What Caught My Eye Today
Iran - The Obama administration said it will participate directly in group talks with Iran over its suspect nuclear program, another significant shift from President George W. Bush's policy toward a nation he labeled part of an axis of evil. The State Department said the United States would be at the table "from now on" when senior diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany meet with Iranian officials to discuss the nuclear issue.Now what possible good can come from talking? Where I come from, you only achieve peace by refusing to engage in any constructive dialogue with those that you don't see eye-to-eye with. "We believe that pursuing very careful engagement on a range of issues that affect our interests and the interests of the world with Iran makes sense," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. "There is nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon." That cinches it. Clinton and the rest of the Obama administration has completely taken leave of its senses. It's like they're trying to get along with the rest of the world. We're the freaking United States of American! We don't need no stinking world peace.
North Korea - Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied in Pyongyang to support Kim Jong Il as he embarks on his third term as leader and to celebrate a rocket launch that was criticized elsewhere as a violation of U.N. sanctions. The 67-year-old Kim rules the impoverished yet nuclear-armed North in his capacity as chief of the commission, which oversees the country's 1.2 million-member military — one of the world's largest. Analysts said the rocket launch was effectively a test of a ballistic missile designed to carry a warhead as far as the U.S. state of Alaska. North Korea insists it put a satellite into space, claims dismissed by the U.S. military and South Korea. In the only previous test flight of the Taepodong-2, in July 2006, the rocket blew apart 40 seconds after launch. I'm not saying that this latest development is a good thing, but you have to excuse my skepticism about anything coming out of North Korea. Bear in mind this is the same North Korea that reported Kim Jong Il shot multiple holes-in-one during his first try at golf and that the "Dear Leader" routinely shoots three or four holes-in-one per round. So yeah, I'm not sure that I'm going to lose much sleep over this.
Golf - Speaking of golf, while the "Dear Leader" regrettably won't be making an appearance at this year's Masters...again, there are some notables that should provide some entertainment. A four-times champion at Augusta National, Tiger Woods will be competing in his first major since his playoff victory at the U.S. Open in June before he was sidelined for eight months while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery. The world number one will be bidding to win his 15th major title. Anyone want to bet against him? Remember, Woods is playing with two fully functional knees this time around. That being said, there are some additional storylines worth following. Padraig Harrington will be bidding for a third consecutive major victory, Greg Norman returns to Augusta for the first time since 2002 and young guns such as American Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy are set to make their debuts at the Masters. On the off chance that you forgot, Harrington has won every major since Tiger won the U.S. Open, and has a shot at duplicating the Tiger Slam. I don't see him doing it, but the fact that Harrington is halfway there is rather impressive nonetheless.
Global Warming - Tinkering with Earth's climate to chill runaway global warming — a radical idea once dismissed out of hand — is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option. This ought to be good. The concept of using technology to purposely cool the climate is called geoengineering. More on this in a moment. The concern is that the United States and other nations won't slow global warming fast enough and that several "tipping points" could be fast approaching. Once such milestones are reached, such as complete loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic, it increases chances of "really intolerable consequences." That sounds rather ominous, doesn't it? Earth could be as close as six years away from the loss of Arctic summer sea ice, and that has the potential of altering the climate in unforeseen ways. Other elements that could dramatically speed up climate change include the release of frozen methane from thawing permafrost in Siberia, and more and bigger wildfires worldwide. Two of the possible geoengineering options include.
- Shooting sulfur particles (like those produced by power plants and volcanoes, for example) into the upper atmosphere. would be basically mimicking the effect of volcanoes in screening out the incoming sunlight.
Is it just me or does this seem an awful lot like a self-inflicted nuclear winter/ - Creating artificial "trees" — giant towers that suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it.
Anytime I see something in quotes, like "trees" I get a bit suspicious. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to keep the real trees we already have and let nature take care of the carbon dioxide the old fashioned way--naturally?
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