The Bigest Story Continues

A giant Antarctic iceberg is causing devastating damage to the world food chain and already millions of penguins have fallen victim to it, polar experts warned Thursday.

The B15 iceberg, the size of Jamaica, calved off the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000 and has blocked the Ross Sea.

and continues:

SpaceDaily: Climate Change Appears To Be Having A Global Impact On Life

"All the major biomes on Earth have been affected by a temperature increase of just a little more than half a degree Celsius -- most of which has occurred during the last two decades," says Post, who describes this increase as comparable to the warming that occurs from about 8:00 to 9:30 on a typical spring morning. "That such a small change has had such an extensive effect is alarming when you consider that even conservative estimates predict the climate will heat up at least two or three degrees more."

These aren't statistically-valid samples, of course, but they certainly fit the prevailing expectations of independent scientists. If true, then I fear we're on the verge of "climate bubble", one that will make the Internet bubble look like a hiccup.

I think we need to do something to reduce emmissions now. If we guessed wrong, what have we lost, really? If we guessed right, we'll at least ameliorate some of the effects.   

5:36:34 PM  comment []    

Operation Liberate Arabia

Palestine does not exist and has never existed. There has never been a country called Palestine. The modern construct Palestine exists as the thin edge of a wedge to drive the Jews out of the Holy Land. The pigs and monkeys of the "Zionist Entity" that defiles grand, holy, and unified Arabia.

Given all this, my thoughts have turned darker in the past week. Why should Israel give up land? Why shouldn't they build prosperous, vibrant settlements in the territory that they won in 1967? Why shouldn't they have it all? They have a stronger legal claim to it than anyone. Why should they give it away?

They should give it away if giving it away means peace. If they could ransom peace with it, it should go; they should give it away gladly, with great rejoicing. But this ignores the reality of their neighbors. If they could have bought peace with land, they would have. They've tried, many times. But it will never work. As long as the "Zionist Entity" exists, many in the arab world will mobilize to remove it.

So look at the reality. Land for peace won't work. Arab leaders don't want peace.

This has been bubbling inside me for a while and I finally decided to vent my spleen. I'm sure that my analysis is overly simplistic, but as Eckhart Tolle said, there are only three rational responses to an intolerable situation:

• live with it
,
• remove yourself from it, or
• change it.

We've done too much of the first two and too little of the last one. There was a time when we could get away with facilitating negotiations. That time has past.

Sgt. Stryker thinks it will be more difficult than I make it out.

I stole the Turkey-as-surrogate idea from Richard Nixon via William Safire.  

12:52:37 PM  comment []    

Two decades ago most Israelis considered the settlers to be oddballs spurred by messianism and nostalgia for the derring-do of Zionist pioneers. A few thousand and then a few tens of thousands set up cheap mobile homes on windswept hillsides and vowed to double their number. But by the early 1990's, when Mr. Sharon served as housing minister, the situation had changed radically. Aided by government subsidies and other inducements, there were more than 100,000 settlers. For Israelis, settlers were no longer zealots but ordinary fellow citizens. Suddenly their plumber or doctor or neighbor's sister was living in a big semi-detached house in a community on land captured in 1967. Many Israeli maps stopped demarcating the former border.

He's absolutely right that Israel will have to address the settlements issue if land for peace will work. But I think we've already proven that land for peace won't work.

Oh, and I missed this one from Wednesday: What Day Is It?

Abdullah wants to ignore yesterday, Sharon wants to ignore tomorrow, and Arafat wants to ignore today.

I think Friedman's pride has clouded his judgement. The Abdullah plan is overly simplistic and the good prince knows full well that the devil is in the details.   

10:48:11 AM  comment []    

Three Boys in Gaza, Bent on Violence

As a mother of four sons ranging in age from 6 to 15, I was appalled by the parents' shock and disbelief over the suicidal attacks committed by their sons. Perhaps the first red flag should have been raised when one of the three boys hung a poster listing the "great martyrs" of Hamas in his bedroom.

10:38:38 AM  comment []