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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Morning Edition

Posted By Rich Kozlovich

I would like to recommend reading Gerard Jacksons commentary under "Economics" entitled, "Tony Abbot finds his inner central planner causing Mises and Hyek to rollover in their graves", and as you read this think of those calling for the creation of a "national energy policy". Central planning and thinking by policy wonks IS NOT better than the planning and thinking of those "disgusting greedy businessmen". You know the kind I'm talking about - those greedy guys who provide all the jobs which generates all the taxes that gives jobs to central planners whose experience has been largely in academia and government and will work diligently passing laws, finding an unending need for new taxes and generating rules and regulations that will mostly interfere with advancement and accomplishment.

But first please view this video tribute:
 
A tribute to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, 1943-2014
Posted on by admin





It is with deep and profound sadness that we announce that Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan, the founder and president of the American Council on Science and Health since its beginnings in 1978, passed away yesterday.

Beth was a giant in the annals of public health. With postgraduate degrees from Yale and Harvard, she grew increasingly frustrated with the discrepancy between what she knew to be fact-based scientific truth, and the distorted information that the public was hearing and reading from the media. Unlike many of her colleagues, however, she resolved to do something about it. That’s how ACSH was born.

By sheer force of will — despite her youth and inexperience with any sort of activism —she recruited several towering figures in epidemiology, science and public health. These included Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution—the man who is credited with saving more lives than any other human being— and Dr. Fredrick Stare, the founding chairman of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Department. Other scientists and policy experts, now numbering close to 350, flocked to join the nascent nonprofit’s Board of Scientific Advisors and Policy Experts.

At the same time, she assembled and led a coterie of scientific professionals at the ACSH headquarters in New York City. Before long, publication after publication—all strictly devoted to the concepts of sound science and independent peer review—began to flow. These continue to this day. Every effort she inspired promoted the mantra of evidence-based science, while at the same time countering the hysteria and hyperbole spread by the media and agenda-driven activists. Beth firmly believed that the nonsense and destructive myths posing as science were only allowed to exist because of what she termed “mute science”: competent, expert scientists failing to speak up to dispute the junk science advocacy agenda that permeated the media. Beth led the way in urging scientists to speak out against the fallacies that are all too pervasive in our culture.

Beth’s legacy will live on long past her all-too-brief sojourn on Earth. Her commitment to the precepts of sound science have been passed on to all who knew her.

ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross added this: “On a personal note, my life will be immeasurably sadder now without her presence, both personally and professionally. After we first met, it became clear that we were very closely aligned in our philosophies about public health. Our commonality of mission and goals led to a much stronger ACSH, and along with our scientific advisors, trustees, and staff, I believe that ACSH will continue to be committed to furthering those goals with Beth’s inspiration always in our minds and hearts. Nevertheless, I will miss her warmth and compassion, as well as her passionate devotion to the cause, as long as I live.

ACSH’s Cheryl Martin added: “I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with Beth for more than 33 years. She was an inspirational, amazing person, who was passionately dedicated to ACSH’s mission. She was truly science-driven on every issue, and uncompromising in her effort to ensure that science always prevailed, despite considerable obstacles. Anyone dedicated to ensuring that sound science lead public health policy decision-making must acknowledge their debt to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. She dedicated her life so unselfishly to the greater public good. And personally I’ve lost a mentor and friend with whom I’ve shared so many wonderful memories in our crusade here at ACSH — someone I will so dearly miss, but never forget."

The hearts of all of us here at ACSH go out to Beth’s wonderful family—Steve, Christine, Peter, and her precious grandchildren, Eleanor and Beatrice—at this time of immeasurable loss. We wish them strength and comfort.

Economics

Tony Abbott finds his inner central planner causing Mises and Hayek to rollover in their graves - It seems that the Tony Abbott administration has discovered its inner central planner by approving a ‘competitiveness agenda’ (code for industry policy) that will use taxpayer’s money to fund those economic activities where Australia has the greatest advantage, leading one to wonder why they would need public funding if they are that strong. Picking winners always leads to even greater political meddling in the economy and, if implemented, Abbott’s proposal will be no different. His policy also envisages ‘cooperation’ between businesses, training colleges, universities and schools. Funny thing, though, is that Mussolini had a similar vision: he called it corporatism …….Several examples will suffice: imagine what the situation would be today for the Japanese consumer electronics industry if the MITI two-year campaign to dissuade Sony from buying the manufacturing rights for transistors from Western Electric had been successful. That’s right, folks: the farseeing technocrats those clever boys with their fancy degrees at the MITI tried to stop Sony from investing in transistors. These technocrats the sort of people that impress Liberal and Labor politicians alike argued that the transistor was too revolutionary and that the future still lay with the valve.

EPA

Report – emails reveal ‘collusion’ with green activist groups over EPA climate agenda- FOIA’d Emails show outside ‘green’ lobby groups staffed up, collude with Obama EPA, calling rules’legality into question For Immediate Release:September 15, 2014 | Obama’s EPA in collusion with “green” lobby groups — Report details the conflicts of interest, “unalterably closed minds”, internal activism and influence of outside interest groups on the Obama…

Global Warming

And then they came for The Holocene: New paper suggests “removing the Holocene Epoch from the geologic timescale” - From The Hockey Schtick Is there any limit to the extremes some climate propagandists will go?The Climategate team removed the warm 1940’s “blip”, erased the Medieval Warm Period, Hid the Decline, and tortured temperature & sea level data until it confessed, but a paper published Monday in Earth’s Future could take the cake by suggesting removal of…

Untitled JR at GREENIE WATCH - Plans to Turn‘Politically Binding’ UN Climate Change Accord Into Federal Law* Obama administration officials who say they intend to sign a “politically binding”agreement to drastically reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at the United Nations’ (UN) climate change conference in Paris next year already have a legal strategy to turn any non-binding accord into federal law, warns Christopher Horner, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Horner told CNSNews.com that the “name and shame” effort is an alternative to a new climate change treaty already being dra...

Weather, Climate, Arctic Ice And The Franklin Expedition -Guest opinion by Dr. Tim Ball | Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper proudly announced discovery of one of Captain John Franklin’s ships, either the Erebus or Terror. Identification, of which ship will be relatively easy, based on the known dimensions of the vessels (Figure 1). Figure 1: Erebus and Terror; sketch in the London Illustrated…

Hollywood

PUMP to Kick Oil Addiction- A new Hollywood movie empowers the quest to get us off oil. more »

Islam – Terrorism – Middle East

Holder announces program to counter homegrown ISIS threat - Attorney General Eric Holder said the effort would bring together community representatives, public safety officials and religious leaders to try to help prevent more Americans from joining the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria….

Egypt: Don’t Limit Action to ISIS; Islamists Elsewhere Share its Ideology - Egypt wants the new international focus on countering terrorism to go beyond ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and to include fighting it in Libya and elsewhere, according to Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.

Syria resolution will be part of government funding bill - The House will use a government spending bill as the vehicle to pass a resolution authorizing a U.S. mission to arm and train Syrian rebels against Islamic terrorists.

Meeting Turkey's New Prime Minister - War on the Rocks Contrary to simplistic caricatures of an anti-Western or anti-Semitic Muslim ideologue that some have applied, Davutolu remains an affable statesman with nationalist fervor and who applies the discipline of a scholar to find order in a chaotic region and world.

Republicans Can Win ISIS Debate With Bluster - The Week While terrorism remains, according to Gallup data released this week, a relatively low priority for most Americans as compared to issues like the economy and immigration, its mention has increased to levels unseen since 2010.

Did Hamas Win? -Mkhaimar Abusada, Project Syndicate Hamas has proved its staying power. After decades of standoffs and stalemate, perhaps it can focus less on its own survival and more on helping to achieve a just and lasting peace.
 
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Inter-Faith Charade - Dr. Mark Christian confronts stealth Jihad in Omaha. more »
 
Obama’s Coalition of the Uncertain - A coalition as full of hot air as its leader. more »
 
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Inter-Faith Charade - An interview with the Global Faith Institute’s Dr. Mark Christian. more »
 
Beheading Raises Islamic State Street Cred - The strategic advantages of our jihadist enemies.
 
Obama’s Self-Defeating Fight - Why the world thinks America is fighting to lose against Islamic State.

Russia

The West Isn't Set for the Long Haul in Ukraine - European Union and NATO are involved in a competition with Russia that they could lose. That competition comprises three main strands, each of which reveals the West’s lack of readiness for a long, drawn-out struggle with Moscow.

Scandals

Obama’s DOJ Gets Caught Subverting IRS Investigation — on The Glazov Gang - A telephone call to the wrong office exposes lies -- and a cover-up. more »

Jeff Sessions vs. the ‘Masters of the Universe’ - The greed fueling the high-tech push for amnesty. more »

United Kingdom
 
Never Mind the Scaremongers, Scotland - The Conversation After some scaremongering over the currency, the Three Amigos (Cameron, Clegg and Miliband) made a last minute gallop north of the border, hoping to inspire a temporary love-in ahead of the vote. This looks like panic, smells like panic and almost certainly is panic. Such desperados. One dreads to think what is next.
 
Flawed Campaign Has Divided Scots - The Guardian Scotland is now a divided society. Families, communities, workplaces, and friends are split, some perhaps irrevocably, and now more than ever political leadership is required to cool a temperature that has risen to dangerous levels.

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