Astronomer royal urges Darwinists to adopt ‘peaceful coexistence’ with moderate groups to beat fundamentalism Martin Rees, the astronomer royal, has called on anti-religion campaigners to abandon their tactics and strive for “peaceful coexistence” with mainstream religious groups. Rees, one of the country’s most senior scientists, criticised those who pit science against religion and urged atheists to embrace the moderate strands of faith in opposing fundamentalism. The Cambridge cosmologist declared what he described as his “pallid and boring” view in an article in the New Statesman that amounts to a defence of his decision to accept a £1m prize given annually by the Templeton Foundation for work of a spiritual nature. The announcement that Rees had accepted drew criticism from some scientists who claim the prize undermines the integrity of science. Rees said some modern proponents of Darwinism took a “glaringly different stance to the Victorian naturalist who once commented that religion was too profound for the human intellect to comprehend. “We should all oppose – as Darwin did – views manifestly in conflict with the evidence, such as creationism … But we shouldn’t set up this debate as ‘religion v science’; instead we should strive for peaceful coexistence with at least the less dogmatic strands of mainstream religions, which number many excellent scientists among their adherents.” Rees, who is master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was among the first generation of scientists to contemplate the big bang. In subsequent work he has asked how large is physical reality. In the article, Rees, who does not believe in God , described himself as an “accommodationist” and “tribal Christian” who was happy to attend church services. “Campaigning against religion can be socially counter-productive. If teachers take the uncompromising line that God and Darwinism are irreconcilable, many young people raised in a faith-based culture will stick with their religion and be lost to science. Moreover, we need all the allies we can muster against fundamentalism – a palpable, perhaps growing concern,” he wrote. Martin Rees Atheism Creationism Christianity Religion Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …St. Louis Digging Out After Tornado Hits Airport. It’s All Perfectly Fine, Nothing Unusual Here.
April 24, 2011 No Comment(You might want to turn down the sound, the music is really loud.) They say nothing like this has ever happened before, but it looks like we’re going to have to get used to these unusually strong and frequent extreme weather events. It’s the new normal! Via Raw Story: Crews worked on Saturday to get St. Louis’ tornado-battered airport ready to reopen after it was hit by a roaring storm that also damaged hundreds of houses, tossed cars and knocked out power. Several injuries were reported but no fatalities. A preliminary count showed at least 750 homes were damaged, Governor Jay Nixon told reporters after touring the area by air. Fewer than 100 homes were completely destroyed, he said. Near a highway overpass about 10 miles from downtown St. Louis trees had been snapped like toothpicks, metal was twisted in piles, broken glass covered the ground. Among the wrecked building’s was 58-year-old chiropractor Dennis Baker’s office, which lost its roof in the storm. “The wind had whipped around inside with such force that it just tore everything apart,” Baker told Reuters, mopping his brow as he took a break from clearing debris. “We found the roof sitting in our parking lot and we just started in trying to get the important stuff out,” Baker said, saying he and his wife worked from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. using the light from a small flashlight. Governor Nixon declared a state of emergency and released state funds to help in the cleanup. He also spoke to President Barack Obama, who pledged his full support and assistance with recovery efforts, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
Continue reading …Retired Anchorman Apologizes for Presenting Both Sides of Global Warming Debate
April 24, 2011 No Comment
“For those of you who are confused [about global warming], you’re forgiven. It’s my fault.” So hysterically said retired Minneapolis anchorman Don Shelby during a speech at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, Tuesday: After spending 32 years in front of the camera as an anchorman and investigative reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Don Shelby wanted to apologize to people about climate change. Shelby was speaking at the University of Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday on what he called “The most important story since journalism began — global climate change.” His speech served as the kick-off for a two-day sustainability fair sponsored by UMD’s Office of Sustainability. The TV newsman’s mea culpa about having misreported climate change came after of years of treating the story the same as he would any other, requiring the views of two opposing parties, Shelby told the packed lecture hall of the chemistry building. But, he said, climate change is not a pro or con issue; it’s a scientific fact. And journalists who work to “balance” a story present an inaccurate picture when they give equal weight to sources promulgating inaccurate facts. “If I report a story on abuse of children, I don’t go out and interview an abuser on the up-side of child abuse,” he said as an example of how an effort to balance can go too far. Yes, global temperatures rising by about one degree Celsius in the past 160 years as we came out of a solar minimum, radically increased the population, and replaced grasslands and forests with cities, skyscrapers, concrete and asphalt is akin to abusing a child. There's therefore only one side to the story as to why the planet got hotter, and reporting the other far more logical one is like letting a child-abuser explain why beating kids is okay. This is what passes as critical thinking in journalism today. And this man was speaking to a group of college students filling their minds with the same lack of objectivity. Scarier still, for 32 years Shelby reported to the citizens of Minneapolis and St. Paul on television and radio. Makes you wonder what other biases the Emmy Award-winning “newsman” has been sharing all those years if he's willing to stand up in front of an audience and claim he was misrepresenting this issue. Having never lived in Minnesota and therefore not the slightest bit familiar with Shelby, I have no idea what his political leanings are beyond this bizarre mea culpa concerning global warming. For a clue, at his My Space page , Shelby lists one of his heroes as the perilously liberal Charles Kuralt, and claims the person he'd most like to interview is Osama bin Laden. This is a picture of him prominently displayed: Remind you of anything? (H/T NB reader Scott Taylor)
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Opera singer joined company in 1950s and is credited with developing CD format in order to listen to Beethoven’s Ninth Norio Ohga, the former head of Sony who gave up a career as an opera singer to join the fledgling company in the 1950s and is credited with spearheading the development of the CD, has died. Ohga died on Saturday due to multiple organ failure at the age of 81, Sony said. He was the president of the company from 1982 until 1995 and became chairman until 2000. He is credited with leading its expansion from hardware into content, including the music, film and video games business. Ohga studied to be an opera singer at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music before joining Sony, where it was recognised that his musical training and knowledge of sound and electrical engineering would benefit the firm. Later, his musical background led him to push for the 12cm CD format still in use today because it provided enough storage capacity for 75 minutes of music– he particularly wanted to enjoy Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on a single disc without interruption. Sony sold its first CD in 1982 and, within five years, sales of the format had overtaken those of LPs in Japan. Ohga’s specification has also shaped the format of subsequent home entertainment developments, including the MiniDisc and the DVD. Ohga also played a key role in Sony’s move into the music business with the acquisition of CBS Records, the 1989 deal to buy the Hollywood film studio Columbia Pictures, and the launch of Sony’s PlayStation videogames console. “By redefining Sony as a company encompassing both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed,” Howard Stinger, who took over as the Sony chairman in 2005, said in a statement. “It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony’s evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and games, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san’s foresight and vision.” Ohga remained a senior adviser to Sony at the time of his death. He was also the chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Sony Japan Jason Deans guardian.co.uk
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Four others injured in shooting after Jewish worshippers entered Joseph’s tomb in Nablus without Palestinian permission A Palestinian police officer shot an Israeli man dead and injured four other people after they entered a holy West Bank site without permission, the Israeli military said. The group of Jewish worshippers were shot at Joseph’s tomb, in the Palestinian city of Nablus. The man who died, who was in his mid-20s, was a nephew of Limor Livnat, a cabinet member with Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, officials said. The military said it had been notified by Palestinian officials that the civilians were shot by a policeman “who, after identifying suspicious movements, fired in their direction”. It said Israeli and Palestinian security officials would meet to investigate the shooting. The governor of Nablus, Jibreen al-Bakri, said the group of Israelis had entered the area “without co-ordinating it with the Palestinian Authority, as is the understanding with Israel”. He added: “We have detained the forces responsible for securing the area and are investigating what happened.” The Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, said a lack of co-ordination did not justify the shooting and called on the Palestinian Authority to “take all necessary measures” against those responsible. It was the first reported fatal attack on Israelis in the West Bank since the killing of five family members in the settlement of Itamar, in a nearby area in the central West Bank, last month. Palestinian territories Israel Middle East guardian.co.uk
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Two-day operation involving aircraft, boats, divers and robots will scour towns and areas up to 12 miles out to sea Thousands of Japanese troops are to resume the search for the bodies of thousands of people killed in last month’s earthquake and tsunami, although hopes are fading that many will be recovered. About 14,300 people are confirmed to have died in the 11 March disaster, but more than 12,000 others are unaccounted for. Many bodies are thought to have been swept out to sea or trapped beneath debris. Almost 25,000 troops will be deployed along with about 90 helicopters and planes, 50 boats and 100 navy divers to scour what remains of devastated towns as well as areas up to 12 miles out to sea. Two previous large-scale searches of the coast have turned up only a small number of victims. A defence ministry spokesman said he hoped more bodies would be recovered during the two-day operation now that water levels had dropped. “It’s been very difficult to find bodies because the area hit by the tsunamis is so large,” Ippo Maeyama told Associated Press. “Many bodies were also swept away.” The mission will be complicated by the task of handling badly decomposed remains. “You have to be very careful when touching the bodies because they quickly disintegrate,” Maeyama said. “We can’t tell their gender any more, let alone their age.” Robots from Japan and the US have begun searching for bodies in areas where military divers have been hindered by large volume of debris. One of the robots is equipped with sonar to search for underwater objects and a high-definition camera to distinguish between bodies and other objects. “It is difficult to search for bodies at the bottom of the sea with so much wreckage piled up, but we’d like to return as many bodies as possible to their grieving families,” Satoshi Tadokoro, who heads a group involved in the robot operation, told the Yomiuri Shimbun. The government plans to send six veterinarians into the exclusion zone near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to gauge the condition of hundreds of thousands of abandoned farm animals. Dead livestock will be sprayed with lime to prevent the spread of disease, and the dying will be put down with the permission of their owners, officials said. Farmers who fled their businesses at the start of the nuclear crisis left behind 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens. Last week the government declared areas within a 20-kilometre radius of the plant a no-go zone and said residents attempting to return without permission risked a fine or arrest. The government has offered no indication of when the estimated 80,000 people affected by the evacuation order will be able to return home permanently. Over the next month, one person from each affected household will be permitted to return for up to two hours at a time to collect valuables and other belongings. Japan disaster Japan Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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The pope celebrates Easter mass in St Peter’s Square and services are held in China, Iraq and Chernobyl
Continue reading …On BBC, Best-Selling Novelist Jodi Picoult Hisses at ‘Fringes’ Who Still Oppose Gay Agenda
April 24, 2011 No CommentOn Thursday, BBC News featured a Nick Higham interview with the best-selling American novelist Jodi Picoult. Her latest book, Sing You Home, is a tract for gay marriage and gay parenting. Entertainment Weekly
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Tribal leaders given 48 hours to strike deal with Libyan rebels and failure could lead to bloody conflict, says deputy minister Libyan forces have pulled back from their military siege of Misrata to let tribal leaders in the area attempt to negotiate a political resolution, according to the Libyan government. In an acknowledgement that loyalist troops had failed to take control of the city after two months of siege, the deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said: “The tactic of the army was to have a surgical strike, but with the [Nato] air strikes that doesn’t work.” He said tribal leaders had set a 48-hour deadline, due to expire on Monday night, to strike a deal with the rebels, who hold the port area of Misrata and who have made gains in the centre of the city in recent days. If the talks failed, the tribal leaders would launch a military assault on the rebel strongholds, Kaim said, which could be “very bloody”. Tribal leaders have not confirmed any intervention, and rebel leaders in Misrata are sceptical about the government’s statements. Kaim said the tribes were “trying to get in contact with the rebels”. Gaddafi’s forces have faced setbacks both in Misrata and the western mountains region, close to the Tunisian border. The government’s assertion that tribal leaders are ready to intervene politically and militarily may be an attempt to pressure rebels after the killing and capture of its troops, and to deflect attention from rebel gains. “The armed forces have ceased operations [in Misrata],” Kaim said in Tripoli. “The leaders of the tribes decided to do something to bring normal life back [to the city]. “Their main demand is that foreign fighters leave the town or surrender themselves to the army.” The regime maintains that rebel fighting in Misrata and the east of the country is being driven by al-Qaida and Hezbollah militants, a claim rejected by the opposition. Kaim said the tribal leaders’ wanted to reopen access to the port, which has been under the control of rebel forces since the siege began. The port served all Libyans, he said, but was of particular interest to tribes in the region south of Misrata. “The leaders of the tribes are determined to find a solution to this problem within 48 hours,” he said. “The other option is military intervention.” He claimed that the six tribes in the region could muster a force of 60,000 men to “liberate” the city. Any assault by the tribal forces would be ruthless, he claimed. “The tribal leaders are pushing to intervene militarily. We have to do our utmost to stop this. If the tribes move into the city, it will be very bloody and I hope to God we will avoid this.” Despite the Libyan government’s claim to have suspended military operations, residents and journalists in Misrata reported continued shelling on Saturday. Twenty-four people were killed and about 75 wounded, according to doctors. US Predator drones have begun flying sorties over Libya and hit a government rocket launcher in Misrata on Saturday. Last week, Nato air strikes took out three command and control centres around the city of Sirte, between Tripoli and Misrata, which is thought to have affected communications, adding to the government forces’ military setbacks. Kaim said the US deployment of Predator drones would result in more civilian deaths. “When President Obama was elected, I was one of those who celebrated” in the hope of a more peaceful world, he said. “But now I’m losing faith with him.” He said 18 warships from Nato countries were blockading the port of Tripoli, in violation of UN security council resolution 1973, which authorised military action to protect civilians. “They are preventing civilian materials reaching the Libyan people,” he said. Libya Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Row over comments by prime minister that appear to contradict his deputy’s policy on internships Nick Clegg laid bare his anger at David Cameron last night, accusing the Conservative party of peddling lies in the run-up to the referendum on the alternative vote on 5 May. The deputy prime minister included Cameron in an outspoken attack on his coalition partners, claiming they had run a “nasty” campaign to defeat the campaign for electoral reform. Clegg added that he hoped the “No to AV” campaign would prove to be the “death rattle” for the “rightwing elite”. He told the Independent on Sunday : “The yes campaign has had to fight a campaign against a headwind of lies, misinformation and deceit, and that’s been tough on them. When people lie about counting machines that won’t exist, about the rise of extremism under AV that won’t happen, about costs that won’t arise, we should call that. “This nasty no campaign, I hope, will prove to be the death rattle of a rightwing elite, a rightwing clique who want to keep things the way they are. That’s why they are lashing out.” Asked if he was referring to the prime minister, Clegg said: “Look, I include all those, and of course it includes the Conservative party, who like this nice little racket: they get a job for life and they waft into power and they don’t even need to bother to try to get a majority of people on side.” A source close to Clegg insisted that the comments were not a personal attack on Cameron and that the running of the coalition government would be unaffected. The criticism is seen by some in Westminster as an attempt by the Liberal Democrats to create clear dividing lines between the Lib Dems and the Tories in the run-up to the local elections. It follows yesterday’s public spat between Cameron and Clegg over internships which centred on comments made in an interview in which the prime minister admitted to recently giving work experience to a neighbour’s son. Cameron said he was “very relaxed” about the situation and that he would continue to help friends by offering their children internships. The remarks appeared to contradict a policy unveiled by Clegg earlier this month that seeks to reduce the number of unpaid internships, described by the deputy prime minister as a bar on social mobility. Yesterday, Clegg admitted he disagreed with Cameron. “I’m not relaxed about this at all,” he said. “It just can’t be right that plum internships are decided by who you know, not what you know.” AV referendum Nick Clegg David Cameron Social mobility Liberal-Conservative coalition Alternative vote Daniel Boffey guardian.co.uk
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