Philosophical Aspects of the Climate Change Controversy

The Intellectual Conservative
"One might reasonably ask why Al Gore built a mansion on an oceanfront property, considering his dire pronouncements about rising sea levels? "
....

Photo from Doug Ross Journal

"In general, people confuse two concepts: expertise and objectivity. Having great intelligence or specialized knowledge isn't assurance against a person remaining unbiased in their public opinions. Persons of all stripes are generally loyal to their source of income. We shouldn't assume that every expert begins their search tabula rasa, that is to say, without an agenda or wholly independent of prevailing consensus.

"That is why appeals to credentials or expertise are never as conclusive as they ought to be.
....
"Often people who advocate for legislation curtailing greenhouse gasses offer us an argument ... “What if we don’t act, but Climate Change is a reality? When we know for sure it will be already too late.”

"But the point is easily reversible. We may pass unnecessary legislative measures that irretrievably harm economic and technological development, as well as forfeiting national sovereignty and restraining individual liberties. Consider everything carefully."


By the way, the rumor that the Gore's home in Nashville uses 20 times more electricity than average is not entirely true. Even if we have become un-enamored with the man, let's be truthful with our claims about him.

Flashback 2007: Senator Obama Calls For AG Gonzales To Step Down

Weasel Zippers 
Every time he refers to Gonzales just plug in “Holder” to see how apropos this is…  

Special Report Panel on Obama's Scandals

Video: Special Report Panel on Obama's Scandals 

 

You should know this: Why did British bystanders watch a soldier get hacked to death?

Daily Caller  "The recent attack on a British soldier by assassins wielding meat cleavers while bystanders looked on raises the question: “Why didn’t anyone try to help the victim?”
"Because British citizens are prohibited from carrying objects that could be used as “offensive weapons.”
"While it is well known that Brits cannot carry guns, a lesser known law prohibits any subject of the Queen from carrying a knife of consequence, pepper spray or a stun gun."
....
According to the United Kingdom government website, the online storehouse of British government regulations, it is illegal to:

• sell a knife of any kind (including cutlery and kitchen knives) to anyone under 18
• carry a knife in public without good reason – unless it’s a knife with a folding blade 3 inches long (7.62 cm) or less, eg a Swiss Army knife
• carry, buy or sell any type of banned knife
• use any knife in a threatening way (even a legal knife, such as a Swiss Army knife)

Mark Steyn; To the Slaughter; British lions come up lambs in Woolwich.
"In Woolwich, a large crowd of Londoners apparently volunteered to “shelter in place,” instinctively. Consider how that will play when these guys’ jihadist snuff video is being hawked around the bazaars of the Muslim world. Behold the infidels, content to be bystanders in their own fate."
...."And so life goes on, and it’s all so “mundane,” in Simon Jenkins’s word, that you barely notice when the Jewish school shuts up, and the gay bar, and the uncovered women no longer take a stroll too late in the day, and the publishing house that gets sent the manuscript for the next Satanic Verses decides it’s not worth the trouble. . . . But don’t worry, they’ll never defeat our “free speech” and our “way of life.”"

 

Telegraph publishes falsehoods about Qur'an in attempt to clear Islam of responsibility for London jihad murder/ US Networks help out

JihadWatch
"Note what Mehdi Hasan leaves out of his Qur'an quotation. "The Muslim faith does not turn men to terror: The two suspects in the Woolwich killing were violating the doctrine of their own holy book," by Mehdi Hasan in the Telegraph, May 23 (thanks to JH):

'Whosoever killeth a human being…” says the Koran, in the 32nd verse of its fifth chapter, “it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.”

 "Yes, let's be clear. Qur'an 5:32 actually says this:

For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! many of them became prodigals in the earth.

.... "Now we see why Mehdi Hasan left that part out of his Qur'an quote.
So it is permissible -- indeed, commanded -- to kill those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after "corruption in the land." Islam doesn't permit the killing of innocents, but this victim was a British soldier. He was, in the view of his killer, making war upon Allah and his messenger and spreading corruption in the land by fighting in Afghanistan. In that case, the killer's jihad was defensive, and Hasan's words about it being only permissible if sanctioned by a legitimate government are simply false in terms of Islamic law."
Emphasis added.

Network Evening Shows Don’t Name Islam in London Terror Attack "Over at ABC, on “World News with Diane Sawyer,” reporter Lama Hasan would only say British authorities were trying to find out including “whether or not one of [the attackers] is of African origin with ties to terrorist groups.” Of the one attacker’s video rant, Dian Sawyer said, “officials in the United States and the United Kingdom are studying the meaning of this tape.” Yes, it’s a real head-scratcher.
"By contrast, the U.K. media seems to be calling the attacks what they are. The BBC (no right-wing media shop) reported that one of the attackers told a witness, “I killed him because he kills Muslims over there and I am fed up that people kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The BBC also said that “The Muslim Council of Britain said the murder was ‘a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly,’” and noted that “At least two plots by Islamist extremists to kill soldiers in the UK have been foiled in recent years.” "