Thursday, October 8, 2009

It Works in Europe, why not here?

http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/controlling_healthcare_costs_t.php

Yamal Tree Ring Summary

Great quote from Ross McKittrick:


I have been probing the arguments for global warming for well over a decade. In collaboration with a lot of excellent coauthors I have consistently found that when the layers get peeled back, what lies at the core is either flawed, misleading or simply non-existent. The surface temperature data is a contaminated mess with a significant warm bias, and as I have detailed elsewhere the IPCC fabricated evidence in its 2007 report to cover up the problem. Climate models are in gross disagreement with observations, and the discrepancy is growing with each passing year. The often-hyped claim that the modern climate has departed from natural variability depended on flawed statistical methods and low-quality data. The IPCC review process, of which I was a member last time, is nothing at all like what the public has been told: Conflicts of interest are endemic, critical evidence is systematically ignored and there are no effective checks and balances against bias or distortion.




Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Death of a Civilization

Death of a Civilization
by David Deming
Over the past several years we have learned that small groups of people can engage in mass suicide. In 1978, 918 members of the Peoples’ Temple led by Jim Jones perished after drinking poisoned koolaid. In 1997, 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult died after drugging themselves and tying plastic bags around their heads. Unfortunately, history also demonstrates that it is possible for an entire civilization to commit suicide by intentionally destroying the means of its subsistence.
In the early nineteenth century, the British colonized Southeast Africa. The native Xhosa resisted, but suffered repeated and humiliating defeats at the hands of British military forces. The Xhosa lost their independence and their native land became an English colony. The British adopted a policy of westernizing the Xhosa. They were to be converted to Christianity, and their native culture and religion was to be wiped out. Under the stress of being confronted by a superior and irresistible technology, the Xhosa developed feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. In this climate, a prophet appeared.

Diametrically Opposed?

Here are the two best articles I have read on the healthcare issue. They are long, and, to a large degree, on opposite sides of the issue. They will give your mind a real workout.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/08/29/050829fa_fact

http://www.stumblingontruth.com/

Tipping Point

http://reason.com/news/show/133325.html

We’re moving to a situation where more people receive money from the government than contribute to it. Hard to see that things will get better once we cross that point.

How Healthcare Killed my Father

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care

Unintended Consequences of Health Reform

http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDc3NDM0YjU1MmRiYzUxM2E5YTMwNzEzZGU5NDJmZmU=