Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

I've blogged about my concerns regarding climate change before. Now a recent incident involving the Climate Research Unit located at the University of East Anglia has revealed to the world that the data and methodology used by that institution to create reports intended inform policymakers was corrupt, spurious and deeply flawed - as were the conclusions in those reports.

I was tipped to this by John Gormely on his radio show today where he was interviewing Kate McMillan, author of the weblog "Small Dead Animals". Kate has done a superb job of gathering the most useful links in this emerging story under the ongoing title - "The Sound of All Hell Breaking Loose". If you care at all about the Earth and our economic and political future you need to read up on this - and then remember it at the next election, and the one after that, and the one after that.

The real tragedy in all of this will be the huge damage done to the scientific community in general. If it results in a "cry wolf" response from the public world-wide (as I suspect it will) then I can safely predict humanity will fall victim to a true catastrophe soon - even though we will likely be warned about it. We just won't believe the messenger.

The image linked to this post is not the property of the author and is used without permission with purely illustrative intent and with no intent to defraud or injure the original owner.

In Cars

For those of you who recognized my borrowed title as belonging to the lyrics of Gary Numan's semi-hit "Cars", congrats.

I have been fascinated with cars since my very earliest memories. I dreamed of owning the muscle cars of my youth in the '70's - Burt Reynolds' Trans Am, Steve McQueen's Mustang, and the Challenger from the cult classic "Vanishing Point". I have collected Car and Driver and Road & Track mags for years. Once, I was moments away from purchasing $5000 worth of Snap-On automotive tools and beginning a career as an auto mechanic. My first workplace experiences were in service stations and I did the usual "grease monkey" jobs, oil changes, tire repairs and some minor repairs.

I didn't end up owning my dream cars (and my newest one is out of my reach financially) but it may be a moot point as the company that builds it may not exist as it does now in a very short while. While the facts are that GM, Ford and Chrysler are all in dire financial straits currently (Ford being the possible exception) it seems they will die, not because of their own mistakes, but because of the political baggage that will be attached to any attempt by the US government to bail them out.

The short version of this is that President Obama will (already has) attached caveats to the bailout package offered to the US automakers that will severely limit the ability of the executives to run their companies in an efficient and profitable manner. The insistence on demanding that the US companies meet fuel efficiency targets their competition will not be required to, incorporate new technologies before there is a profitable business case to do so and limit the choices they can make regarding how to use the bailout funds will inevitably result in business failure in any case. These issues have been reported elsewhere and are now public record. The recent resignation of the CEO of GM was the only response he could choose in the face of what the US government was demanding. Had he said "yes" to the bailout as offered he would have been unable to do his job effectively anyway. His choice was the honest one.

In addition the the roadblocks the US government is putting up in front of the automakers the leadership of the UAW and CAW have continued to insist that the cost of labor is not a problem for the US car industry. This is in spite of the fact that the huge disparity between the average wages of their members compared to the average wages of competitors' workers in the US is so great a grade 10 student in a Junior Achievement program could spot it as a HUGE problem.

I am now predicting the bankruptcy is inevitable for the US automakers. Even if deluded leadership is found who will accept the strictures of the bailout package the end result will be failure, albeit delayed failure. The sad truth is that this ultimate result will be more the fault if the US administration and the influence of special interest groups than because of the mistakes the US auto manufacturers have made. I will not blindly defend them. They have made serious errors in judgment over the course of their history and have had to deal with their self-delusional corporate culture, but the truth is that all three US companies had already made major changes and improvements before the economic meltdown took place. The evidence of this is certainly in Ford, which currently is still relatively solvent. Every new model GM has introduced in the last 5 years has been a meritorious design, including the Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu (both of which won "Car of the Year" in the two previous years). Even my beloved Cadillac CTS-V is considered a "world-class" luxury sports sedan capable of competing with anything in its class and price range.

The truth is that if the economic meltdown had not occurred it was becoming more and more likely that the US auto manufacturers would have begun to regain market share, rebuild their reputations and infuse the marketplace with exciting, innovative and worthy products. Ultimately we as consumers would have benefited with more choices of better vehicles at better prices in a more competitive marketplace. That future is all but a lost opportunity now.

Perhaps the US auto manufacturing industry will be able to rise from the ashes of the oncoming inferno that will consume them. There are historical precedences for companies being rebuilt by those who buy them, but this will most likely not be a "made in America" solution. The irony is that while President Obama is likely to flirt with some protectionist policies during his administration (and perhaps already has), in this case he seems content to throw one of his nations oldest and most storied industries to the wolves - even when there is evidence that they could still survive if aided appropriately.

For my part I'll be shopping for a lightly used GM product this spring. I like what I'm driving now, I just am wearing it out. Maybe this will be my last GM purchase. I hope not, but to me the future looks grim.

Obama

OK. He's now officially the 44th president of the USA. The first black American president. And I must admit he is also the most eloquent and engaging political public speaker I have heard in my lifetime. He's saying all of the right things. I pray he and his administration will also do the right things. And like many of my fellow Flatlanders, I sincerely hope his influence will rub off on our leaders here north of the 49th parallel.

But, I will still contend that salvation will not ultimately come to us from either 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or 24 Sussex Drive, or the UN or from any human agency.

Yet, I am hopeful that the new American president will be a leader who will exert his influence for the common good of our world. And to that end I will say, and pray, "Godspeed, President Obama."

I'll Remember

I'm not usually big on political happenings - my faith is in Someone else rather than political leaders - but I will remember November 4, 2008. Even as September 11, 2001 was a day when we all felt a horrible shift in our world, last night's results in the US Presidential election had the same pervasive impact, but this time in a positive way.

It may be fair to say that our world needs to grow beyond such seeming preoccupation with the USA, but it remains true that there still is no other nation in the world that has the same boundless potential to influence for good, or ill if it comes to that.

As I mentioned before, I have no faith in humanity, but I do have hope that when we are influenced by higher ideals, principals and morals we can rise to the occasion and do honor to God. And we can be better to each other.

Last night the USA shed a bit more of its dark past and took a further step into the light of the ideals its founders brilliantly entrenched into its founding document. Last night the hopes and dreams of so many who have worked and prayed and sacrificed to see a better day for themselves and their children took one step closer to being realized. Last night the differences on the outside of people everywhere became less important, and the ideals and hopes they share became more important.

Last night, I believe, real justice became just a bit more possible for our dear neighbours to the south.

Godspeed USA.

The Great "Climate Change" Debate

I have been skeptical for some time about the position the most strident proponents of "global warming" have taken, mostly due to the inordinate amount of effort they have expended to limit debate on the subject. When the rhetoric took on the tone of religious debate about three years ago, I was fairly convinced that we were being sold a bill of goods. When my wife began working for a major western Canadian university she told me that professors indicated to her that they had to write their research proposals with an intentional eye on keeping their lines of research within the sphere proscribed by the "green" science cabal - or at least avoid asking questions that might ruffle feathers - or else they ran the risk of not receiving the funding they need. When the lines of scientific research are constrained by what amounts to social and political policy - however well-intentioned it may be - then it has lost it's academic independence and, I would argue, much of its usefulness to humanity.

One of the writers who has consistently poked holes in the "global warming/climate change" conclusions and proposals is Patrick Bedard, a staff writer for Car and Driver (Yes, yes I can hear the cat-calls and hissing saying "Vested interest!" - SHHH CHILDREN! Listen and LEARN!). Mr Bedard is an engineer, and his mantra isn't "cars at any cost" it's more "does this add up?". If you take the time to survey a few of his articles you'll quickly come to see that he does his homework and he doesn't fudge the figures. Now his perspective is going mainstream thanks to a recent article by Lorne Gunter.

Of course, if one has been paying attention to stories on the fringes of the media and the subtle shifts in the rhetoric of the "green" movement, these revelations should come as no surprise. A recent report suggested that the climate change movement was heading for a "tough decade" because global temperatures were trending down, not up - a fact Gunter's article supports. And the label "global warming" has been shifted over recent months to "climate change" - a suitably non-specific moniker that can be interpreted in any fashion to fit the facts. It seems that political expediency, power and money have co-opted the science community, the media and our political leaders. And we probably shouldn't be surprised.

I am a Christian, and as such I am deeply concerned that we take seriously how we use God's creation. I believe we are charged with stewardship of this planet, and all places we may touch - but if we are to be able to do this we need truth in the information we use to help us make our decisions. We need scientists, academics and researchers who are politically, socially and economically independent so they can pursue the lines of investigation they want to without fear of reprisal or censure. And helping maintain and protect this independence must be the first and the constant goal we should pursue in science.

Sadly, most people want the "academic eggheads" to provide us with solutions that we can understand with eighth-grade education and that can be explained in 30 seconds by some "talking head" on the six-o-clock news. And we want solutions that will not require much from us. We are the common denominator in this power struggle and it is by and to our low expectations and selfish lifestyles that the arguments and policies of our leaders are shaped and directed. We are getting what we demand - just like angry, hungry babies. We should be getting what we need.

So my exhortation to the one or two of you who read this blog is this - do some more reading on this. Don't let me or others make up your mind for you. Question those who are sanctimoniously using their authority to dictate what questions may be asked and what answers may be accepted. And talk amongst yourselves. Then talk to your local politicians, write letters to the editors of newspapers, email the news directors of broadcast news, comment on the electronic news sites and share the info. Because - and here I agree wholeheartedly with the leaders of the "green" movement - we ALL need to get involved.

Up to this point there has been no real debate on this subject - it's high time we had one.

To Debate or Not To Debate

Simply put, I do not believe what we will experience in the so-called "leaders debate" will be of any use to anyone, except the TV networks and their advertising departments. If the debate is 1 hr (with commercials) that means we will see 44 minutes with 5 candidates (8.8 minutes per candidate). Even without commercials it will only allow 12 minutes per person, but we all know that what we will get will be an hour of poorly controlled mayhem. No one uses dictionaries anymore - we're just like Lewis Carroll's caterpillar, "When I use a word it means what I choose it to mean." "Debate" indeed!

At the risk of offending - I'm not quite sure who - neither M. Duceppe nor Ms. Mays has any business being in a national leaders debate. I'll not go into depth here, but I cannot vote for a candidate from either party in my riding (as far as I know at this time) so they are, in the strictest sense of this word, irrelevant.

Our political system has devolved into a media circus that can only communicate in 5 second sound bytes. Watch the debate if you want - I suggest taking two Excedrin beforehand to ward off the inevitable migraine it will produce - but remember this, the media has absolutely no interest in providing you with anything in the way of useful information. They just want you there to watch the ads and prop up their market share numbers.

As Liam Neeson said to Clint Eastwood in "The Dead Pool", "Bums on seats, luv. That's what it's all about."

Kicking Glass

I took a picture today of about a dozen glass containers sitting on the ground beside a Loraas recycling bin. I can't post it because my personal computer is "in the shop", but rest assured dear reader, (if you exist) I will post it soon. It is an image that should be used to indite and shame our provincial politicians.

Glass manufacturers have been recycling their product since the 1600's or even much earlier but we can't do that in Saskatchewan unless the containers we do deal with once contained either sugar-loaded drinks or alcoholic beverages.

Saskatchewan.
Can't.
Recycle.
Glass.

Morons can recycle glass - but not Saskatchewanites. We have 2 BILLION excess dollars in our provincial coffers that have not been budgeted to be spent on anything yet and we still can't recycle pickle jars. And our provincial members of the Fourth and Fifth Estates should also be ashamed because they are saying NOTHING about this.

If I even hear ONE person say anything about how it isn't "economically viable" to recycle general glass products at this time I'll go ballistic!. That is exactly the kind of thinking that has gotten us to the ecological crisis we now face. If we can't do the right thing because we can't AFFORD to do the right thing then we are officially screwed to a wholly breathtakingly new and frightening level.

So John Gormley et.al., before you claim to be "holding the politician's feet to the fire" let me hear you get our provincial Minister of the Environment on you radio show and ask him a couple of hardball questions about glass. And Premier Wall, before you go off spouting about how great we are in Flatland and how we're ready to move into the future let's see if you and your cabinet can figure out how to do something Europeans have been doing since before Samuel de Champlain discovered how bad the black flies were in northern Ontario.

'Nuff said.

Indirect Affirmation

Thanks to my friend and brother in Christ, Rick, I have discovered that my thoughts on the issue of the legal redefinition of marriage are not mine alone. As this article states, even our brothers and sisters in the USA are beginning to see that the changes they were told not to fear coming to pass are now arriving at their doorsteps.

I may not be as eloquent, or as lucid, but it's nice to discover that I seem to have read my Bible correctly, and also understood the current culture reasonably well. What I have also deduced is that, in terms of social shifts and new cultural norms, Canada is ahead of the USA. The conventional wisdom when I was in my teens was that culturally, economically, socially and politically Canada was always a decade or so behind the USA.

Much has changed it seems, but it may be a dubious honor to be the winners in this current race towards the "brave new world".

Shalom

On the Road to Forgiveness

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has set Canada on the road to finding forgiveness between First Nations People and the culture (our culture) that has dominated and damaged them for so long. The range of reaction to his apology on our behalf read in the House of Commons yesterday was to be expected. Thankfully, even the most negative reactions I have heard so far have at least acknowledged the open honesty of Harpers words, even if some could not bring themselves to accept them, yet.

It is now that the Gospel has a real chance to influence the path our country will take in the coming months and years. Colossians 3:13 says in part, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

We have an example, a model, a benchmark to reach for in our pursuit of forgiveness and reconciliation. We need to pray for and work for nothing less.

If we do follow Christ's example our destination will be true Shalom.

In For a Penny, In For a Pound

My friend Rick often has a unique view of issues, especially as he's an American. Theology and politics can make for interesting debate and I think we've got one going at his blog.

Do obviously wealthy televangelists make you crazy? Me too! Do you think they deserve to be scrutinized? Me too! Should they lose their tax-exempt status? Seems just. What about shutting down tax-exemptions for all churches? Now that's Canadian!

Follow the dia-blog-alogue here!

Man, I just LOVES links!

*We're in yur web - debatin' yur ishyoos!*

In Search of the Free Lunch

At my friend Lee Distad's blog was a recent comment to an article he published that got my gears turning. You can read the article and the comments, including mine here.

I urge you to do your own investigation into the claims this company is making, if you want to be informed when the media "reports" on this subject. Sadly, you won't be getting useful information from most mass media outlets.

As promised, I am going to spend a few electrons in explaining the Biblical theological truth as to why we can't find an energy "free lunch" in the universe. As I do, remember that people have understood this truth for 5000 years or more, so this ain't news, folks.

In Genesis 3 we find the story of the fall. Humans mysteriously reject God's authority, in spite of having a relationship with Him and fully understanding their position in creation. Both men and women fail, there is no gender bias here unless you want to read it in. Both knew what they were doing was wrong.

God's response is gracious. Instead of wiping the slate clean and starting over, or not starting at all, He allows for hope, but there are immediate consequences. In Genesis 2 God made humans the "stewards" of the created earth. It was ours to care for in partnership with God, and it was easy work because our relationship with God was righteous, and thus our relationship with creation was righteous, too.

The fall and the introduction of sin created a series of events that changed all of that, resulting in humanity's relationship with God and the natural created order being broken. Nature is no longer our partner in life. We are at odds with the universe. But we are still the stewards of earth, though our job has become much, much harder.

In Genesis 2 we are in the garden with a purpose for the garden - "to work it and take care of it". After the fall only "painful toil" will garner us what we need to survive.

Unlike the media image of the "stereotypical evangelical", I'm not an anti-ecology guy. I am deeply concerned for the earth and I am upset by what we do to it. My family met and exceeded the "one ton challenge" and we still seek ways to do better. But I also have no illusions as to whether or not we can come to some Utopian point where we are in complete harmony with nature. Nature isn't even in complete harmony with itself. If there were no humans on the face of the Earth natural pathogens would wipe out massive populations of plant and animal life all on their own. Weather patterns, huge storms, forest and grassland fires, volcanic activity and other geological and climate events would shatter vast eco-systems and destroy natural habitats. Imbalances in animal, plant, bird, fish, reptile and microbe populations would spell doom for thousands of species. In truth, natural processes have brought many, many more species of plants and animals to extinction than humans have in our entire history.

Before we hear the argument that "natural processes" work and that "death" is part of life I must remind you that the Christian, and the more ancient Jewish understanding is that death is bad. That death can serve any purpose that appears to be good is a miracle of God.

Now all of this is no justification for the squandering of natural resources nor the raping of the earth's riches. And humanity will have to answer for that, of that I am most sure. But the path to shalom (which means essentially the "perfectly balanced life" or "true peace") goes directly through our relationships, firstly with God, then one another then the rest of the world. As long as our sinful greed, fear, violence and mistrust are prevalent, any attempts to heal our broken relationship with nature are doomed to ultimate failure.

The truth is that if we were to choose to live in a world where the one rule was to love others - to make a conscious choice of the will to choose the true good for others, all others - our ecological problems would be few.

My hope for the ecology and for humanity rests in Christ. The Bible says "God so loved the world". My faith is in the One who loves everything, crabs and cheetahs, sagebrush and sycamores, turtles and tigers, dolphins and dung beetles - and us. I know that when we live our lives in love with Jesus we will love what He loves - and the more of us who do, the more of us there will be to change the way we relate to the world and it's natural beauty and resources.

We won't find an energy "free lunch" that will allow us to continue to live self-indulgent lives of leisure and indifference. If you really think about it, such a discovery would spell our ultimate doom as the only possible destination for humanity at the end of such a road would be a world so decadent and corrupt that it would implode.

The irony is that Jesus is the "free lunch" we all need and are looking for. And He is free. But don't take my word for it. Read it for yourself.

Shalom

The Interconnectedness of Things

I was listening to The Current this morning on CBC and was struck my some interesting connections. The RCMP is about to open their new museum in Regina, not far from where your humble servant makes his home, and excitement for some is running high. This new facility will be a place that celebrates, educates about and promotes the storied history of Canada's national police force. Meanwhile the community of Houston, B.C. will be the site of a public inquiry into the death of a man in RCMP custody last October as covered by The Current this morning. And here in Saskatchewan, while the new museum opens, the RCMP detachment responsible for policing the community I live in has not been fully staffed since before we moved here 5 years ago, and they have not had a detachment commander for over 7 months as a direct result of decisions made by persons higher up the chain of command.

I am a great supporter of the RCMP. My parents told me that the first career I ever said I wanted to pursue was being an RCMP officer. It stuck for a while, too. I remember wanting to pursue this line even as late as Jr. High School. My Kruder Preference Test scores said I'd be best suited for social work, and the police are at the decidedly pointy end of that particular line of work. It amuses me that I'm in social work now, albeit in a different role. I even work fairly closely with the RCMP as I serve as the chairperson of our local Community Justice Committee.

That's why I'm going to say my piece here. One of the biggest flaws I've detected in the leadership of the RCMP in the past several years is their intense aversion to scrutiny and criticism. Let me just offer this one observation - when, now ex-Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli took his post several years ago I noticed one other news story about him besides the announcement. The story related how he purchased a (as I recall) $7000 pair of custom made dress riding boots during the first week of his service as Commissioner. I remember thinking that was a very interesting priority for the new leader of the RCMP to act on in the first days of his new job. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about Commissioner Zaccardelli's legacy, but I can safely say I'm not impressed.

There is something seriously wrong in the leadership echelon of our national police force. The hard-working, dedicated and utterly selfless members of the detachment that services our area are worked beyond their capacity, frustrated by their limited resources - especially human - and appear to be under supported by their leaders. In the meanwhile, we are dealing with serious issues in our town that could be addressed effectively by being able to forge creative initiatives with our local police, except they can't be here for us to work with because they are literally running from pillar to post trying to meet the demands placed on them. And tens of millions of dollars have been spent over the last 5 years or more on the new museum.

I'm frustrated, other leaders in our town are frustrated, I know members of the detachment are frustrated. And the message keeps coming from the top - "Everything's OK!"

The truth is always somewhere in between. What is disconcerting is that one would hope that the RCMP would be more interested in the truth, rather than the spin.

I'm involved in justice issues because through the Community Justice Committee I get the opportunity to work on restorative justice issues and initiatives. I get to contribute to my community and help raise the quality of life in our town and area. I get to work with people who are passionate about truth, justice, community and relationships. I get to work with the best police force I know of, the RCMP. But our police partners are suffering from a lack of visionary leadership and political support. Ultimately this comes down to us - that's the way democracy works. Ultimately if the national police force has a problem it is a political problem and thus our problem. And you should care because it's your money that pays for it.

I want to be happy about the fine new RCMP Museum in Regina. I want to whole-heartedly congratulate the force for the fine work they've done in creating such a wonderful resource for us to share. Only, I can't be fully happy, or completely whole-hearted in my response until some very serious issues get taken care of. Such is the interconnectedness of things sometimes. No pure joy - no pure sorrow. But it is worthwhile to work towards joy - more joy than we have right now.

Someone once said, "Wherever you go, there you are." I don't believe anyone is anywhere by choice. You don't have to believe what I do, but I know this, no one ever chose the time and place of their birth. When Israel was in exile in Babylon, God basically said the same thing to them, essentially, "As long as you are here, make things better."

We're working on a few things here, trying to make them better. Maybe if we do they will help make other things better here and elsewhere. Because we're all connected and this isn't a "local" issue, I'm praying that some of you will get involved, too. Write a letter asking why things are the way they are. Visit your local detachment and ask about the civilian volunteer programs the RCMP has. Get involved in your community - city and provincial police face the same challenges the RCMP do. If the RCMP prospers nationally we'll all benefit.

Shalom.

Get Out There and Vote

Not to put too fine a point on it, but GET OUT THERE AND VOTE. If democracy in Canada isn't working it's because we are all too laiden with Tim Horton's products to care. Marx called "religion the opiate of the people" but that was before double chocolate dipped donuts and on-line poker sites. We may not like what we have to choose from, but at least we still get to choose. If we give that up then we might as well get plugged into the Matrix and just let the system suck our energy 'till we die. I'm not going to advocate a particular political party, ideology or candidate in this forum because frankly I think the bigger issue is just getting YOU engaged with the process. It may well be that none of the parties or candidates really seems to reflect your issues and perspective, but that doesn't mean that you can't have access to them. But if you don't even get involved in choosing what hope can you have that there will be anyone to hear your voice?

Vote! Then you will have earned the right to truly vent spleen during the coming months.