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In Italy, Oil Power Shifts to Coal

Apr 22nd, 2008
by Dan.
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Reuters reports that one of Italy’s electricity producers is shifting its power plant from oil to coal. The move is sparking protests, even though Enel has promised to use clean coal technologies.

Enel, like many electricity companies, says it has little choice but to build coal plants to replace aging infrastructure, particularly in countries like Italy, which prohibit nuclear power. Fuel costs have risen 151 percent since 1996, and Italians pay the highest electricity costs in Europe.

Italy shot itself in the foot when they banned nuclear power. Now that oil is over $110 with no apparent break in demand or supply soon, coal is the cheapest alternative. If the World Wildlife Fund and other organizations don’t want coal power to grow, they need to lobby their government to lift the nuclear ban.

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Russia’s Involvement In Oil-For-Food Scandal

Mar 28th, 2008
by Dan.
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HT: Hot Air

The Times Online of the UK reports:

A UN official who held a pivotal post in the Oil-for-Food programme for Iraq has been exposed by a defector as a Russian spy who diverted almost half a billion dollars to top Russian officials in “one of the richest heists in world history”.

Read the whole thing to see why Russia was so adamant about not going into Iraq. Never attribute to stupidity what you can attribute to incentive.

Hot Air concludes:

The use of a spy to subvert the UN OFF program is a breathtakingly cynical and morbidly evil act by Russia. It would never have been discovered, either, without the invasion that toppled Saddam and exposed the OFF fraud in 2003. Russia, with its deliberate and official manipulation of the program, kept Saddam in power and made it necessary to have a military intervention. Had the UN nations actually abided by the sanctions regime, Saddam may well have either capitulated or grown weak enough internally for the Iraqis to take him out themselves.

Ouch. We could have used those five years back.

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Fitna Movie Relatively Tame

Mar 28th, 2008
by Dan.
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When Dutch legislator Geert Wilders announced he was going to publish a film about Islam, his Internet provider, Network Solutions, asked to see the film first. He said no, and they denied it access. The movie was copied to www.liveleak.com and hosted from there. Liveleak has since shut it down, having been threatened into submission, but the movie is now up at Google Video.

There are indeed some disturbing images: the beheading of an American by terrorists, the camera turning away as the audio continues; a woman in her burqa on her knees with an assault rife pushed into the back of her head; one of the 9/11 planes going into the World Trade Center, and pictures of maimed and beaten individuals. There are hate speeches from various imams and others, including the Iranian prime minister.

(more…)

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A Good Provocation

Mar 26th, 2008
by Dan.
1 comment

The AP reported Sunday that the Pope baptized Magdi Allam, a former Muslim who wrote against Islamic extremism. This morning the AP reported that a Jordanian Islamic Center condemned the act.

In an act of diplomacy, the Vatican’s newspaper announced: “There are no hostile intentions toward a great religion like that of Islam.” There may be no plans for the Swiss Guard to start an invasion any time soon, but the salvation of a soul is a hostile act against the gates of hell.

The Pope
photo credit: roblisameehan

I appreciate the act. Indeed, the local priest could have done the baptism. The Pope wanted the point of discussion: nobody should be executed for choosing Christianity.

It is an interesting example of Two Kingdoms philosophy, where God rules in both temporal and spiritual circles. The Pontiff is using the right-hand kingdom, the salvation of someone’s soul, to change attitudes and affect left-hand regimes on earth. It is a light hand on the moral rudder of society.

The Vatican should not need to borrow a page from the Bush presidency and say that moderate Islam is a religion of peace, or that the Vatican means no offense. It is almost a holy subterfuge, a little like Abraham passing his wife off as his sister, to ward off the knife so that more souls can be saved.

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Deliberately Picking Deaf Embryos

Mar 17th, 2008
by Dan.
1 comment

ABC News reports that the United Kingdom is taking up legislation that would make it illegal for IVF couples to choose which child among their embryos will be carried to term, depending on the results of the embryos’ genetic screening.

Discussion of the ban has brought up an interesting fact: deaf parents have been deliberately selecting potentially deaf children. I could possibly imagine how deaf parents may feel inadequate if they have a child who is hearing. This wouldn’t be the first time, though, where a child has different capabilities than his or her parents.

(more…)

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The Prince, The Media, and the Military

Feb 29th, 2008
by Dan.
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The discovery and publication of the whereabouts of Prince Harry of Wales involves interesting ethical issues on the part of the media and the military.

BBC reports that the British army will likely move Prince Harry out of Afghanistan for fear that he would become a prized target for the Taliban.

A famous personality in the military doesn’t have to be a liability. General George S. Patton led the First U.S. Army Group, a phantom force, to confuse the Germans as to the location and time of the Allied invasion in World War II. Of course, the nature of Patton’s celebrity was quite different than Prince Harry’s, through no fault of the prince’s.


photo credit: psd

Expecting the media not to publish is like asking a snake not to bite. They were bought off with special access to the prince, but the secret was going to get out. The press’s function is completely at odds with the military’s need not to let the enemy know what it is doing. That’s not to say they aren’t culpable; their job is to accurately report what is going on with as little regard to their personal worldview as possible. Oops.

The prince is a high-value target because the world has seen how Britannia treats its dead own. Everything shuts down and everyone lines the streets in mourning. It is a strategic advantage to lend to the right enemy. The decision to move the prince is likely the right one. The uniform confers only a sense of individual anonymity to the enemy.

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