Dreamer Easy

Posted another suck_it_and_see, this time in response to the Climate Sceptics Party brochure that came through the letterbox today. Most of their claims are just irrelevant ("Humans are 18% carbon... carbon dioxide is NOT a poisonous gas.") but there was one I'd never heard before: "Many other factors, such as solar activity, El Nino and lunar orbital cycles, significantly influence the weather and the world's climate."

Lunar orbital cycles?! Google as I might, I can't figure that one out. Anybody got the skinny? (Also, is my explanation clear enough?)

Election tomorrow, thank heavens. Remember, if you don't want a handout at the polling place, just smile and say "No thanks".

ETA: Interestingly, the brochure makes no mention of the hacked email controversy; I wonder if that's because the bit I debunked comes from the same place as the hacked emails? It'd be a bit cheeky to quote them as evidence on the one hand and dismiss them as liars on the other.

New South Wales: Gay adoption ban to stay

"The State Government has decided not to allow same-sex couples to adopt, ignoring a parliamentary inquiry that said changing the law would 'ensure the best interests of children'. The Government said yesterday there was insufficient community support to justify new legislation on the topic."

If you support gay adoption, please send a polite email to linda.burney@parliament.nsw.gov.au stating, "I support the right of same-sex couples to adopt", or similar. Doesn't have to be more than that basic statement. If you're in NSW, you can include your suburb or town and postcode. Feel free to pass this message on.

ETA: I got an auto answer asking me to email office@burney.minister.nsw.gov.au, so that's probably the best address to use.

I'm dubious about opinion pieces which paint an entire part of the political spectrum with one brush, which The Republican Party Is Turning Into A Cult, over at the Huffington Post, arguably does. But it's worth skipping over those exasperated opening paragraphs to the meat of the matter:

"The US is the only major industrialized country that does not provide regular healthcare to all its citizens. Instead, they are required to provide for themselves -- and just under 50 million people can't afford the insurance. As a result, 18,000 US citizens die every year needlessly, because they can't access the care they require. That's equivalent to six 9/11s, every year, year on year. Yet the Republicans have accused the Democrats who are trying to stop all this death by extending healthcare of being "killers" -- and they have successfully managed to put them on the defensive.

The Republicans want to defend the existing system, not least because they are given massive sums of money by the private medical firms who benefit from the deadly status quo. But they can't do so honestly: some 70 percent of Americans say it is "immoral" to retain a medical system that doesn't cover all citizens. So they have to invent lies to make any life-saving extension of healthcare sound depraved."

(Emphases mine.)

(Bet you wish you hadn't got me interested in this stuff now! Sorry, guys...)

ETA: That 18,000 figure is solid - it's from the Institute of Medicine. And, as the comments folks are leaving here are making clear to me, that's just part of the picture - even if you can afford some insurance, you're still likely to be looking at huge medical bills. No wonder (and that Huff Post op-ed should have acknowledged this) there's a consensus in US politics that this is wrong and needs fixing.)

Leaked documents confirm resident's fear of foul pulp mill: "The chemicals in pulp mill odours are some of the most objectionable smelling compounds known to science. The worst is methyl mercaptan, which smells like stale sewage. When we got out of the minibus in the car park [at a Swedish "world's best practice" pulp mill, Resource, Planning and Development Commission head] Julian Green very quickly became distressed - he couldn't breathe. I found the odour intensely objectionable, and within a matter of minutes, Julian Green was gasping and saying: 'For God's sake get me out of here.'" (The environment and neighbouring businesses aside - people are supposed to *work* in that?)

Double-blind review favours increased representation of female authors: when authors' names are removed from scientific papers being considered for publication, more women end up being published. (Thanks, dameruth!)

Can Psychiatrists Really "Cure" Homosexuality? "Masters and Johnson claimed to convert gays to heterosexuality in a 1979 book. But did they?" (In related news, Z and Vielpunkt are now proud gay parents.)

The first forty seconds of Zero Punctuation's review of a video game called "Too Human" outlines the case for the inherent superiority of polytheism. *smug*

In the name of the father - MPs flock to Jesus: "A new study shows federal MPs are invoking Christian beliefs with increasing frequency to justify their policies and articulate their personal values and visions for the nation." I question the researcher's apparent conclusion that 9/11 resulted in "erosion of the traditional view that political decision-making should be based on rational arguments rather than on religious faith or doctrine", though, as these are not mutually exclusive. I'll try to get hold of the journal article to get more specifics. In the meantime here's a sort of summary thing by the researcher.

Find My iPhone works, and it is awesome. A guy and his friends use GPS to recover his iPhone from a thief.

Help the RSPCA ban the use of sow stalls and farrowing crates in the pork industry by signing an online petition.

Belated news: that provision to expand Medicare coverage for contraceptives in the US got passed.

Netanyahu's 'secret plans' for expansion. Peachy.

US offered Guantánamo prisoner deal in return for silence about torture

Would it be reasonable to say that the mechanics of Israel's electoral system are a major obstruction to the peace process? If I'm understanding correctly what I'm reading in the press, the blunt proportional representation hands power to the fringes. It's a bit like those annoying situations in Australia where a single independent is suddenly calling the shots, just because they have the tie-breaking vote. Might Israelis, and the region, be better off with (for example) a bicameral system, or at any rate, some kind of electoral reform?

An email doing the rounds has a crafty Benjamin Netanyahu pwning a British interviewer on the topic of proportionality by bringing up the bombing of Dresden. Snopes describes it as "partly true", producing interviews from 2006 in which Netanyahu has indeed had an attack of tu quoque. Dresden seems like an odd example to bring up; for Britons, it's long been a subject of regret and controversy, and some commentators have branded it a war crime.

ETA: On the subject of Snopes: the claim that Obama has set aside millions to resettle hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the US is a lie.

Right then - now that I am suitably cushioned by alcohol, let's see where we're up to in the Middle East. (You guys have given me lots of links and thinks - I'll come back to them.)

At a Flash Point in Gaza, A Family's Deadly Ordeal - a report from today's Washington Post considers the legality of Israel's actions during Operation Cast Lead.

A thought-provoking opinion piece from an Israeli peace activist: Israel Must Stop Fanning the Flames That Will Consume Us. Makes a very interesting connection with the 2006 war with Lebanon. And also points out: "Israel, which is many times stronger than they [Palestinians] are, has tremendous power to control the level of violence in the conflict as a whole. As such, it can also have a profound influence on calming the conflict and extricating both sides from its cycle of destruction."

Hamas tried to hijack ambulances during Gaza war. This is worth reading just for the awesome bottle of the Red Crescent ambulance driver, caught between Hamas thugs and Israeli snipers. Also gives a general picture of the mess, including Hamas' retaliation against alleged collaborators, its slipping popularity, and the forthcoming Israeli election. The BBC has more on Hamas' loss of support. (Or is this just wishful thinking?)

Hamas claims it's still smuggling in weapons. Certainly the tunnels were open for business as soon as the killing stopped.

Meanwhile, politics complicates efforts to rebuild.

A former European Commissioner suggests some ways forward - include Hamas and also nearby countries in talks; complete the withdrawal of settlements from the West Bank.

Obama's administration intend to "actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace".

I'd like to close on a bleakly humorous note with a Guardian columnist's suggestion that the BBC's refusal to screen a charity appeal for Gaza from the Disasters Emergency Committee, is timidity resulting from the Jonathan Ross - Russell Brand fuckup.

Obama urges Israel open Gaza crossings to aid

Under the border with Egypt, Gaza's smugglers return to work.

(tbh I'm not clear on why Israel blockaded Gaza in the first place, nor why it has maintained the blockade. As a military tactic, it's an obvious flop.)

UN fears 'systematic war crimes' during Gaza offensive

Shooting and shelling go on in Gaza, ceasefire or not. "We are a strong people. We are still alive, but nothing has changed. We are still shooting at them and they are still shooting at us. The borders are still closed, and we cannot leave. I think we will go on like this for ever." :(

Remember those icon, t-shirts, etc, which just said "01.20.09"?