage different sets of facts differently, but that different facts can be highlighted and others ignored from the same set of facts:

A Christmas Story: Some Facts about Greenland:

The wonderful Christmas season is upon us, and no Christmas story would be complete without snow. If you really like snow, Greenland is the place for you! The snow there lasts all year long and is 1,000s of feet deep in the interior – a white Christmas is guaranteed every year in this [...]

Read the whole thing.

(Via World Climate Report.)

Climate Wars?

I'm trying to keep an open mind on the CACC(GW) theory while I do some desultory reading. So I've subscribed to RealClimate, Climate Audit and World Climate Report. The early returns suggest that I might get bogged down in details, scientific arguments I'm not competent to resolve and competing narratives:

Climategatekeeping: Wikipedia:

Lawrence Solomon has an interesting column in the National Post today on William Connolley’s climategatekeeping role at Wikipedia. See also an article last year.

Connolley was one of the nine realclimate founders, but posted little at realclimate. This has notoriously not been the case at Wikipedia. Solomon reports that Connolley “created or rewrote 5,428 unique Wikipedia articles” and that Connolley was granted a senior editorial and administrative status at Wikipedia that enabled him to delete “over 500 articles” and “barred” more than 2000 Wikipedia contributors who “ran afoul of him”.

Particular areas of interest for Connolley were the Hockey Stick debate e.g. here,

Check it out

Read the whole thing.

(Via Climate Audit.)

There's a Cold Breeze Blowing

against CACC(GW). Isn't there something self-serving about simultaneously blocking access to peer-review while dismissing alternative theories because they haven't been peer-reviewed? Admittedly the attempt to block access hasn't been 100 per cent effective. Does that mean we should trust the peer review process when it comes to Climate Change?

WSJ: How to Manufacture a Climate Consensus:

Be sure not to miss Pat Michaels’ view of one of the most important impacts of ‘Climategate’–the biasing of the contents of the scientific literature upon which the EPA bases its Endangerment Finding.
Pat lays out his case in today’s (Dec. 17, 2009) Wall Street Journal.
In summary:
The result of all this is that our refereed literature [...]

Read the whole thing.

(Via World Climate Report.)

Confidence

in Science is not increase by this sort of news:

Another crack in the wall

Russians confirm that Global Warming is based on "cherry-picked" data.

Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with

Read the whole thing.

(Via Lex Communis.)

The Koran Versus The Bible

The multiplicity of Scriptural texts over a thousand years and more and the large number of textual variants are viewed by Muslims as a scandal. How could God's Word be variant or doubtful? For them, the Qur'an is the perfect counterfoil to the Scripture Text: uttered from the mouth of the Archangel Gabriel to Mohammed, who memorized it and passed it on to be written down, incorrupt.

For an educated Christian, however, the multiplicity of Scriptural texts and the hundreds of variants are a major blessing. First off, try drawing straight, parallel lines on a piece of paper. In elementary school I was taught that you needed at least three points to make sure a line was correct. By analogy, the thousands of Scripture texts (complete and partial) provide abundant evidence ("points") of the state of the original texts (the autographs).

What about all those variants? Don't they undermine confidence in the text? Not really. No significant doctrinal or historical divergence appears in any of the surviving manuscripts. The Good News of Jesus Christ is the same in every one. For thousands of texts over a thousand years in multiple languages, this is strong evidence for the reliability of our present text.

But is this not still inferior to the Muslim claim of a perfect, invariant text? No, because there is no such text. A great deal of the Qur'an's history has been destroyed thereby reducing the number of "points" we could test the present text against. Enough variants exist, however, to show that there was a history to the Qur'anic text which Muslim apologists are unaware of. Consider the following:

The Yemeni Qur'an:

To quote Puin: "So many Muslims have this belief that everything between the two covers of the Qur'an is just God's unaltered word... They like to quote the textual work that shows that the Bible has a history and did not fall straight out of the sky, but until now the Qur'an has been out of this discussion. The only way to break through this wall is to prove that the Qur'an has a history too. The Sana'a fragments will help us to do this."



[snip]



One early Muslim declared, "Let none of you say, 'I have acquired the whole of the Qur'an.' How does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur'an has disappeared? Rather let him say 'I have acquired what has survived'" (As-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fii Ulum al-Qur'an ).

Read the whole thing.

(Via Jihad Watch.)

Natural Theology

is a branch of philosophy. It's heartening to see it being promoted this way:

All the Evidence for God. An Inquiry:

Ruini outlined three ways of access to God, three proofs of his existence, not theological but rational, and therefore able to be presented to all, not only to believers.

The first way departs from the evident fact "that there is something rather than nothing." The second moves from the observation that the universe can be known by man. The third is based on man's experience of a moral law within himself.

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

A Different Perspective

on the Copenhagen Climate Conference:

If the Marx Brothers Held a Climate Conference:

It would look like this

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

I Don't Believe in Santa Claus

It's hard to say when it began. Perhaps my nanny taking me (three years old or so) to a store with a large bearded man in a garish red suit. I cried and cried and would not sit on his lap. Perhaps it was later when I had reached the age of maturity (twelve or thirteen) and announced to my sister (six or so) that Santa Claus was a lie. Dad was not happy

As a moralistic parent (thirty plus) I determined never to tell my children lies. So while I never said "There is no Santa Claus", I refused to promote his cult.

Saint Nicholas, on the other hand, we enthusiastically promoted. We hung stockings on the Fireplace mantle on the eve of his feast (Dec. 6). And the first year, just to make the point, Daddy (me) received sticks in his stocking for being a bad boy. You should have seen how big their eyes were.

On Nicholmas morning their presents from the sainted bishop would be found. The gift giving at Christmas was by way of exchange only. They had the advantage on their schoolmates of getting presents early, but otherwise felt left out of the Santa Claus festivities. As young adults they're still not entirely reconciled to Dad's philosophy of Christmas and child-rearing. Oh well.

Santa’s Dead:

Perhaps it was my innocent sheltered and naive nature, but I found the Santa myth quite appealing as a youngster. So appealing, in fact, that I clung it to it long after others my age had discovered that it was no coincidence that Santa Claus and Dad had the same favorite cookies, or that Santa’s handwriting bore a striking resemblance to Mom’s.

Read the whole thing.

(Via In the Agora.)

Eccentricity

is in the eye of the beholder. There has been a little sensitivity in the Catholic Blogosphere over the Archbishop of Canterbury describing the Pope's theology as eccentric. I'm not as riled as some over the Dr. Williams comments. He seems irrelevant to Catholicism for the most part. But some of the reactions do raise a smile:

Catholic Culture : Commentary: Off the Record:

The Archbishop of Canterbury is annoyed with England's Labor government, and particularly with the way the government treats religions: as if "it's an eccentricity, it's practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities."

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic World News.)

Less Babies

equals happiness? The dark underside of the environmentalist religion has started showing a little more prominently. Promoting the totalitarian regime in China as a leader in the CACC(GW) movement doesn't inspire confidence. These are the children of Mao and he had millions of deaths on his conscience when he died. The current leadership hasn't renounced a single one.

The One-Child policy continues, albeit slightly less draconian in places, and forced sterilizations and abortions still occur. This kind of madness is only now having deleterious effects that are being recognized by these leaders. This is not the kind of leadership anyone needs. Alas, the Financial Post hasn't caught up with the news. As Mark Shea says: "Just enough of me, too much of you". So the following isn't entirely unexpected:

Carbon Scheme: Offset Your Jet-Set Lifestyle by Eliminating African Babies:

Population control groups have been using the hype surrounding the Copenhagen climate change conference to promote their solution to hypothetical impending environmental catastrophes. Earlier this month, two pieces appearing in the same edition of the Guardian revisited a report by Britain's Optimum Population Trust (OPT) that suggests that people in wealthy first-world countries should "offset" the carbon cost of their jet-setting lifestyles by paying to prevent the births of poor children in the developing world.

Read the whole thing.

(Via LifeSiteNews.)

The Sky is Falling!

While I wrestle with the vexing issue of whether and how much the base climate change data has been manipulated there is still the uneasy feeling of salesmanship. When I took a Business Communication course many years ago, one technique they mentioned was "backing the hearse up to the door".

This is a sales technique that uses naked fear to sell some good or service to the prospective customer. Examples of it are on TV all the time. If they're not using sex to sell something, it's about our fears. And the sense that there is an overplayed emotionality to the sales pitch for CACC(GW) reminds me uncomfortably of this technique.

Mark Shea brings in some nice insights from GKC while expatiating on this theme:

PANIC!!!!!:

The pattern that emerges over the decade is that the preferred governing style of our Ruling Classes is to scare the daylights out of people with some sort of world-imperilling threat and then use the panic to stampede us toward this or that consolidation of massive power.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

A LIttle More Direct

than I would put it:

Jimmy Akin Shares My Skepticism About AGW:

in spades.

When they tell you "Shut up about Climaquiddick! We need to adopt a global one child policy right now!" you should be very skeptical about what the Stampeders in our Ruling Classes are up to.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

Is Evolutionary Psychology

a faux science?

Can evolution explain religion?:

Here's my MercatorNet column (10 December 2009),

Evolutionary psychologists offer two contradictory explanations for the existence of religion. They can't both be right, but they can both be wrong.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Post-Darwinist.)

Data Manipulation

doesn't equal conscious fakery, by the way:

ClimateGate: Was Data Faked? - Megan McArdle:

To me, the worry is the subtler kind of bias that we indisputably know has led to scientific errors in the past.  Richard Feynman has the most elegant exposition I've ever read:

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

Where to Start?

If I'm going to try to get off the fence about CACC(GW) what process should I use? I prefer the process of asking questions. So I'm trying to compose a series of questions that will help me assess, as an ignorant lay-person, the validity of the various claims made.

First question, is the global climate warming? If so, over what period of time and relative to what? This involves a lot more research than I'm entirely comfortable doing. I'd have to assess paleoclimatological questions as well. Hypotheses like the MWP and the "Little Ice age", not to mention even more ancient climate change theories, would have to be dealt with.

Second question, to what extent is this change, if it exists, outside normal change?

Third question, what contribution, if any, are human beings making towards this change, if it exists?

Lastly, what are the chances, assuming we can estimate such things, that these changes will have catastrophic effects on humankind?

Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck at the first question. If the "overwhelming proof" that the climate is rapidly warming has been created by statistical manipulation, how am I to assess what is really happening? The good news is that the blogosphere is on the job:

Intellectual freedom: The difference the blogosphere makes:

In "Bloggers peer review a scientific 'consensus,'" Gordon Crovitz writes (Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2009),

Blogging scientists have been busy reviewing the 15,000 lines of code by programmers that were included in the "Documents" folder of the leaked materials. The latest twist is hidden notations in the data from programmers that indicate where they had manipulated results. The programmers expressed frustration when the numbers didn't fit the case for global warming.

Comments in the code include "These will be artificially adjusted to look closer to the real temperatures," referring to an effort to suppress data showing that the Middle Ages were warmer than today. Comments inside the code also described an "adjustment" as follows: "Apply a VERY ARTIFICIAL correction for decline!!" Another notation indicated when a "fudge factor" had been added.

Read the rest here.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Post-Darwinist.)

Puzzling over Global Warming

The CACC controversy is beyond the competence of laypeople and perhaps even many scientists to adjudicate by themselves. So an appeal to authoritative opinions must be resorted to. When these opinions conflict, how does a layperson reach a conclusion?

INEX: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Appeal to authority):

Any argument should ideally be based solely on direct evidence, not on the authority of the messenger. However, it is rarely possible in common discourse to provide all the direct evidence, so an "appeal to authority" is often used as a shortcut

Read the whole thing.

Doubt and Belief

are two sides of the same coin: our attempts to achieve knowledge. In the CACC(GW) debate I'm still on the fence. And the recent brouhaha over the hacked emails (I prefer "the CRUtape letters" as a moniker) I'll let others parse their meaning and import before giving anything like a settled opinion.

It's the uneasy feeling that there are agendas behind some the alarmism. The movie clip that was part of the Copenhagen summit has a little girl screaming while holding on to the branch of dead tree and surrounded by raging waters. That creeps me out: "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!".

And I'm reminded that this isn't the only alarmist nonsense that was used to advance radical change in recent history. Who can forget the "Population Bomb"?

Scientists Behaving Badly:

Climate change is a genuine phenomenon, and there is a nontrivial risk of major consequences in the future. Yet the hysteria of the global warming campaigners and their monomaniacal advocacy of absurdly expensive curbs on fossil fuel use have led to a political dead end that will become more apparent with the imminent collapse of the Kyoto-Copenhagen process. I have long expected that 20 or so years from now we will look back on the turn-of-the-millennium climate hysteria in the same way we look back now on the population bomb hysteria of the late 1960s and early 1970s--as a phenomenon whose magnitude and effects were vastly overestimated, and whose proposed solutions were wrongheaded and often genuinely evil

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

Kennedy Did It!

With his world-shaking election in 1960:

Lex Communis:

As it happens, the tree-ring proxies match up with the thermometer measurements up until about 1960, when there is a “divergence” between the two sets of data. The tree rings indicate a global cooling after 1960, while the thermometer data indicates a sharp warming.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Lex Communis.)

Science and Ideology

There are two parts to my skepticism about anthropogenic global warming (Should I be shortening that to "agw"?). The first the an uneasiness in the face of claims that seem remarkably like a "Chicken Little"-like attempt to stampede leaders into radical changes to society and governance.

The other is the sense that belief in agw has become a litmus test of almost religious proportions. Believe this or be cast into the outer darkness. This particular blend of faith and science bodes ill for all concerned.

Scientists Behaving Badly:

In the current wars over global warming we are seeing an example of scientists behaving badly. I am not referring just to the hacked e-mails that everyone is talking about. Far more disturbing to me is the recent tactic of labeling any scientist who expresses skepticism about the extent of anthropogenic global warming a “global warming denier,” as though they were somehow comparable to holocaust deniers and thus both willfully ignorant and morally repulsive.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

I Remain Agnostic

about anthropogenic global warming, but Jimmy Akin has strong opinions and lots of links:

I Told You So! (Well, Maybe.):

It is now clear that, as I've held all along (in private conversations if not on the blog), the man-made global warming claim is based on junk science. 

(Via JIMMY AKIN.ORG.)

Science and Ethics

One of the key points to keep in mind is that even if there were unethical behaviours in the "Climategate" scandal, that still doesn't tell us what the truth is about anthropogenic global warming. Remember, Galileo and Newton fudged their numbers too.

Climategate III: The Mystery of the Missing Data - Megan McArdle:

Sexing up a graph is a bad thing.  But the world is not going to plunge off a cliff because of one overdone graph.  I've become considerably more concerned at items that have subsequently gotten more attention. 

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

Philosophy and Science

In our continuing quest to try to understand the conflicting claims of various scientists and others about anthropogenic global warming, here is a beginners guide to evaluating the concept of "scientific consensus":

The “No True Scientist” Fallacy:

In his 1975 book Thinking About Thinking, philosopher Anthony Flew outlined a form of argument that he dubbed the “No True Scotsman” fallacy:

Argument: “No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”

Reply: “But my uncle Angus likes sugar with his porridge.”

Rebuttal: “Ah yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

Another Lesson in Climate Science

for those who will persevere, there may some enlightenment:

Richard S. Lindzen: The Climate Science Isn't Settled - WSJ.com:

Is there a reason to be alarmed by the prospect of global warming? Consider that the measurement used, the globally averaged temperature anomaly (GATA), is always changing. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes down, and occasionally—such as for the last dozen years or so—it does little that can be discerned.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

Climate Science for Civilians

In the wake of "Climategate" it would be useful for the public to consider how Climate Science works and how we are to receive the judgements of these scientists. John da Fiesole of Disputations gives us a two part discussion to enlighten us. Here is the first:

Science and data, i:

A lot of people are spun up over the material stolen from the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia. Some are spun up over the material, some are spun up over the stealing, some are spun up over others being improperly or inadequately spun up themselves.

Read the whole thing.

Here is the followup.

(Via Disputations.)

ClimateGate: What You Need to Know

In case you didn't get the previous reference to "climategate":

ClimateGate: The Very Ugly Side of Climate Science - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com:

When we think about “scientists,” most of us probably envision people toiling away in the lab or the field, accumulating and analyzing data in order to test theories, leaving their personal biases at home, scrupulously considering any confounding data or theories and willfully distancing themselves from the political implications of their research.

Read the whole thing.

Catechesis

since the Vatican II hasn't worked. I made this point earlier and here are some numbers supporting that assertion:

Whatever it is we’re doin’… ain’t workin’!:

I don’t know how many times my own proposals, or those of others I have heard about, were rejected because of "young people".   "No, no.  We have to do [FILL IN BLANK] for young people".

Read the whole thing.

(Via What Does The Prayer Really Say?.)

News

is what the newscasters say it is. The editing job done by the MSM results in the relative ignorance of those who rely on them. And "Climategate" is just the latest exemplar of that fact:

Blogs v. The Legacy Media:

Occasionally the question comes up as to why I get my news from blogs instead of conventional big media news sources.

Read the whole thing.

(Via ThePolitic - Canadian Political Weblog.)

More LIght, Less Heat Please

The relatively abysmal state of Catholic education and literacy is making for a lot more heat and very little light when Church teaching on moral principles is concerned. For example, the phoney war Rep. Kennedy has been waging on the Catholic Church for his own political advantage has been illustrative of this problem. Bishop Tobin has been exceptional amongst his brother bishops in that he has not let the calculated ignorance of the scion of the Kennedy clan to go unremarked. He has been temperate and reasonable in his dealings with the CINO politiican. The resulting circus of condemnations from the ignoranti who were, no doubt, educated in the "Spirit of Vatican II" and little else, has been proof positive that the revolution in catechesis since the Second Vatican Council has been a spectacular failure. Could this be one of the most illiterate Catholic generations ever?

So here is a little light to dispel the darkness:

Abortion, Capital Punishment, and War — One of These Things is Not Like the Other:

Ed Stoddard of Reuters’ religion blog Faithworld carries a roundup of the skirmish between Congressman Patrick Kennedy, the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, has claimed that Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

Introductory Apologetics

by a convert:

Verses I Never Saw:

by Marcus Grodi One of the more commonly shared experiences of Protestant converts to the Catholic Church is the discovery of verses "we never saw." Even after years of studying, preaching, and teaching the Bible, sometimes from cover to cover, all of a sudden a verse "we never saw" appears as if by magic and becomes an "Aha!" mind-opening...

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

Politics Must First Be Entertaining

or so Bill Buckley once said back in the sixties. I wasn't sure if he was being facetious. Now in my old age, I see the wisdom. Limited to choices that look like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, they can at least keep us entertained through the show-democracy that we have settle for.

On this basis, I quite enjoy the madness that arises whenever Sarah Palin is in the spotlight. And I'm not the only one to notice:

AP Goes Full Sullivan on Palin:

...devotes ***11*** freakin' reporters to pore over ghost-written piece of self-promotional fluffery.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

Over the Top?

I have an off-the-wall kind of humour, so this struck me as a form of black humour. Read on at your own discretion:

The Doctor is Out:

We’re sorry, your appointment tomorrow with Dr. Hasan has been canceled.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Southern Appeal.)

Autumn

I'm sitting at home wrestling unsuccessfully with some virus or other. I've been spoiled by relative resistance to diseases over the year. When the rest of the family gets ill, I merely got tired and grumpy. But the years are catching up.

This has been a lovely Autumn, something we don't get every year. So, walking to work has sent me into reveries about Fall colours, dying, death and re-birth. Why do we associate Autumn with starting out? The school year begins. Football and Hockey start over. And yet Nature is retreating, preparing for the sleep of Winter

And does any of this tell us something about ourselves when we enter our own personal Autumn? I would argue that Nature, beautiful in every season, is at it's best now: Colourful, brilliant, especially on the grey days that we're likely to see. Are we at our best in our Autumn?

Thomas Aquinas apparently said that we reach our prime from 50 to 70 years of age. Is this our Autumn? Should we start out anew in these late months of our life, armed with experience, education and intelligence? Well, experience anyway.

The colourful leaves drop, winter's sleep ensues. But beneath the white coat the dead leaves are preparing to nourish new life in the Spring. If we refuse to live our lives to their peak at these late stages, are we denying those to come nourishment for their Spring? Didn't our parents and their generation give themselves completely to life, enriching us in the process?

Random thoughts at a keyboard while recovering from one of life's little insults.

Schism!

Amongst the Atheists. The lamentable drop in quality of the "new atheists" is being noticed even by atheists:

Schism! Denial! Infighting! Name calling! And that's just among the atheists...:

The God Delusion made me ashamed to be an atheist...

Read the whole thing.

(Via Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog.)

Atheism

is apparently suffering from a serious brain drain of late. Professor Richard Dawkins, a leading biologist, periodically wades into philosophy, theology and history in order to confirm this thesis:

Oh my, I do love the cool, calm, and rational thinking...:

Mercy! The man is a wit wrapped in a genius outfit, swaddled in sassy, deep-fried in searing sarcasm, and smothered in spicy polemics. Throw in a 20 oz. lemonade and a Charles Darwin action figure and you have a super-duper Man of Science value meal that kids ages 6 to 12 can enjoy—well, at least until they throw up and grow up.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog.)

The Crazies Are Coming Out

to critique the Pope's impending offer of reconciliation for those Anglicans who have been requesting it for years. And the resulting display is revealing:

Lex Communis:

In regard to Dawkins' bigotted rant, Damien Thompson at the Telegraph asks a pertinent question:

The peg for this piece? The Pope’s offer to make special arrangements for Anglicans converting to Rome, a matter I would have thought was none of Prof Dawkins’s business. But I’m not going to bother to argue with any of his points, because these are the ravings of a man who appears to have lost all sense of proportion. Seriously: is there something wrong with him?

The answer is clearly yes.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Lex Communis.)

Perspective

on the whole Anglican-Catholic thing that has been buzzing in the blogosphere:

EARLY RETURNS | Midwest Conservative Journal:

The RCC can reach into its sofa cushions and find more peeps than attend Episcopal churches.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

Obama

seems to define himself by his perceived enemies. He becomes President and starts identifying the Republican party with Rush Limbaugh. Now he's using his bully pulpit to try to isolate Fox News. Who's the last President to focus so much attention on his "enemies"?

Quote of the Day (So Far!):

It comes from today's classic Krauthammer column on the White House's war on Fox:

Defend Fox from the likes of Anita Dunn? She's been attacked for extolling Mao's political philosophy in a speech at a high school graduation. But the critics miss the surpassing stupidity of her larger point: She was invoking Mao as support and authority for her impassioned plea for individuality and trusting one's own choices. Mao as champion of individuality? Mao, the greatest imposer of mass uniformity in modern history, creator of a slave society of a near-billion worker bees wearing Mao suits and waving the Little Red Book?

Read the whole thing, as they say.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Campaign Standard.)

Bold, Benedetto, and Bello

More thoughts on the big news from Monday:

Bold, Benedetto, and Bello:

As the Second Vatican Council developed, traditional Catholics in England were distressed because they saw Rome giving up the Old Latin Mass for a vernacular both shallow and shabby. Further, as Evelyn Waugh put it, "This was the Mass for whose restoration the Elizabethan martyrs had gone to the scaffold. St. Augustine, St. Thomas à Becket...

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

A Coming Storm

is predicted by Father Z:

Whose ecumenism?:

Liberals are beginning to twit.



They are just warming up, but soon it will be a grand mal twit.

Read the whole thing.

(Via What Does The Prayer Really Say?.)

More Evidence

that Papa Ratzi has outflanked the ecumenist establishment and "liberal" bishops:

Standing on My Head: Personal Ordinariate - the Background:

Daily Telegraph religion journalist Damien Thompson is sometimes a bit gossipy for my liking, but in this article he does an inside analysis on some of the other major things happening in and behind this week's stunning announcement of Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Lex Communis.)

Fr. Z on Fr. Rutler on

the News from Rome is the inspiration for this break in silence. My reading of this is that the old man is moving the establishment against it's will. One report from England seems to confirm this. Four-plus years in and the Pope is slowly but steadily moving the bureaucracy towards his idea of ecumenism.

And the announcement before an actual Apostolic Constitution is finalized signals two things to me. First, the Vatican is getting a little more media-savvy. Second, there were rumblings from the establishments (in London and Rome) that the move would be sabotaged with malicious "leaks" if Rome waited for the text to be ready. Talks with the Anglicans will continue, of course. It's just that there will be less and less to talk about.

Consider what some wiser heads than mine have to say about this news:

Fr. George Rutler (convert from Anglicanism) on new Anglican provision:

On CNA Fr. George Rutler comments on the new Anglican provisions.  My emphases and comments:

October 20, 2009

Fr. Rutler discusses Vatican’s Anglican provision

By Fr. George Rutler *



Editor’s Note: Fr. George Rutler, a convert from Anglicanism, was asked by CNA what his reaction is to the Vatican’s new Anglican provision. Fr. Rutler’s reply follows.



It is a dramatic slap-down of liberal Anglicanism and a total repudiation of the ordination of women, homosexual marriage and [this is important] the general neglect of doctrine in Anglicanism.

Read the whole thing.

(Via What Does The Prayer Really Say?.)

Epimetheus

is my name, I decided many decades ago. Epimetheus ("Afterthought" in Greek) was Prometheus' ("Forethought") brother. So many occasions in my life I made decisions about which I had to explain to myself or others as "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

One of the more egregious examples was joining the RCIA team in the parish. There were certain encouraging signs that I took to be God calling me forward. And I'm still not sure that it wasn't true. But I charged in without "due diligence" and so was unprepared for the conflicts that arose over those three years. Those conflicts were, in fact, completely foreseeable. If only I had done the research and thought and prayed first.

But Estel is my other name. So I remain hopeful that I can learn from experience and do better in the future. So when Father invited me to become an EMHC early this year I was non-commital. The invitation was renewed a little while ago, so I started praying, thinking and studying. There is Hope after all.

A regular position of service in the parish would be a good thing, at least in the abstract. But the issue of EMHC's isn't all light and happiness. Some respectable Catholics argue that their very use as currently seen (regularly scheduled and quite ordinary in that sense) is, in itself, an abuse.

If and when you get past that meta-issue, there are some specific areas of concern:

• EMHC's in the Sanctuary before the Celebrant has taken Communion,


• EMHC's giving "blessings" to non-communicants,


• EMHC's drinking the remaining Precious Blood after Communion and
• EMHC's taking the Eucharist from the Tabernacle themselves when going to deliver to the sick.

Training, whatever that consists of, and Archdiocesan guidelines, to the extent these are written and accessible, will help with some of the answers.

But this time around, I intend to do all the praying, thinking and researching in advance, so that I can ask the appropriate questions and only then make a well-informed decision.

LIft High the Cross

was sung at yesterday's Mass and again this morning. Which is appropriate considering today's feast. When I heard it yesterday it reminded me, as it does every-time I hear it, of the first time: John Paul's visit to Abbotsford.

So how do I fit that hymn into my funeral Mass? A recessional? It was the opening hymn at Abbotsford.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross:

Information about the Exaltation of the Holy Cross [1] Readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross [2] Readings from the Jerusalem Bible Readings and Commentary: [3] Reading 1: Numbers 21:4b-9 With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses...

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

Post-Christian Britain

is mirrored by British TV. A favourite program of mine was the Inspector Morse series with John Thaw in the title role. I used to compare the books by Colin Dexter to the tv series and found that the Colin Dexter's clear questioning of Christian belief (through Morse) was watered down. Sergeant Lewis gave a simple, sincere Christian witness to Morse's world-weary cynicism in the books.

In the tv the Lewis character was muddled and muted. Now with the resurrected series they have made Lewis world-weary and cynical, while his Oxford-educated sergeant represents a post-Christian Christianity. The elite that produces tv and movies in Britain are no longer able to represent, much less engage the intellectual and spiritual underpinnings of Christianity.

This thought was inspired by Rich Leonardi:

The abolition of Britain:

"On the road from Gethsemane to Calvary I lost my way."

So reads a suicide note in tonight's Inspector Lewis episode on Masterpiece Mystery!

Read the whole thing.

(Via Ten Reasons.)

Sunny

is our cockatiel and we have regular conversations. But no one in the family thinks he is human or even near-human. So I do understand the human foible of anthropomorphizing animals. So a more rational analysis of the relationship between humans and animals is in order:

Humans are unique - get used to it, or get therapy. Do NOT get a chimpanzee:

In "Restating the case for human uniqueness," in Spiked* (Issue 25, June 2009), managing editor Helene Guldberg reviews Not a Chimp: The Hunt to Find the Genes That Make Us Human by Jeremy Taylor (Oxford University Press 2009):

She notes that

Taylor sets out to argue that it is ‘as wrong as it is misguided’ to ‘exaggerate the narrowness of the gap between chimpanzees and ourselves’: ‘It plays into the hands of our natural propensity to anthropomorphise our pets and other animals, and even our inanimate possessions, and it has allowed us to distort what the science is trying to tell us.’

Read the whole thing.

(Via Mindful Hack.)

Catholic Funerals

should be about praying for the dead, not canonizing them:

The problem wasn't the funeral.:

Speaking of the recent funeral of Senator Edward Kennedy, the Archbishop of Boston, Sean Cardinal O’Malley, endeavors to defend his participation in the event -- to which Fr. John Zuhlsdorf provides a helpful fisking. On the Archbishop's own blog there are already 100+ comments from readers -- the first comment by "Grace" will suffice, and indicates my thoughts exactly:

Of course Senator Kennedy should have been afforded a Catholic funeral. And I had no problem with you being there.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Against The Grain.)

Reason and Faith

intersect somewhere and that somewhere

On the integrity of the New Testament manuscript evidence:

Let's question the "common-sense" double-standard. Folks, I was reading this article published today in Time Magazine online, entitled, The Burial Box of Jesus' Brother: A Case Against Fraud, because the controversy has been around for a while and of course...

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

Self-Improvement

starts with having children, preferably including daughters:

Quotables 9.5.09:

[E]very man needs a daughter. All of my male friends who had children were changed for the better by having at least one daughter. It is not a wife who socializes a husband, it is a daughter.

— Anonymous commenter on Marginal Revolution

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

Stop Complaining

and suggest some solutions. Which is what Sherry W has done in her four-part analysis of our culture and the RCIA. It's excellent. Have a read:

Whither RCIA? Part Four: Some Beginning Steps:

First, we make disciples in the inquiry period Then we form and catechize those disciples in the catechumenate.

[snip] 5) Resist the temptation to move people into the formal catechumenate prematurely.

[snip] 6) Make sure all the members of your RCIA team and all your sponsors are intentional disciples.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Intentional Disciples.)

My Soap Box

includes, metaphorically, the meaning, purpose, effectiveness of RCIA and how this squares with the Church's own nature and her intent for this process. So the beginning of an interesting series of blogs on RCIA caught my eye. But one quote in particular hit a nerve for me:

Whither RICA? Part One:

(Since the majority of those who enter the Church through RCIA leave the practice of the faith within a year...

Read the whole thing.

(Via Intentional Disciples.)

Internet Courses

have their place in our modern world. It's good to hear that one is being offered for Catholics wanting to share the Gospel Message:

Evangelization Training for Catholics: Learn to Share the Authentic Gospel Message!:

The Authentic Gospel Message In the Fullness of the Catholic Tradition Developed and Taught by Aimee M. Cooper, M.A. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel.. .. For I did not receive it from man...

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

True Love

Brings Life, produces children. This is true in intellectual life as well as biological. If you love the Truth you will attract the young. The young faces reacting with joy at the announcement of Cardinal Ratzinger's election as Pope was in stark contrast to the grey-haired critics shaking their heads.

The most telling fact about the "Spirit of Vatican II" believers is their dearth of followers. Their love has played them false and left them without children. The exceedingly slow response of the Vatican to dissentient religious orders is one sign that the "Spirit of Vatican II" believers will have to ask and answer some hard questions about their future.

Paranoia. Identity Politics. Rebellion. Us vs. Them.:

Put bluntly, the LCWR is has been aiding and abetting—nay, actively promoting—the steady extinction of women religious in the U.S. for forty years, usually in the name of empty clichés and politically-correct fads. The nuns of the spirit of Vatican II insist the future is theirs, but they don't even have a future, as the average age of the enlightened, progressive sisters is over 70 and young women aren't exactly pounding on the doors to be let in. "Within our own lifetime," cracked Max Lindenman, "white, liberal nuns may become as much a curiosity as white, liberal heavyweight boxers.">

Read the whole thing.

(Via Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog.)

Boys and War

What is it about the male of the species that makes us try to measure ourselves against those engaged in active combat? The war games, movies and toys continue to do a brisk business despite the feminization of the culture over the last, say, forty years. In any case, the author mentioned below is quite compelling, at least to the testosterone producing side of the equation:

Yon: The Kopp-Etchells Effect:

Another photo-filled essay from Afghanistan by Michael Yon, memorializing lost comrades as the fighting heats up: The Kopp-Etchells Effect.

(Via Little Green Footballs.)

Feast of the Assumption

Saint Tarcisius gets buried in this major feast, but here is a link that covers both.

Skepticism

is not a value in and of itself. I'm skeptical about the global warming alarmism, but not dogmatically so. Precisely because experts disagree about the various details, I reserve judgement. Just so a proper balance is achieved, here is a website that tries to answer many, perhaps most, of the global warming skeptic's questions:

Answers for Climate Skeptics:

[snip] one of the valuable resources I discovered is at ScienceBlogs: How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Little Green Footballs.)

Condoms and Happiness

don't go together, surprise, surprise:

“Safe Sex” with Condoms Bad for Mental Health, Psych Researcher Finds:

(LifeSiteNews.com) – Research from Scotland finding that heterosexual sex without using condoms is more likely to make people happy than “safe sex” with condoms, has stirred controversy among “sexual health” campaigners. The lead researcher wrote of the survey respondents, “The more often they have sex without condoms, the better their mental health.”

Read the whole thing.

(Via SoCon Or Bust.)

A Beautiful Day

can inspire the most interesting ideas. I'm tiring of trying to fix a hole in my opening repertoire so I turn to listen to Father Roderick on his latest Secrets of Harry Potter podcast. Father or one of the other panellists mentions that they thought of the Funeral Antiphon "In Paradisum" when reading about the song of the phoenix over Dumbledore's dead body.

This antiphon was sung as the body was removed from the church at the end of the service. Having previously thought about my own funeral, I wanted to know what it sounded like. And here it is.

What are the chances of getting a choir to perform this for my rite of passage?

Manipulating People

is a skill Saul Alinsky perfected with his "community organizers". President Obama has perfected these skills and so have his students. It comes as a revelation to me that Father Mitch Pacwa was a student of Alinsky's while the President was still getting his early education in Indonesia:

Fr. Mitch Pacwa on the "Sol Alinsky style of community organizing":

This most recent newsletter from Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., received this morning, has some interesting historical information, some frank talk, and some strong opinions:

 I recently became upset when Newsweek's "Without A Doubt" feature published an article by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend entitled, "Why Barack Obama represents American Catholics better than the pope does." She commend President Obama's "pragmatic approach to divisive policy" and his "social justice agenda." Meanwhile, she claims that the positions of the pope, the bishops and the pro-life activists do not. In fact, Townsend asserts that the Chicago community organizer president could teach the pope a lot about a Catholic approach to politics and the ability to listen to other people's points of view with empathy. [snip]

 I recognize the community organizer approach that Townsend commends in this piece. I learned Sol Alinsky style of community organizing as a novice in Chicago when President Obama was a little boy living in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog.)