Obama sets deadline for Middle East breakthrough
Like his predecessors Obama appears to want to go down in history as the man who made great great process in the Arab-Israeli Conflict...by 'progress' though he means sacrificing Israel's security needs to appease the thugs in the PA and Hamas...As a supporter of Israel I am praying that Netanyahu holds firm and sticks to his convictions...Once again these are tough times for Israel ( I still can' believe that 75% of all Jews voting for BO....yes Jews excel in many areas as a group but in political choice they are often very stupid.Obama knows this as well he told a Jewish congregation that he supports an undivided Jerusalem then changed his tune the next day...the silence from the official leaders of the Jewish communities was deafening on this about face). For more read the Final Solution
North Korea rattles its sabre
The North Koreans played Carter and Clinton as patsies extracting nuclear technology for a promise (that they never kept nor intended to keep) to curtail their WMD program. They lied and got away with it now it appears they have found more sock puppets to play - the Obama Administration and the tunnel vision crew at the State Department.
Its well known that an organization such as ACORN is very much involved in election fraud on behalf of the Democrat Party but what is less well known is how Obama and co. are selectively stifling democracv in the US.
More on the Lefts favourite dictator - Chavez Seeks Tighter Grip on the Military.
Its only a matter of time before he impoverishes Venezuela.
Miami man awarded $1 billion in suit against Castro.
As if all thinking people needed more convincing evidence that Castro that homicidal maniac Che Guevara were goons.
Reformist Accuses Ahmadinejad of driving inflation
His accusation seems reasonable but then haven't Obama and his works in the Treasury Department done the same thing in the spending realm with a $2-3 trillion rope around the necks of future generations?
The bailout of GM and Chrysler and the fact that GM is virtually now a Government Motors is an insult to the very foundations of free enterprise that forms the backbone of success that is the US.
Helen Zille extends Olive branch to Zuma
Mark my words Zuma will do to South Africa what Mugabe has done to Zimbabwe. Zille is trying to save her own neck with such gestures- she seems genuine but now its Route One for Zuma towards his dictatorship.
Gordon Brown may be toppled
British Labour is a bankrupt party running a country that has been spiralling downward for some time. I am not convinced that Cameron and co. in the Tory's are much better though but it certainly looks as if Gordon Brown is playing the part of Dead Man Working.
Once again the French snub their nose at those who saved their collective behind in World War II.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Juan Cole - Intellectual Dummy
The left revere this guy but take a look at some of his mind numbing quotes....
"Much of the Arab world has a formal peace treaty with Israel." (Actually only Egypt and Jordan have a peace treaty with Israel)
"Chemical weapons are not weapons of mass destruction." Mmmmmmmmm....
"Saddam Hussein never gave any real support to the Palestinian cause, and he did not pay suicide bombers to blow themselves up.""Supporting orphans is, in any case, not the same as funding terrorism." (Cole is referring to subsidies to the families of suicide bombers by Saddam, the Saudis, and others. Of course there is nothing wrong with the PLO making Jewish children orphans in Old Juan Cole's eyes.)
and of course this doozy.........
“The last thing the Arab people need is a red herring like ‘free and open elections’ to distract them from the international Zionist/Neo-Con conspiracy to take their oil”
"Much of the Arab world has a formal peace treaty with Israel." (Actually only Egypt and Jordan have a peace treaty with Israel)
"Chemical weapons are not weapons of mass destruction." Mmmmmmmmm....
"Saddam Hussein never gave any real support to the Palestinian cause, and he did not pay suicide bombers to blow themselves up.""Supporting orphans is, in any case, not the same as funding terrorism." (Cole is referring to subsidies to the families of suicide bombers by Saddam, the Saudis, and others. Of course there is nothing wrong with the PLO making Jewish children orphans in Old Juan Cole's eyes.)
and of course this doozy.........
“The last thing the Arab people need is a red herring like ‘free and open elections’ to distract them from the international Zionist/Neo-Con conspiracy to take their oil”
Just taking a break
I will be back soon blogging...computer glitches and work have just occupied my time as of late.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
English Football Season
I have followed English football off and on since the 76/77 Season always cheering for my Club at Arms Liverpool...but this season for the first time in along period I am starting to wonder if its all worth it....not so much cheering for Liverpool (which I probably always will do) but following the game with the intensity that I have in the past. In short I have lost some faith in the sport, that on the club level in England, appears to be dominated by the super haves of the game. By super haves I mean Manchester United and Chelsea both of whom have monetary coffers that will ensure domination of the trophy haul by a combination of each for some time.
Granted Liverpool is no slouch in the purse strings department but when push comes to the proverbial shove the Kakas, Ronaldos, Riberys, Drogbas, Ferdinands, Tevezs and Messis of the world, who ultimately secure domestic and Champions League Titles League titles, will always gravitate to the big money...and by big money that has to be Man U and Chelsea.
Its really sad because the game has settled into a predictability that has rendered it on a level....well boring. Liverpool have chased hard this season but cannot count on the stock of reserves that moneybags United can field and at the end it is this difference that brings United closer to an 18th title, another championship video, more swooning by the red army in the press and a giant yawn from the rest of the collective league who can only shake their head at the asymmetry of it all.
Granted Liverpool is no slouch in the purse strings department but when push comes to the proverbial shove the Kakas, Ronaldos, Riberys, Drogbas, Ferdinands, Tevezs and Messis of the world, who ultimately secure domestic and Champions League Titles League titles, will always gravitate to the big money...and by big money that has to be Man U and Chelsea.
Its really sad because the game has settled into a predictability that has rendered it on a level....well boring. Liverpool have chased hard this season but cannot count on the stock of reserves that moneybags United can field and at the end it is this difference that brings United closer to an 18th title, another championship video, more swooning by the red army in the press and a giant yawn from the rest of the collective league who can only shake their head at the asymmetry of it all.
In the News LV
....I am still sticking with this Roman numerals......
Chavez wants reach extended in silencing his opponents
...and many on the left still see him as a champion of democracy...how blinkered can you get?
Churches calls for safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka
The situation of the Tamils continues to worsen...Will the world do anything about this?
I wouldn't wager on it.
Diplomats walk out on Iran's Fascist President's hateful speech
This was a sight for sore eyes. Western Diplomats showing some backbone. It would be great if they followed this up with a full boycott of the Mullah Regime. Unfortunately that won't happen
North Korea could well have the world's largest artillery force
I am not convinced but the pariah regime has really chosen guns over butter in the classical battle of priorities. I am all the more curious as to how Obama and co. will treat Kim Jong-Il...hopefuly not with appeasement.
Judge adopts Obama standards for Gitmo detention
Wasn't he supposed to shut this down within a 100 days or so?....I guess reality has dawned on the Big O aka the Promise breaker . Meanwhile the great unifier continues to build bridges by opening the gates to go after certain Bush security officials..so much for the non-partisan era that the MSM told us would be on the cards with an Obama administration.
US needs to improve banking system says Bank of Canada Governor.
Chavez wants reach extended in silencing his opponents
...and many on the left still see him as a champion of democracy...how blinkered can you get?
Churches calls for safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka
The situation of the Tamils continues to worsen...Will the world do anything about this?
I wouldn't wager on it.
Diplomats walk out on Iran's Fascist President's hateful speech
This was a sight for sore eyes. Western Diplomats showing some backbone. It would be great if they followed this up with a full boycott of the Mullah Regime. Unfortunately that won't happen
North Korea could well have the world's largest artillery force
I am not convinced but the pariah regime has really chosen guns over butter in the classical battle of priorities. I am all the more curious as to how Obama and co. will treat Kim Jong-Il...hopefuly not with appeasement.
Judge adopts Obama standards for Gitmo detention
Wasn't he supposed to shut this down within a 100 days or so?....I guess reality has dawned on the Big O aka the Promise breaker . Meanwhile the great unifier continues to build bridges by opening the gates to go after certain Bush security officials..so much for the non-partisan era that the MSM told us would be on the cards with an Obama administration.
US needs to improve banking system says Bank of Canada Governor.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Watchman
Although I didn’t care much for V for Vendetta I am an overall a fan of Alan Moore. Indeed this blog has a link to an Alan Moore site. Watchman is arguably his magnum opus and the movie version of the book did not disappoint either. What I particularly enjoyed was the comic book feel that the director created with his cinematography. This was most evident in the opening scenes when the character of the Comedian was murdered but was further emphasized in the long nose Tricky Dicky depiction of Richard Nixon.
Rorschbach was by far the most intriguing of the Watchman, the work done on his shifting mask adds moxy to a super hero that has discarded model relativism and sees the world operating within a discrete Good and Evil Dichotomy. He is a true opponent of all that is wrong and far exceeds the robotic and somewhat removed Dr. Manhattan in this arena.
In true Moore form the story abounds with sub plots – Night Owl’s personal struggle, Silk Spectre II’s coming of age, Rorschbach’s demons. Set this within the context of a Cold War spiraling down toward nuclear apocalypse and you have a movie that goes places and keeps you in suspense.
Some conservatives such as Debbie Schlussel have criticized Watchman for its violence. That it is violent is obvious, but the context of the movie set around an extremely dark universe where evil incarnates itself in the worst possible way makes much of this violence necessary. The fact that violence is fought head on and defeated by the clearly conservative super hero Rorschbach (I couldn’t help laughing at his personal rant against leftist thinking) more than atones for such depictions. A definite must see.
Ranking: 8.5/10.
Rorschbach was by far the most intriguing of the Watchman, the work done on his shifting mask adds moxy to a super hero that has discarded model relativism and sees the world operating within a discrete Good and Evil Dichotomy. He is a true opponent of all that is wrong and far exceeds the robotic and somewhat removed Dr. Manhattan in this arena.
In true Moore form the story abounds with sub plots – Night Owl’s personal struggle, Silk Spectre II’s coming of age, Rorschbach’s demons. Set this within the context of a Cold War spiraling down toward nuclear apocalypse and you have a movie that goes places and keeps you in suspense.
Some conservatives such as Debbie Schlussel have criticized Watchman for its violence. That it is violent is obvious, but the context of the movie set around an extremely dark universe where evil incarnates itself in the worst possible way makes much of this violence necessary. The fact that violence is fought head on and defeated by the clearly conservative super hero Rorschbach (I couldn’t help laughing at his personal rant against leftist thinking) more than atones for such depictions. A definite must see.
Ranking: 8.5/10.
Monday, April 13, 2009
An Intellectual Odyssey
I have always viewed my life as somewhat of an intellectual odyssey. Even as a pre-schooler I can remember being enthralled by a world of knowledge that seemed so rich and open to investigation. While my journey into the realms of learning has changed direction on many an occasion, its well heeled sense of growth has nourished my being in the best possible manner. I am better for it despite the constant struggle for individual success , and in this realization I take the utmost solace.
In the complete sense I am a very fortunate person in that I grew up in a family that both encouraged and valued education. My grandfather and father both sought enrichment in self study and encouraged me from my infancy to follow along such lines. Grandpa Hymie in particular was an all-around seeker for the truth. His library was filled with books on history, the bible, photography, electronics, far eastern culture and woodworking amongst others and his keen mind lusted to tangle the mosaic of human epistemology. He saw no limits to his pursuits and was a free thinker in the true spirit of the phrase. There was a passion that eclipsed his persona, a rare energy that I have sadly seen in only a handful of people that I have ever encountered so far. Sadly he passed away just after my 7th birthday but his enduring take on life provided the spark for my own journey.
They say that you don’t remember much from such an early age but I have recollections of my numerous visits to his apartment those times on his veranda when he told me about his experiences in World War II (he fought with the South African Allied troops in Abyssinia), his study of Ancient Civilizations and his work with tropical fish. I remember vividly a two-foot sized replica of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ that he had displayed on a shelf in a room filled with art work (most of it his own…he was an accomplished amateur painter as well).
The intensity of the Thinker figure, engaged in nothing more than the delicate art of contemplation, resonated with me as it defined the richness of what my Grandpa’s life aspired to be. On a level I was driven to imitate not necessarily in content (as I could already see that some of our interest differed) but in the greater energies of learning, self-betterment and a cultivated appreciation of personal but universal reference.
Despite this gift of knowing my Grandpa there was much that haunted me. I was a sickly child in that I suffered from asthma a condition that first struck me severely at the age of three. My experience in Pretoria’s Andrew McColm Hospital where I was isolated from my parents and placed in an oxygen tent was gut wrenching and even now they provide some glaring early images from my early childhood that I would sooner forget. However my illness, twisted as it was, allowed me to retreat into a life of scholastic pleasure. I missed much formal schooling in the earlier grades but was reborn into a world that extended beyond the curriculum into that of the aether of history where the larger than life figures of Napoleon, Caesar and Churchill and others loomed from above. It was a world of the outwardly improbable bought into existence by my own desire to seek and grow. A world that I could tame with my very own pace as I read, absorbed, re-read, investigated but above all else.... imagined.
In the complete sense I am a very fortunate person in that I grew up in a family that both encouraged and valued education. My grandfather and father both sought enrichment in self study and encouraged me from my infancy to follow along such lines. Grandpa Hymie in particular was an all-around seeker for the truth. His library was filled with books on history, the bible, photography, electronics, far eastern culture and woodworking amongst others and his keen mind lusted to tangle the mosaic of human epistemology. He saw no limits to his pursuits and was a free thinker in the true spirit of the phrase. There was a passion that eclipsed his persona, a rare energy that I have sadly seen in only a handful of people that I have ever encountered so far. Sadly he passed away just after my 7th birthday but his enduring take on life provided the spark for my own journey.
They say that you don’t remember much from such an early age but I have recollections of my numerous visits to his apartment those times on his veranda when he told me about his experiences in World War II (he fought with the South African Allied troops in Abyssinia), his study of Ancient Civilizations and his work with tropical fish. I remember vividly a two-foot sized replica of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ that he had displayed on a shelf in a room filled with art work (most of it his own…he was an accomplished amateur painter as well).
The intensity of the Thinker figure, engaged in nothing more than the delicate art of contemplation, resonated with me as it defined the richness of what my Grandpa’s life aspired to be. On a level I was driven to imitate not necessarily in content (as I could already see that some of our interest differed) but in the greater energies of learning, self-betterment and a cultivated appreciation of personal but universal reference.
Despite this gift of knowing my Grandpa there was much that haunted me. I was a sickly child in that I suffered from asthma a condition that first struck me severely at the age of three. My experience in Pretoria’s Andrew McColm Hospital where I was isolated from my parents and placed in an oxygen tent was gut wrenching and even now they provide some glaring early images from my early childhood that I would sooner forget. However my illness, twisted as it was, allowed me to retreat into a life of scholastic pleasure. I missed much formal schooling in the earlier grades but was reborn into a world that extended beyond the curriculum into that of the aether of history where the larger than life figures of Napoleon, Caesar and Churchill and others loomed from above. It was a world of the outwardly improbable bought into existence by my own desire to seek and grow. A world that I could tame with my very own pace as I read, absorbed, re-read, investigated but above all else.... imagined.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Winston Churchill on Socialism
In true Churchillian brilliance
........socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom. Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the object worship of the state. It will prescribe for every one where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go and what they may say. Socialism is an attack on the right to breathe freely. No socialist system can be established without a political police. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance
........socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom. Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the object worship of the state. It will prescribe for every one where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go and what they may say. Socialism is an attack on the right to breathe freely. No socialist system can be established without a political police. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance
Saturday, April 11, 2009
10 videos worth watching
1. Dennis Prager at UC Berkley
2. Chris Hitchens, Dennis Prager and Dinesh D'Souza debate G-d (one of 10 parts).
3.Sam Harris on Belief in G-d - his final reasoning is flawed but he makes some good points.
4. Roger Scruton on Liberty - An Oldie but a Goldie...I differ from Scruton on several issues but he is a keen mind in the truest sense.
5. Hitchens v Hitchens - The brothers debate G-d, Iraq and a few other sticking points.
6. Indoctrinate U - a must for all who oppose indoctrination at University to see and witness.
7. Physics in Trouble: Why the Public Should Care - Lee Smolin - Smolin takes on the groupthink around String Theory.
8. Lisa Randall on String Theory - Randall is of course a leading light in the subject especially in the field of 'Branes'.
9. Conservations on History with Victor Davis Hanson - Hanson is one of the greatest historical minds alive today (and a vigilant champion of Western Civilization). This is well worth watching.
10. Resurgence of Anti-Semitism in the 21st century - Very disturbing.
2. Chris Hitchens, Dennis Prager and Dinesh D'Souza debate G-d (one of 10 parts).
3.Sam Harris on Belief in G-d - his final reasoning is flawed but he makes some good points.
4. Roger Scruton on Liberty - An Oldie but a Goldie...I differ from Scruton on several issues but he is a keen mind in the truest sense.
5. Hitchens v Hitchens - The brothers debate G-d, Iraq and a few other sticking points.
6. Indoctrinate U - a must for all who oppose indoctrination at University to see and witness.
7. Physics in Trouble: Why the Public Should Care - Lee Smolin - Smolin takes on the groupthink around String Theory.
8. Lisa Randall on String Theory - Randall is of course a leading light in the subject especially in the field of 'Branes'.
9. Conservations on History with Victor Davis Hanson - Hanson is one of the greatest historical minds alive today (and a vigilant champion of Western Civilization). This is well worth watching.
10. Resurgence of Anti-Semitism in the 21st century - Very disturbing.
Mislabelling in Israeli politics
The following is a reprint of an excellent article.
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25310897-7583,00.html
OVER the next year or two, probably for as long as it stays in office, there will be a sustained effort to demonise the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The speech last week by Netanyahu's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in which he explicitly supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute but was reported as if he had said the opposite, is a case in point.
But even the way Netanyahu and Lieberman are typically described is entirely misleading. Netanyahu, not least in the Australian media, is almost always called "hardline right-wing". This would be the equivalent of calling the government of John Howard or Malcolm Fraser hardline right-wing, or calling the recently defeated government of Helen Clark in New Zealand hardline left-wing.
Netanyahu leads the Likud Party, which has been Israel's main centre-right party for decades. Under Menachem Begin in the 1970s, a Likud government gave up the whole of the Sinai desert in a land-for-peace deal with Egypt. Netanyahu, who has held many portoflios in previous governments, has as part of his coalition the left-of-centre Israeli Labour Party.
It would be much more honest to label Netanyahu's Government centre-right. This question of language is of the first order of importance. The ancient Chinese sage Confucius, when asked what would be the main political reform he would carry out if he achieved state power, replied: "It would certainly be to rectify the names." Israel's enemies, heirs to ancient anti-Semitism, are on a relentless quest to delegitimise and demonise it at every point. Mislabelling a democratic government of mainstream, democratic politicians as hardline right-wing is an important part of that quest.
What about Lieberman's speech? Lieberman is the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party. Lieberman too has previously been a cabinet minister. His party is mainly supported by Russian immigrants. It is fair to say he is to the right of Netanyahu but not fair to say he is an extremist. His policies mix a hard line on national security with social liberalism.
Russian Israelis often have a somewhat attenuated connection to Orthodox Judaism and can therefore be disadvantaged in rulings concerning conversion, marriage and other family matters, where religious parties have considerable influence. There is nothing sinister about this. It is the sort of debate Ireland had in recent years about allowing divorce. Lieberman wants to secularise these matters.
On security issues his sharp language marks him out as a polarising figure. But there is no doubt he is a democrat and, by broader Middle East standards, an extremely mild politician. He is most famous for wanting all Israelis to take a loyalty oath. This is seen as insulting to Israel's Arab citizens. I think it is an unhelpful and unnecessarily polarising proposal, but it is not the black hand of fascism.
Similarly, Lieberman wants all Israelis to be forced to undertake military or other national service. This is also seen as hitting at Israeli Arabs, as they may not want to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces. But Lieberman also wants this provision enforced on Orthodox Jews, who do not do military service either.
Further, in Lieberman's vision of a two-state solution he is keen to transfer Israeli Arab towns into a Palestinian state. Some territorial swap is inevitable if a two-state solution is to work, but presumably no Israeli citizen would be forced to give up their citizenship, whatever happened to the land underneath them. So Lieberman's proposal cannot remotely be classed as ethnic cleansing or anything like it.
I think Lieberman's rhetoric is often unhelpful to Israel and exacerbates problems, but it is certainly not unreasonable for Lieberman to want to debate the civic identity of Israel's Arab citizens.
In his initial speech as Foreign Minister on March 30, Lieberman said the Annapolis peace process, which has been running for the past couple of years, is dead. But Lieberman fully committed himself to the road map negotiated and endorsed in 2002 by the US, the European Union, the UN and Russia, which also involves commitment to a two-state solution.
There is only one difference between the road map and Annapolis. Annapolis was based on the idea that the Israelis and Palestinians negotiate a final status agreement now on who would have what territory, and then one day the Palestinians will be able to form a government that can rule its own territories and provide proper security.
The road map, on the other hand, provided for reciprocity: that both the Palestinians and the Israelis had to undertake certain obligations along the way. Israel had to dismantle illegal Jewish settlements (that is, illegal under Israeli law) and prevent any territorial expansion in the existing settlements. (Lieberman is at times even critical of the previous government for not doing this.) The Palestinians had to form a functioning government and suppress terrorism.
When the Israelis withdrew unilaterally from Gaza, this was a kind of road test for Annapolis. But all they got, after a temporary ceasefire, was a constant barrage of rocket attacks. The Netanyahu Government is now inclined to stress reciprocity.
Indeed, in responding to Lieberman's remarks US spokesmen did all stress reciprocity.
Netanyahu, when in office previously, made a number of agreements that involved Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land and all of which had as their object a two-state solution. Like Lieberman, Netanyahu is committed to the road map, which has as its goal an independent Palestinian state. But this is dependent on the Palestinians forming an effective and sensible government and meaningfully renouncing terrorism.
This is completely out of the question at the moment because half the potential Palestinian state, Gaza, is ruled by the terrorist death cult Hamas. Despite the protestations of Hamas sympathisers in Australia, the Hamas leadership, the charter which it still upholds and all Hamas spokesmen say Hamas will never recognise Israel's right to exist or to occupy a single inch of territory. This is not the occupied territories we're talking about but Israel proper. Hamas has also said it will never give up terrorism. Hamas may one day change its mind on all this, but at the moment it is inconceivable that the Palestinians could meet their obligations under the road map. That rules out a Palestinian state for the moment.
It remains an ambition of the vast majority of Israelis that they can live in peace beside a peaceful neighbour, both behind agreed borders. In saying this is not available at the moment, neither Netanyahu nor Lieberman rules it out forever in the future. The international press might at least get this basic fact right.
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25310897-7583,00.html
OVER the next year or two, probably for as long as it stays in office, there will be a sustained effort to demonise the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The speech last week by Netanyahu's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in which he explicitly supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute but was reported as if he had said the opposite, is a case in point.
But even the way Netanyahu and Lieberman are typically described is entirely misleading. Netanyahu, not least in the Australian media, is almost always called "hardline right-wing". This would be the equivalent of calling the government of John Howard or Malcolm Fraser hardline right-wing, or calling the recently defeated government of Helen Clark in New Zealand hardline left-wing.
Netanyahu leads the Likud Party, which has been Israel's main centre-right party for decades. Under Menachem Begin in the 1970s, a Likud government gave up the whole of the Sinai desert in a land-for-peace deal with Egypt. Netanyahu, who has held many portoflios in previous governments, has as part of his coalition the left-of-centre Israeli Labour Party.
It would be much more honest to label Netanyahu's Government centre-right. This question of language is of the first order of importance. The ancient Chinese sage Confucius, when asked what would be the main political reform he would carry out if he achieved state power, replied: "It would certainly be to rectify the names." Israel's enemies, heirs to ancient anti-Semitism, are on a relentless quest to delegitimise and demonise it at every point. Mislabelling a democratic government of mainstream, democratic politicians as hardline right-wing is an important part of that quest.
What about Lieberman's speech? Lieberman is the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party. Lieberman too has previously been a cabinet minister. His party is mainly supported by Russian immigrants. It is fair to say he is to the right of Netanyahu but not fair to say he is an extremist. His policies mix a hard line on national security with social liberalism.
Russian Israelis often have a somewhat attenuated connection to Orthodox Judaism and can therefore be disadvantaged in rulings concerning conversion, marriage and other family matters, where religious parties have considerable influence. There is nothing sinister about this. It is the sort of debate Ireland had in recent years about allowing divorce. Lieberman wants to secularise these matters.
On security issues his sharp language marks him out as a polarising figure. But there is no doubt he is a democrat and, by broader Middle East standards, an extremely mild politician. He is most famous for wanting all Israelis to take a loyalty oath. This is seen as insulting to Israel's Arab citizens. I think it is an unhelpful and unnecessarily polarising proposal, but it is not the black hand of fascism.
Similarly, Lieberman wants all Israelis to be forced to undertake military or other national service. This is also seen as hitting at Israeli Arabs, as they may not want to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces. But Lieberman also wants this provision enforced on Orthodox Jews, who do not do military service either.
Further, in Lieberman's vision of a two-state solution he is keen to transfer Israeli Arab towns into a Palestinian state. Some territorial swap is inevitable if a two-state solution is to work, but presumably no Israeli citizen would be forced to give up their citizenship, whatever happened to the land underneath them. So Lieberman's proposal cannot remotely be classed as ethnic cleansing or anything like it.
I think Lieberman's rhetoric is often unhelpful to Israel and exacerbates problems, but it is certainly not unreasonable for Lieberman to want to debate the civic identity of Israel's Arab citizens.
In his initial speech as Foreign Minister on March 30, Lieberman said the Annapolis peace process, which has been running for the past couple of years, is dead. But Lieberman fully committed himself to the road map negotiated and endorsed in 2002 by the US, the European Union, the UN and Russia, which also involves commitment to a two-state solution.
There is only one difference between the road map and Annapolis. Annapolis was based on the idea that the Israelis and Palestinians negotiate a final status agreement now on who would have what territory, and then one day the Palestinians will be able to form a government that can rule its own territories and provide proper security.
The road map, on the other hand, provided for reciprocity: that both the Palestinians and the Israelis had to undertake certain obligations along the way. Israel had to dismantle illegal Jewish settlements (that is, illegal under Israeli law) and prevent any territorial expansion in the existing settlements. (Lieberman is at times even critical of the previous government for not doing this.) The Palestinians had to form a functioning government and suppress terrorism.
When the Israelis withdrew unilaterally from Gaza, this was a kind of road test for Annapolis. But all they got, after a temporary ceasefire, was a constant barrage of rocket attacks. The Netanyahu Government is now inclined to stress reciprocity.
Indeed, in responding to Lieberman's remarks US spokesmen did all stress reciprocity.
Netanyahu, when in office previously, made a number of agreements that involved Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land and all of which had as their object a two-state solution. Like Lieberman, Netanyahu is committed to the road map, which has as its goal an independent Palestinian state. But this is dependent on the Palestinians forming an effective and sensible government and meaningfully renouncing terrorism.
This is completely out of the question at the moment because half the potential Palestinian state, Gaza, is ruled by the terrorist death cult Hamas. Despite the protestations of Hamas sympathisers in Australia, the Hamas leadership, the charter which it still upholds and all Hamas spokesmen say Hamas will never recognise Israel's right to exist or to occupy a single inch of territory. This is not the occupied territories we're talking about but Israel proper. Hamas has also said it will never give up terrorism. Hamas may one day change its mind on all this, but at the moment it is inconceivable that the Palestinians could meet their obligations under the road map. That rules out a Palestinian state for the moment.
It remains an ambition of the vast majority of Israelis that they can live in peace beside a peaceful neighbour, both behind agreed borders. In saying this is not available at the moment, neither Netanyahu nor Lieberman rules it out forever in the future. The international press might at least get this basic fact right.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Teaching Evolution
I have evolved considerably as a teacher since my first school year back in 2002/2003. While I still champion (and always will) high standards and the cultivation of a solid work ethic in my students, my philosophical approach with respect to concept building and consolidation have changed remarkably. In physics for one I have introduced a light self-discovery approach that encourages the student to learn, via free inquiry and critical thought, the mainstays of the big idea. This is not to say that I have adopted a hands off approach - to the contrary I am very much an involved teacher - but I believe that it is important for the teacher to step back and guide rather than actively transmit. In other words the involvement from the educator should be more passive than active.
Judaic Struggle from within
I have struggled for most of my life to qualify my religious belief. I was born and remain proud of my Jewish identity, celebrate many aspects of the culture and relish in the study of its history. Indeed I continue as always to be a strong and passionate supporter of Israel and Jewish Nationalism. While at times I have flirted with benign forms of atheism and deism such indulgence has never held me for too long as the reasonable arguments of theism have been too persuasive. Although I place much credence in science I reject the view espoused by Dawkins, Harris, Russell, Hitchens et al that belief in religion and logic is ultimately inconsistent with faith in a higher power. In fact I have had no problem entertaining both frameworks in my personal psyche.
My struggle though is at a deeper level and involves the step of consolidating my theistic belief with that of Judaism as a revealed religion. My attempts so far have not yielded the progress that I would have liked. Ultimately it seems I cannot accept the idea of revealed religion having any grounding at all. I am not convinced that many of the events described in the Torah (including the critical revelation at Sinai) even occurred and as a person of science I cannot give credence to miracles passed on from ancient times that seem to defy the established well documented Laws of Nature. I realize that there have been numerous arguments made through the ages to substantiate these miracles including a deference to a bygone ‘Age of Miracles’ but such reasoning seems to carry a ‘magic quality suffused with superstition ’ that is more akin to a primitive tribalism than to post-enlightenment reasoning. It is this hurdle that ultimately caused me to reject Orthodox Judaism and its emphasis on the 613 Commandments despite the fact that I have great respect for such organizations as Aish Hatorah and the various Lubavitch groups.
In short I don’t believe that their overall worldview, with its strict emphasis on both the written and Oral Torah as direct instruments from God, can be bought into the mix of the science-soft theism maxim that makes sense to me. A part of me wishes that it would as this seems to simplify life but I cannot lie to myself and believe what at the very end I cannot justify.
My struggle though is at a deeper level and involves the step of consolidating my theistic belief with that of Judaism as a revealed religion. My attempts so far have not yielded the progress that I would have liked. Ultimately it seems I cannot accept the idea of revealed religion having any grounding at all. I am not convinced that many of the events described in the Torah (including the critical revelation at Sinai) even occurred and as a person of science I cannot give credence to miracles passed on from ancient times that seem to defy the established well documented Laws of Nature. I realize that there have been numerous arguments made through the ages to substantiate these miracles including a deference to a bygone ‘Age of Miracles’ but such reasoning seems to carry a ‘magic quality suffused with superstition ’ that is more akin to a primitive tribalism than to post-enlightenment reasoning. It is this hurdle that ultimately caused me to reject Orthodox Judaism and its emphasis on the 613 Commandments despite the fact that I have great respect for such organizations as Aish Hatorah and the various Lubavitch groups.
In short I don’t believe that their overall worldview, with its strict emphasis on both the written and Oral Torah as direct instruments from God, can be bought into the mix of the science-soft theism maxim that makes sense to me. A part of me wishes that it would as this seems to simplify life but I cannot lie to myself and believe what at the very end I cannot justify.
Friday, March 20, 2009
In the News LIV
Israel negotiating release if Gilad Shalit
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/19/1003848/hamas-suspends-shalit-negotiations
Like most 'compromises' with the thugs at Hamas it will come at a high price for Israel...
George W Bush backs Obama's economic plans
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEr78MYVfCdk&refer=home
This shows great character by the former President...I doubt whether his opponents would have been so forthcoming if the situation were reversed.
Barack Obama gets down to some serious business...........Not
http://watching-tv.ew.com/2009/03/jay-leno-barack.html?iid=top25-Jay+Leno+lets+Barack+Obama+get+all+the+laughs+on+'The+Tonight+Show'+(it+wasn't+that+difficult)
What did they say about Nero fiddling while Rome burnt?
Chavez continues on his march toward dictatorship
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/959126.html
Surprise...surprise...he can't deal with the opposition
Meanwhile the Venezuelan ego met with another American useful idiot
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/20/news/LT-Venezuela-US.php
AIG bonuses to be recouped by taxes
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0320/breaking5.htm
One stupidity for another........
Could AIG be Obama's Katrina?
http://townhall.com/blog/g/e4f3a82e-ac32-47cf-83b3-e536d956567b?comments=true&commentsSortDirection=Descending
Something real to fear
Russia's military buildup.
Meanwhile it seems as though Putin might have met Reagan as a KGB agent...
Pakistan faces more problems from the Taliban.
More proof of the growing threat of Islamofascism.
Security lapse blamed for attack on Sri Lanka Cricket team
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/20/content_11041947.htm
Supporters of LTTE launch worldwide PR campaign again Sri Lankan government
Safe to say that the government is not amused...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5941602.ece
White farmers in Zimbabwe take last stand
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090320.ZIMBABWE20/TPStory/International
Why Whites continue to live in this ethnic cleansing environment is still anybody's bet?
Zuma charges may be dropped
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090320061221881C924610
Another thug and South Africa's next dictator will most likely walk free....
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/19/1003848/hamas-suspends-shalit-negotiations
Like most 'compromises' with the thugs at Hamas it will come at a high price for Israel...
George W Bush backs Obama's economic plans
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEr78MYVfCdk&refer=home
This shows great character by the former President...I doubt whether his opponents would have been so forthcoming if the situation were reversed.
Barack Obama gets down to some serious business...........Not
http://watching-tv.ew.com/2009/03/jay-leno-barack.html?iid=top25-Jay+Leno+lets+Barack+Obama+get+all+the+laughs+on+'The+Tonight+Show'+(it+wasn't+that+difficult)
What did they say about Nero fiddling while Rome burnt?
Chavez continues on his march toward dictatorship
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/959126.html
Surprise...surprise...he can't deal with the opposition
Meanwhile the Venezuelan ego met with another American useful idiot
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/20/news/LT-Venezuela-US.php
AIG bonuses to be recouped by taxes
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0320/breaking5.htm
One stupidity for another........
Could AIG be Obama's Katrina?
http://townhall.com/blog/g/e4f3a82e-ac32-47cf-83b3-e536d956567b?comments=true&commentsSortDirection=Descending
Something real to fear
Russia's military buildup.
Meanwhile it seems as though Putin might have met Reagan as a KGB agent...
Pakistan faces more problems from the Taliban.
More proof of the growing threat of Islamofascism.
Security lapse blamed for attack on Sri Lanka Cricket team
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/20/content_11041947.htm
Supporters of LTTE launch worldwide PR campaign again Sri Lankan government
Safe to say that the government is not amused...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5941602.ece
White farmers in Zimbabwe take last stand
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090320.ZIMBABWE20/TPStory/International
Why Whites continue to live in this ethnic cleansing environment is still anybody's bet?
Zuma charges may be dropped
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090320061221881C924610
Another thug and South Africa's next dictator will most likely walk free....
Thursday, March 19, 2009
50 Physics Ideas you really need to know
Joanne Baker's 50 Physics Ideas you really need to know is an excellent read and I urge all fans of Physics to get hold of a copy.
What are the fifty ideas? I have listed them below (not in order of importance)
Mach's principle
Newton's laws of motion
Kepler's laws
Newton's laws of gravitation
Conservation of energy
Simple harmonic motion
Hooke's law
Ideal gas law
Second law of thermodynamics
Absolute zero
Brownian motion
Chaos theory
Bernoulli equation
Newton's theory of colour
Huygen's principle
Snell's law
Bragg's law
Fraunhofer diffraction
Doppler effect
Ohm's Law
Fleming's right hand rule
Maxwell's equations
Planck's Law
Photoelectric effect
Schrodinger's wave equation
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Copenhagen interpretation
Schrodingers cat
The EPR paradox
Pauli's exclusion principle
Superconductivity
Rutherford's atom
Antimatter
Nuclear fission
Nuclear fusion
Standard model
Feynman diagrams
The God particle
String theory
Special relativity
General relativity
Black holes
Olber's paradox
Hubble's law
The big bang
Cosmic inflation
Dark matter
Cosmological constant
Fermi paradox
Anthropic principle
Pretty neat......Now how can I make use of all these ideas for a science literacy program?.........I wonder....
What are the fifty ideas? I have listed them below (not in order of importance)
Mach's principle
Newton's laws of motion
Kepler's laws
Newton's laws of gravitation
Conservation of energy
Simple harmonic motion
Hooke's law
Ideal gas law
Second law of thermodynamics
Absolute zero
Brownian motion
Chaos theory
Bernoulli equation
Newton's theory of colour
Huygen's principle
Snell's law
Bragg's law
Fraunhofer diffraction
Doppler effect
Ohm's Law
Fleming's right hand rule
Maxwell's equations
Planck's Law
Photoelectric effect
Schrodinger's wave equation
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Copenhagen interpretation
Schrodingers cat
The EPR paradox
Pauli's exclusion principle
Superconductivity
Rutherford's atom
Antimatter
Nuclear fission
Nuclear fusion
Standard model
Feynman diagrams
The God particle
String theory
Special relativity
General relativity
Black holes
Olber's paradox
Hubble's law
The big bang
Cosmic inflation
Dark matter
Cosmological constant
Fermi paradox
Anthropic principle
Pretty neat......Now how can I make use of all these ideas for a science literacy program?.........I wonder....
Sunday, March 08, 2009
The Left's Love Affair with Violence
The following is a list of organizations, endorsed by many on the left, that that have been responsible for mass genocide.
Chinese Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Khmer Rouge
Vietnamese Communist Party
Baath Party of Syria
Baath Party of Iraq
The National Socialist Party of Germany (Nazis)
Workers Party of Ethiopia
French Jacobins
Castro Regime
Worker’s Party of Korea
The following is a list of organizations, endorsed by many on the left, that that have been responsible for terror campaigns specifically directed at civilians.
PLO – Fatah
Hamas
Japanese Red Army
Italian Red Brigade
Black Panthers/Black Liberation Army
FARC/ELN
Baader Meinhof Gang
IRA
Action Directe
Basque ETA
DFLP
PFLP/PFLP-GC
Sandanistas
Mau Mau
Red Army Faction (RAF)
Weathermen
ANC – Military Wing
Anarchists of the 19th and 20th centuries
Symbionese Liberation Army
17 November Group
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
ZANU
Shining Path
Hezbollah
Chinese Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Khmer Rouge
Vietnamese Communist Party
Baath Party of Syria
Baath Party of Iraq
The National Socialist Party of Germany (Nazis)
Workers Party of Ethiopia
French Jacobins
Castro Regime
Worker’s Party of Korea
The following is a list of organizations, endorsed by many on the left, that that have been responsible for terror campaigns specifically directed at civilians.
PLO – Fatah
Hamas
Japanese Red Army
Italian Red Brigade
Black Panthers/Black Liberation Army
FARC/ELN
Baader Meinhof Gang
IRA
Action Directe
Basque ETA
DFLP
PFLP/PFLP-GC
Sandanistas
Mau Mau
Red Army Faction (RAF)
Weathermen
ANC – Military Wing
Anarchists of the 19th and 20th centuries
Symbionese Liberation Army
17 November Group
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
ZANU
Shining Path
Hezbollah
Saturday, March 07, 2009
In the News LIII
Dow has dropped 1500 points since Obama's inauguration
Many in business are seeing the President's actions as a war against Capitalism...for me its just silly economics...Keynesian style.
Jihad on facebook
Islamofacist outreach continues...what is worse is that the facebook administrators have done such a poor job in stopping it...
Gorbachev sets the record straight on Putin: Worst version of Communists
His actions in support of Iran and his clamping down of criticism in Russia add further weight to this assertion. For more om Putin's 'war' with the Ukraine read: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,505135,00.html
Rush Limbaugh is in the News once again: Rahm Emanuel may have indirectly given him a publicity boost
I am not a fan of Limbaugh (he is but he certainly has a way of giving it to his opponents......
Chavez - destroying the Venezuelan economy one-step at a time (while cheerleaders in American and Canadian left look on with approval).
Many in business are seeing the President's actions as a war against Capitalism...for me its just silly economics...Keynesian style.
Jihad on facebook
Islamofacist outreach continues...what is worse is that the facebook administrators have done such a poor job in stopping it...
Gorbachev sets the record straight on Putin: Worst version of Communists
His actions in support of Iran and his clamping down of criticism in Russia add further weight to this assertion. For more om Putin's 'war' with the Ukraine read: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,505135,00.html
Rush Limbaugh is in the News once again: Rahm Emanuel may have indirectly given him a publicity boost
I am not a fan of Limbaugh (he is but he certainly has a way of giving it to his opponents......
Chavez - destroying the Venezuelan economy one-step at a time (while cheerleaders in American and Canadian left look on with approval).
Monday, March 02, 2009
40 Greatest Chemists of All-Time
Just my Opinion....
1.Dmitri Mendeleyev - Russian - Devised the Periodic table of elements. Predicted that several more elements would be discovered.
2.Antoine Lavoisier - French - Showed that air is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. Disproved the old Theory of phlogiston and determined the nature of combustion. Lavoisier wrote the first modern book on chemistry and explained the law of conservation of matter.
3.Henry Cavendish - English - Showed that water could be produced from two gases. Discovered hydrogen.
4. Amedeo Avogadro - Italian - First to distinguish molecules from atoms. Developed Avogadro's Constant (The number of particles of a substance in a mole). Studied the effect of combining volumes.
5. Jons Jakob Berzelius - Swedish - Developed the symbols for many of the chemicals. Calculated the atomic weights accurately of many of them and discovered Selenium, Silicon and Thorium.
6. John Dalton - English - Developed an atomic theory of matter and explained the laws of partial pressure.
7. Robert Boyle - Irish - Studied gases and showed how Pressure and volume at constant mass were indirectly proportional to one another.
8. Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Jacques Charles - Both French - Studied gases. Showed that gas volume at constant pressure increases with Temperature.
9. Friederich Wöhler - German - Father of Organic Chemistry. He was the first chemist to synthesize an organic compound, Urea.
10. Carl Scheele - Swedish - Co-discover of oxygen with Joseph Priestley. Also discovered chlorine, manganese and molybdenum.
11. Marie Curie - Polish - Isolated radioactive elements radium and polonium.
12. Josiah Gibbs - American - Founder of Chemical Thermodynamics.
13. Jacobus van't Hoff - Dutch - Thermodynamicist. He was one of the earlier chemists to speak about the 3-D nature of molecules.
14. Frederick Sanger - English - Biochemist. Revealed the Amino sequence for insulin. Worked out methods for determining the molecular structure of nucleic acids. Two time Nobel Prize winner.
15. Humphry Davy - English - Showed the connection between electrochemistry and the elements. Discovered the elements Potassium, Sodium, Barium, Calcium and Magnesium amongst others.
16. Joseph Priestley - English - Oxygen co-discoverer. See Scheele.
17. Henri Le Chatelier - French - Developed principle that every change in a stable chemical equilibrium will result in a shift in the direction of the equilibrium to reduce the effects of the change.
18. Frederick Soddy - English - Introduced the isotope theory of elements.
19. Svante Arrhenius - Sweden - Established modern electrochemistry.
20. Germain Hess - Swiss/Russian - Introduced Hess's Law for determining the heat of reactions.
21.Wilhelm Ostwald - Latvian - Discovered Dilution law. Invented process to make nitric acid by oxidizing ammonia. He also developed a theory of colour.
22. Daniel Rutherford - Scottish - Discoverer of Nitrogen.
23. Friederich Kekulé - German - Organic Chemist. Described the ring structure of benzene.
24. Stanislao Cannizzaro - Italian - Established the use of Atomic weights in Chemical formulas and calculations.
25. Linus Pauling - American - Applied Quantum Theory to determine Chemical Structure (especially of proteins). Showed how electrons effect the formation of molecules.
26. Johannes Brønsted - Danish and Thomas Lowry - English - Independently introduced the Brønsted - Lowry definition of an acid as something that donates a proton and a base as something that accepts a proton.
27. Leo Baekland - Belgian/American - Father of the Plastics Industry.
28. William Ramsay - Scottish - Co-discovered Argon with Lord Rayleigh. Was first to identify, helium, neon, krypton and xenon.
29. Henri Moissan - French - Isolated fluorine. Invented the electric furnace. Discovered carborundum and produced artificial diamonds in a laboratory.
30. Theodore Richards - American - Performed extensive work on atomic weights to reveal the existence of isotopes.
31. Dorothy Hodgkin - English - Crystallographer. Used x-ray crystallography to reveal the structure of such molecules as penicillin and insulin.
32. Thomas Graham - Scottish - Developed Graham's Law of Diffusion. Founder of Colloidal Chemistry.
33. Fritz Haber - German - Invented the process to make ammonia from nitrogen in the air. Known as the Haber process. Invention allowed Germany to continue making explosives after World War I ban in spite of the blockade on the importation of nitrates.
34. Irving Langmuir - American. High Temperature chemist. Work lead to the development of the tungsten lamp. Also studied gases. Research in this field would have practical implications with respect to the use of atomic hydrogen in welding torches.
35. Peter Debye - Dutch - Worked as well on molecular structure. Pioneered x-ray powder photography.
36. Harold Urey - American - Isolated Heavy water and discovered deuterium.
37. Paul Flory - American - Leading figure in the field of Polymerization. Studied properties of plastics, ribbers and fibers.
38. William Perkin - English - Chemist noted for his work on dyes. Invented mauve.
39. George Washington Carver - American - Agricultural chemist. Research involved the synthesis of products from peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans.
40. François Raoult - French - Developed law which relates vapor pressure of a solution to the number of molecules of solute dissolved in it.
1.Dmitri Mendeleyev - Russian - Devised the Periodic table of elements. Predicted that several more elements would be discovered.
2.Antoine Lavoisier - French - Showed that air is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. Disproved the old Theory of phlogiston and determined the nature of combustion. Lavoisier wrote the first modern book on chemistry and explained the law of conservation of matter.
3.Henry Cavendish - English - Showed that water could be produced from two gases. Discovered hydrogen.
4. Amedeo Avogadro - Italian - First to distinguish molecules from atoms. Developed Avogadro's Constant (The number of particles of a substance in a mole). Studied the effect of combining volumes.
5. Jons Jakob Berzelius - Swedish - Developed the symbols for many of the chemicals. Calculated the atomic weights accurately of many of them and discovered Selenium, Silicon and Thorium.
6. John Dalton - English - Developed an atomic theory of matter and explained the laws of partial pressure.
7. Robert Boyle - Irish - Studied gases and showed how Pressure and volume at constant mass were indirectly proportional to one another.
8. Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Jacques Charles - Both French - Studied gases. Showed that gas volume at constant pressure increases with Temperature.
9. Friederich Wöhler - German - Father of Organic Chemistry. He was the first chemist to synthesize an organic compound, Urea.
10. Carl Scheele - Swedish - Co-discover of oxygen with Joseph Priestley. Also discovered chlorine, manganese and molybdenum.
11. Marie Curie - Polish - Isolated radioactive elements radium and polonium.
12. Josiah Gibbs - American - Founder of Chemical Thermodynamics.
13. Jacobus van't Hoff - Dutch - Thermodynamicist. He was one of the earlier chemists to speak about the 3-D nature of molecules.
14. Frederick Sanger - English - Biochemist. Revealed the Amino sequence for insulin. Worked out methods for determining the molecular structure of nucleic acids. Two time Nobel Prize winner.
15. Humphry Davy - English - Showed the connection between electrochemistry and the elements. Discovered the elements Potassium, Sodium, Barium, Calcium and Magnesium amongst others.
16. Joseph Priestley - English - Oxygen co-discoverer. See Scheele.
17. Henri Le Chatelier - French - Developed principle that every change in a stable chemical equilibrium will result in a shift in the direction of the equilibrium to reduce the effects of the change.
18. Frederick Soddy - English - Introduced the isotope theory of elements.
19. Svante Arrhenius - Sweden - Established modern electrochemistry.
20. Germain Hess - Swiss/Russian - Introduced Hess's Law for determining the heat of reactions.
21.Wilhelm Ostwald - Latvian - Discovered Dilution law. Invented process to make nitric acid by oxidizing ammonia. He also developed a theory of colour.
22. Daniel Rutherford - Scottish - Discoverer of Nitrogen.
23. Friederich Kekulé - German - Organic Chemist. Described the ring structure of benzene.
24. Stanislao Cannizzaro - Italian - Established the use of Atomic weights in Chemical formulas and calculations.
25. Linus Pauling - American - Applied Quantum Theory to determine Chemical Structure (especially of proteins). Showed how electrons effect the formation of molecules.
26. Johannes Brønsted - Danish and Thomas Lowry - English - Independently introduced the Brønsted - Lowry definition of an acid as something that donates a proton and a base as something that accepts a proton.
27. Leo Baekland - Belgian/American - Father of the Plastics Industry.
28. William Ramsay - Scottish - Co-discovered Argon with Lord Rayleigh. Was first to identify, helium, neon, krypton and xenon.
29. Henri Moissan - French - Isolated fluorine. Invented the electric furnace. Discovered carborundum and produced artificial diamonds in a laboratory.
30. Theodore Richards - American - Performed extensive work on atomic weights to reveal the existence of isotopes.
31. Dorothy Hodgkin - English - Crystallographer. Used x-ray crystallography to reveal the structure of such molecules as penicillin and insulin.
32. Thomas Graham - Scottish - Developed Graham's Law of Diffusion. Founder of Colloidal Chemistry.
33. Fritz Haber - German - Invented the process to make ammonia from nitrogen in the air. Known as the Haber process. Invention allowed Germany to continue making explosives after World War I ban in spite of the blockade on the importation of nitrates.
34. Irving Langmuir - American. High Temperature chemist. Work lead to the development of the tungsten lamp. Also studied gases. Research in this field would have practical implications with respect to the use of atomic hydrogen in welding torches.
35. Peter Debye - Dutch - Worked as well on molecular structure. Pioneered x-ray powder photography.
36. Harold Urey - American - Isolated Heavy water and discovered deuterium.
37. Paul Flory - American - Leading figure in the field of Polymerization. Studied properties of plastics, ribbers and fibers.
38. William Perkin - English - Chemist noted for his work on dyes. Invented mauve.
39. George Washington Carver - American - Agricultural chemist. Research involved the synthesis of products from peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans.
40. François Raoult - French - Developed law which relates vapor pressure of a solution to the number of molecules of solute dissolved in it.
Top Ten Dicken's Novels of All-Time
Just my Opinion...........
1. David Copperfield
2. Oliver Twist
3. A Tale of Two Cities
4. Great Expectations
5. Pickwick Papers
6. Nicholas Nickelby
7. The Mystery of Edwin Drood
8. A Christmas Carol
9. The Old Curiosity Shop
10. Bleak House
1. David Copperfield
2. Oliver Twist
3. A Tale of Two Cities
4. Great Expectations
5. Pickwick Papers
6. Nicholas Nickelby
7. The Mystery of Edwin Drood
8. A Christmas Carol
9. The Old Curiosity Shop
10. Bleak House
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
California in Decline
The worse part of all of this is that the leftists who control the state's politics still believe that high taxes is the solution...welcome to serfdom.
For the full article go to WSJ.
You thought Washington's stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California. The Golden State's deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal.
It's sad to watch. The Golden State -- which a decade ago was the booming technology capital of the world -- has been done in by two decades of chronic overspending, overregulating and a hyperprogressive tax code that exaggerates the impact on state revenues of economic boom and bust. Total state expenditures have grown to $145 billion in 2008 from $104 billion in 2003 and California now has the worst credit rating in the nation -- worse even than Louisiana's. It also has the nation's fourth highest unemployment rate of 9.3% (after Michigan, Rhode Island and South Carolina) and the second highest home foreclosure rate (after Nevada).
Roughly 1.4 million more nonimmigrant Americans have left California than entered over the last decade, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. California is suffering more than most states from the housing bust, but its politicians also showed less spending restraint during the boom.
To close the current deficit, the pols in Sacramento are nearing a deal that cuts spending by $15 billion and raises $14.2 billion in higher taxes on income, sales, gasoline and cars. Six years ago Mr. Schwarzenegger helped depose Governor Gray Davis by calling him "Car-taxula." Now he's agreed to double the same tax.
Mr. Schwarzenegger has won at least some concessions from Democrats, who run the most liberal legislature this side of Trenton. The budget deal contains a handful of useful tax breaks for job creation and the first public union workplace reforms in a decade; it also creates a new rainy day fund. These taxpayer victories wouldn't have been possible if Republicans in the legislature hadn't held out for them.
But the plan is still far short of the radical tax and spending surgery the state needs. It's loaded with short-term gimmicks -- such as $5 billion of borrowing from future lottery receipts and nearly $10 billion in one-time federal stimulus cash. Even proponents concede the plan doesn't balance spending and revenues 18 months from now.
For the full article go to WSJ.
You thought Washington's stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California. The Golden State's deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal.
It's sad to watch. The Golden State -- which a decade ago was the booming technology capital of the world -- has been done in by two decades of chronic overspending, overregulating and a hyperprogressive tax code that exaggerates the impact on state revenues of economic boom and bust. Total state expenditures have grown to $145 billion in 2008 from $104 billion in 2003 and California now has the worst credit rating in the nation -- worse even than Louisiana's. It also has the nation's fourth highest unemployment rate of 9.3% (after Michigan, Rhode Island and South Carolina) and the second highest home foreclosure rate (after Nevada).
Roughly 1.4 million more nonimmigrant Americans have left California than entered over the last decade, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. California is suffering more than most states from the housing bust, but its politicians also showed less spending restraint during the boom.
To close the current deficit, the pols in Sacramento are nearing a deal that cuts spending by $15 billion and raises $14.2 billion in higher taxes on income, sales, gasoline and cars. Six years ago Mr. Schwarzenegger helped depose Governor Gray Davis by calling him "Car-taxula." Now he's agreed to double the same tax.
Mr. Schwarzenegger has won at least some concessions from Democrats, who run the most liberal legislature this side of Trenton. The budget deal contains a handful of useful tax breaks for job creation and the first public union workplace reforms in a decade; it also creates a new rainy day fund. These taxpayer victories wouldn't have been possible if Republicans in the legislature hadn't held out for them.
But the plan is still far short of the radical tax and spending surgery the state needs. It's loaded with short-term gimmicks -- such as $5 billion of borrowing from future lottery receipts and nearly $10 billion in one-time federal stimulus cash. Even proponents concede the plan doesn't balance spending and revenues 18 months from now.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Definitions...What they should be....
Communism - An Equality of zeroes.
Capitalism - An Inequality of zeroes.
Democracy - Government by the elected mediocrity.
Fear - The nothing that terrifies us.
Film critic - A nobody's nobody.
Life - A state of confusion between birth and death.
Luck - Proof that randomness does not exist.
Project Manager - Person hired to create a false sense of organization.
Sleep - The last amateur sport.
Time - That ingredient that makes all things impossible.
War - The less hypocritical version of peace.
Mother - The woman who is always giving birth to you.
United Nations - Incompetence in numbers.
Politics - The sand box for those who don't play well with others.
Diamond - A man's worst friend.
Money - An entity with a pocket holding time measured in nanoseconds.
Food - The unifying property that makes us the nectar of the gods.
Sex drive - That aspect of our personality that fails to separate us from the animals.
Work - The price we feel we must pay.
Guilt - The ditch on the road to contentment.
Civilization - The end product of many centuries of disorganization.
Thought - The unfamiliar which we so fear.
Consultant - A Rolling stone gathering other people's moss.
Business Policy - An early proof of the march to chaos.
Committee decision - The broth spoilt by too many cooks.
Maverick - One who has chosen to think
Accountant - The matador sent out to destroy the creative bull.
Corporate lawyer - Individual who complicates the already complex.
Sales - To perjure for profit.
Executive - Those in charge of milking the cow.
New World Order - Same as the Old War order. Just different people in charge.
Bonus - The light that makes many hands work.
Gambling - Art of parting money from a fool.
Affirmative Action - Unnatural selection
Capitalism - An Inequality of zeroes.
Democracy - Government by the elected mediocrity.
Fear - The nothing that terrifies us.
Film critic - A nobody's nobody.
Life - A state of confusion between birth and death.
Luck - Proof that randomness does not exist.
Project Manager - Person hired to create a false sense of organization.
Sleep - The last amateur sport.
Time - That ingredient that makes all things impossible.
War - The less hypocritical version of peace.
Mother - The woman who is always giving birth to you.
United Nations - Incompetence in numbers.
Politics - The sand box for those who don't play well with others.
Diamond - A man's worst friend.
Money - An entity with a pocket holding time measured in nanoseconds.
Food - The unifying property that makes us the nectar of the gods.
Sex drive - That aspect of our personality that fails to separate us from the animals.
Work - The price we feel we must pay.
Guilt - The ditch on the road to contentment.
Civilization - The end product of many centuries of disorganization.
Thought - The unfamiliar which we so fear.
Consultant - A Rolling stone gathering other people's moss.
Business Policy - An early proof of the march to chaos.
Committee decision - The broth spoilt by too many cooks.
Maverick - One who has chosen to think
Accountant - The matador sent out to destroy the creative bull.
Corporate lawyer - Individual who complicates the already complex.
Sales - To perjure for profit.
Executive - Those in charge of milking the cow.
New World Order - Same as the Old War order. Just different people in charge.
Bonus - The light that makes many hands work.
Gambling - Art of parting money from a fool.
Affirmative Action - Unnatural selection
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)