Crystal Dixon, an associate vice president of human resources at the University of Toledo, has been essentially fired (she refused to accept a demotion with a pay cut) for writing in a newspaper that homosexuality is wrong, and not the equivalent of race:
Dixon was placed on paid administrative leave after a column she wrote that appeared on the newspaper's Web site April 18 created controversy because of her views on homosexuality.
"As a Black woman ... I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are 'civil rights victims.' Here's why," Dixon wrote. "I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman. I am genetically and biologically a black woman ... Daily, thousands of homosexuals make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle ... "
According to a statement from UT spokesman Lawrence J. Burns, the university determined that there was "just cause" to fire Dixon.
"The public position Ms. Dixon took in the Toledo Free Press is in direct contradiction to University policies and procedures, as well as the institutional core values as defined in our strategic plan, and called into question her continued ability to lead a critical function within the administration as personnel actions or decisions taken in her capacity as associate vice president for human resources could be challenged or placed at risk," Burn said in the statement.
What happened strikes me as an example of viewpoint discrimination. I don't agree with Ms. Dixon's assessment of homosexuality, but she has as much right to her view as I do to mine.
Predictably, the case is generating wide debate on the merits, with many social conservatives such as Matt Barber (who emailed me) saying she is right, and others arguing that she has a specially protected religious right to her opinion. It is true that the Bible says certain things about homosexuality, but I don't see how the question of whether sexual orientation is analogous to race constitutes a religious opinion. Nor am I comfortable with the argument that ideas grounded in religion are more constitutionally protected than ideas which are not. (This is not a new issue here.)
The University of Toledo is a public institution, and they're not allowed to engage in viewpoint discrimination.
How far that goes, I don't know. Would a university administrator be allowed to hold racist opinions as long as he didn't discriminate? Ms. Dixon has stated that she does not discriminate against gays:
"I absolutely respect their right to disagree," Dixon told WTVG about people who have spoken out against her statements. "Again: They are citizens. They can voice their opinion. I'm a citizen as well, and I ought to be able to voice my opinion."
"I've practiced human resources for 25+ years," she says when asked about any conflict her moral beliefs would have with her work at UT. "I have provided outstanding service to individuals regardless of of their sexual orientation. I have hired heterosexuals and homosexuals in my 25 years practicing as a human resources person, so I think it speaks for itself."
Of course, having a right to an opinion and a right to state that opinion does not always translate into a right not to be fired for having that opinion.
Should it?
And should an opinion grounded in religion be more worthy of protection than the same opinion not based on religion?
Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't understand why a Christian should have more of a right to criticize gays than an atheist.
MORE: Suppose the situation were reversed, and Ms. Dixon wanted to fire someone who believed in views contrary to her own. Would that make any difference? I don't see why. Yet I suspect some of her supporters would like to have the right to fire those who disagree with them.
If this were a private entity, it would be easy. In Boy Scouts v. Dale, the Supreme Court upheld the right of BSA to bar gays and atheists (and presumably, their supporters).
:: Comments left behind ::
Gaskin on Millan (04:28 PM)
Here's a treat for all aging hippies, hippie lovers, hippie haters, culture war buffs, and dog lovers everywhere.
A tireless regular reader of this blog who will remain nameless has emailed me a link to the Oxford Reference Online's Fact of the Day which was headlined "How is the nine-banded armadillo able to traverse water?" The answer to the question is that it self-inflates, and holds its breath:
The nine-banded armadillo, unlike the other species, is able to traverse water by inflating its stomach and intestine with air for buoyancy. Since it can hold its breath for several minutes, it can cross smaller streams underwater.
It's an interesting article, especially for those who have wondered about such things. But my attention was drawn to an item which might be of more interest to political junkies:
For centuries, armadillos have been exploited by humans for their meat, and they continue to be a favored food item in many areas of Latin America. In North America people partake of armadillo meat less frequently; however, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, destitute southern sharecroppers came to rely on armadillos for food, and the animals were nicknamed "Hoover hogs," a wry allusion to US President Herbert Hoover.
Actually, it's been known as the "poor man's pig" for an even longer period of time.
I suppose that today it might be called a "Bush hog." ("Bush meat" is taken; it refers to African game animals, which are expensive delicacies.) But by today's standards, that wouldn't do, because its status in America is listed as "threatened" -- despite the fact that its range is increasing:
In the United States, the sole resident armadillo is the Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), which is most common in the central southernmost states, particularly Texas. Their range is as far east as Florida and as far north as Kansas, and while cold winters have slowed the expansion of their range (due to a lack of sufficient body fat), they have been consistently expanding their range over the last century due to a lack of natural predators and have been found as far as western Kentucky, and are expected to eventually reach Ohio before the cold winters inhibit their expansion.
Their range is probably increasing only because of Global Warming -- which is itself threatening. And they are being run over by cars, and hunted because of poverty -- both of which are threats. And they aren't being protected because Bush refuses to expand the Endangered Species Act.
I'm thinking that "threatened" is probably code language for having Bush as president. (The category can be flexibly "upgraded" in the event of "change," to demonstrate that we've made "progress.")
But meanwhile, it's Bush's fault no matter what.
:: Comments left behind ::
To be fair, the 'threatened' is for all variants. Only one variant is expanding, the others are decreasing. If the overall population is decreasing and shrinking, then I don't see a problem with that listing.
:: Phlinn May 14, 2008 06:38 PM
"Yes Thurston, those hillbillies are allowed to vote..." (08:17 AM)
Aside from the fact that I'm not a Clinton supporter, two things bother me about the news of Hillary Clinton's 2-1 victory in West Virginia last night.
One is the fact that while the story was reported, it was treated as a non-event, and buried on page A-4 of the Inquirer. This is part of the election, and while we're all sick of the election, it's an ongoing important national event, right? The margin is so close between these candidates that there's definitely still a race. Yet this huge victory by Hillary Clinton (second only to her Arkansas victory) is being treated as a trifling matter of political insignificance. It doesn't seem to matter that as Hillary warns, "no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia."
The Inquirer did report this odd little detail:
Obama also broke from his usual practice by wearing a flag pin on his suit jacket. He told several thousand people at the Charleston Civic Center that patriotism means more than saluting flags and holding parades.
The way this is being relegated to political insignificance, you'd almost think Hillary Clinton was Mike Huckabee eking out a small victory over John McCain.
Actually, I think I'm wrong with that comparison. Suppose that Huckabee won a state like West Virginia, even after McCain had clinched the nomination. I think it would be getting more ink than this. A lot more.
The other problem I have with this news is that the whole thing gives me the impression that either Obama doesn't care anymore, or else he's been given powerful reassurances that he doesn't need to care. Bad move all around. The man is running for president, and a failure to campaign creates the appearance that he doesn't care. The implication of this is that either he's lazy (which I doubt), or else he just doesn't care about the "hillbilly vote."
The conventional political wisdom right now is that McCain is poised to pick Mike Huckabee as his running mate. Perhaps an Obama deemed "out of touch with hillbilly voters" can be spun that way. I disagree with this approach, as I think McCain needs to reach deeper into that genuinely hurt and despairing group of Democratic voters who are sick of being spun as ignorant white rednecks and racists, and Huckabee is not the guy to do it. Psychologically, Huckabee will simply remind them that they really aren't ignorant rednecks, but still Democrats, and he will help them swallow their pride and vote for Obama after all.
Few GOP loyalists will agree with me, but I think Lieberman ought to be McCain's Veep. He's the leading member of the scorned and rejected class of normal people who are held in contempt by far-left party elitists who see them as defective (or "bitter) for believing in "outmoded paradigms...."
Like, say, the idea that an attack against your country deserves the strongest possible military response.
Hmm...
Do you have to be a hillbilly to think stuff like that?
UPDATE: Broken link fixed. And contrary to what I initially thought, the Inquirer did quote Hillary's statement about the importance of West Virginia:
"Every nominee has carried the state's primary since 1976, and no Democrat has won the White House without winning West Virginia since 1916."
UPDATE: I was out of commission last night so I wrote nothing about West Virginia. But for those who want more, Stephen Green drunkblogged the race (the word "race" is becoming a political pun), and Rick Moran analyzes the historical context in "Why Hillary Won't Give Up."
UPDATE: Regarding the flag pin, Byron York notes it's an on-and-off issue. (Via Glenn Reynolds, who's questioning the sincerity of the timing, or maybe the timing of the "sincerity.")
Hey, whatever. Married men have been known to remove their wedding rings under certain circumstances.
MORE: I forgot to mention race, but Ann Althouse covers it:
White. White. White. Race. Race. Race. Oh, you Democrats. You've really made a nice place for yourselves.
One of these days maybe someone can explain why 67% is more racist than 91%, but never mind.... (It's probably racist to pose such questions.)
:: Comments left behind ::
Thinking in purely get-elected terms, Lieberman would be a good choice among independents and disaffected Democrats. Conservatives respect Lieberman, but his ascension to the ticket would confirm in their minds that McCain has become more liberal and will continue to move in that direction. The problem would not be the vote-againsts, but the stay-homes. I don't know whether that is a net gain or loss in November.
As for governance, I don't see how Lieberman moves us in a libertarian direction.
Lieberman as SecState or SecDef, though - I could get behind that.
I'm convinced that McCain's selection as the Republican Party nominee is based almost completely on his likely attraction to voters in the so-called center and center-left. Since his positions on many important issues are at odds with mine, it is of little consequence to me whom he chooses as a running mate. It makes a lot of sense for him to calculate who would add the most electoral votes and that would be the selection since the new approach to running against the Democrats is to move as far to the left as possible while still being able plausibly to call oneself a Republican. AVI is right I think since if I have something better to do I could miss this vote. If not, I'll vote for McCain.
How being forbidden to touch translates into threatening to kill I'm not sure. At any rate, the school (naturally) failed to back the student teacher:
...They upheld the rights of the side that threatened capitulation or violence. Instead of expelling the student for his threat and making an example of him, they chose to coddle the student and chase the teacher out of his job. Afterwards, they issued the normal multi-culti mewlings of "misunderstanding", "growth process", and emphasizing respect for different cultures.
I've got a suggestion: how about teaching that respect to the people who issue threats, instead of their victims? Which person needed an object lesson in respect more, the Somali student or [teacher] Tyler Hurd?
I especially agree with the conclusion:
We have laws in this country, decided on by democratically-elected representatives. If Muslims don't like these access [to service dog] laws, then let them elect representatives that will reverse them, or failing that, go back to Somalia where violence trumps the law and they would be more comfortable. Shame, shame on Technical High School for buckling under to thugs and abandoning their responsibilities in such a cowardly manner.
Absolutely right.
(The whole thing makes me wonder what will happen when Muslim students threaten to kill gay teachers....)
:: Comments left behind ::
I'll tell you precisely what will happen.
The gay teacher will be relocated "for his own safety".
Wanna know why?
Because gay guys aren't going around chopping people's heads off!
Maybe we'll get lucky and the first one they try it with is NRA. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
"We have laws in this country, decided on by democratically-elected representatives. If Muslims don't like these access [to service dog] laws, then let them elect representatives that will reverse them[.]"
I respectfully but emphatically disagree. It would not be proper in any fashion to have Sharia (or anything else) use democracy to trump liberty. Down that road lie things like Jim Crow laws.
But likely the gay teacher will be forced out of the school. Because in the Lefty hierarchy of Vics, Muslims top the chart.
(I wonder whether it is possible for Christians/Jews/Buddhists/Hindus/Zoroastrians/Wiccans to play the game the way Muslims do - blow stuff up and whatnot - and what would happen afterwards)
:: Gregory May 14, 2008 03:59 AM
Gregory - no, they wouldn't succeed - Because people know that violent people from those groups are exceptions, and do not have even more extreme warlike friends overseas. Such violence would be used to further condemn those religions for being violent, not because anyone thinks they really are as violent as foreign Muslims, but because it would be a handy stick to beat the others with.
Yes, the irony is approaching psychotic levels. Your attempting to apply consistent standards in these discussions will cause you great psychic pain, young Padawan.
Is it in poor taste to point out how fitting it is that Somali students might be attracted to Technical High School? Somalia is famous for its technicals, after all, though the word has a slightly different meaning over there.
:: P. Aeneas May 14, 2008 11:36 AM
I am curious if the teacher has any legal recourse under the Americans with Disabilites Act?
:: BackwardsBoy May 14, 2008 12:13 PM
There are entirely too many threats of violence being made in America today, in universities and elsewhere. The relevant laws need to be reviewed, strengthened if necessary, and rigorously enforced.
In my recent post Starting A Fusion Program In Your Home Town I talked about expanding the fusion design and testing environment to increase the rate of progress in the development of a power producing reactor.
The lead Bussard Fusion Reactor (BFR) experimenter, rnebel, has read that article and has chimed in here with his thoughts.
One of the things we have been considering is selling a "turnkey" version of the WB-7. In this case we would design, build, license and deliver an operating Polywell, probably on the scale of the present machine. Operator training and tech support would also be part of the deal. The model is to use a plug and play concept where the user could substitute their own parts (electron sources, for instance) in an open architecture system. This is similar to what IBM did with the PC in the early 80s. It would give people who are interested in Polywells a chance to develop their own new patentable concepts and new companies without having to go through the entire learning curve that we have been on for the past several years. This struck us as a way to jumpstart the industry and get a lot of new ideas and people involved in Polywells. These devices could be funded through government grants (we have found a mechanism) or privately. I think we could do a turnkey machine for a ~ $500k-$1000k depending on how many people are interested. The idea would be for the government to make grants to institutions and then we would be able to competitively bid on providing the hardware. Ideally, I would like to see at least one Polywell in every Congressional district in the US. Since the cost is cheap, this is a tractable. Is this something you might be interested in?
My reply went as follows:
Sign me up.
I think it might also be useful to do a $10K to $100K fusor type device for those on a more limited budget. Jr. Colleges etc. There is a lot that can be learned from such a device that would help with more efficient (Pollywell) devices.
BTW in other places (fusor forum) I have made the evolution of the computer hobby argument.
Great minds etc.
Also a range of devices and power supplies. i.e. 25KV, 50KV and 100KV pulsed supplies. Then the same range of continuous operation supplies. Same for the reactors. Pulsed and continuous operation. The equipment should be standardized as much as possible - at least for the starter kits so we could get the efficiencies of mass production. Also standardized test equipment. Standardized control.
If we had 435 tests going on at once in each district that would cause the Congress critters to all get behind the fusion push. Very astute. That was sort of my idea.
Again - contact me and tell me how I can help. I'm rarin' to go.
Simon
Any venture capital people who would like to start something - contact me.
First demo reactor must work with up-time stats and thorough and rigorous checking of all components for life-time maintenance issues.
My first thought for reactors was along similar lines: aim at the 'on-demand' generators now using natural gas. With good and demonsntrated low cost to operate and maintain with minimal consumables, these things should sell themselves into that market. These are the 'peak hour' generators that only kick in for limited times during the day and have problems being situated due to air quality concerns in metropolitan areas. The more automated the Polywells are the better the bargain they become, which includes the entire life-cycle maintenance regimen. With luck the first reactor will be run ragged with full power cycles and periods of continuous up-time and then more heavy cycling: make sure that everything we think we know actually works out the way we think. Those hard cycle numbers, from full shutdown to full output and back again are very, very important for non-continuous production and yet can start shifting that on-demand market away from petroleum resources.
I'm never going to be a VC on the big end, but investment? Yes. Show me the numbers and the target market.
These are strictly test reactors suitable for research institutions that want to do fusion/plasma physics research.
I'm thinking of a range of equipment. Everything from high schools to Universities.
I have been looking at this field for the last year and a half and our level of ignorance is just astounding.
Plasmas are hard because they are reactive. Apply an electric or magnetic force and the movement of the plasma affects that force. Equations and theory (which at the base are simple) can't take you to far because everything is moving and every movement affects every thing that is moving.
This is one field where experiment will trump computation for a long time to come. Computation can be suggestive. It will never be definitive.
I've been slow on the uptake lately. I try to follow alternative news sources, and so yesterday when I was at the supermarket I saw a tantalizing article in Globe -- headlined "Obama Caught Up in Gay Murder Scandal."
Excerpt:
So far, the Chicago cops' investigation into the murder of Trinity United Methodist Church's gay choir director has come up empty. But a top Chicago private detective tells GLOBE he believes the shooting death of 47-year-old Donald Young may be connected to Obama, who belonged to the church once headed by the scandal-scarred preacher the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"Donald Young was silenced because of something he know about Obama," says the private investigator, who has connections to the police department's homicide unit.
I was all set to blog about it, but time has been in short supply lately, so I didn't get around to weighing in on this pressing matter -- a story so hush-hush that even WorldNetDaily hasn't touched it -- as soon as I should have.
However, I did enlist the help of the ever-loyal Coco, whose ceaseless evaluations of various media claims has been invaluable over the years.
As you can see, she thought the story was at least worth a sniff:
Overall, on a scale of 1-10 I'd rate Coco's reaction maybe a 2. (She did later walk on the story, though....)
Anyway, Coco and I are a bit behind the learning curve, because John Hawkins has already been all over this story:
...I stepped up to the plate, bought the latest copy of the Globe, and perused the story so I could tell you what it was really all about -- because after all, if this man is going to be our next President and he's going to be getting involved in gay murder scandals, I think the American people have a right to know that.
He concludes there's not much to it -- especially because the "source" is that notorious guy who earlier claimed that he'd shared sex and drugs with Obama:
Now granted, this is the Globe and as such, I wouldn't give Larry Sinclair and their anonymous "private investigator" any more credence than I'd give say, the anonymous sources for a Seymour Hersh story, but still, I thought you should be aware of this story just in case you are ever discussing Barack Obama and the gay murder he isn't -- well probably isn't -- involved with.
I'm reassured, and so is Coco.
But why is Hillary being so uncharacteristically silent? Couldn't she at least do the charitable thing and state her belief that Barack Obama was not involved in the murder?
:: Comments left behind ::
Riding The Tiger (07:11 AM)
Barry Rubin has an article out at Gloria Center about the destruction of Lebanon. In it he says:
The goal of Hizballah, and its Syrian and Iranian backers at present is not the full conquest of Lebanon--something beyond their means--but to control the government so it does nothing they dislike: no strong relations with the West, no ability to stop war against Israel, no disarming Hizballah's militias or countering that group's control over large parts of the country, and certainly no investigation of Syrian involvement in terrorism there.
Why, three years after Damascus ordered the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri do investigators dawdle, having edited out the names of top Syrian officials they blamed for the killing in their initial report?
Israel bombed a nuclear reactor being built in Syria. Rice reportedly opposed the action. The world yawned.
Iran drives for nuclear weapons. There is some effort but too little, too slow. Whether or not the war in Iraq was a mistake, when terrorists murdered Iraqi civilians, much of the West blamed America; all too many Americans agreed.
He goes on:
These are the questions Obama isn't even pretending to try to answer: Are you willing to fight on this issue? To defy an "international community" that opposes action? To intimidate and defeat the radicals? Answer: No.
But here's the worst part that few in America but everyone in Lebanon will understand all too well:
"It's time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment."
Here, make no mistake, Obama is endorsing the Hizballah program. It wants a new Lebanese consensus based on it having, along with its pro-Syrian allies, 51 percent of the power. What's needed is not consensus (the equivalent being getting Fatah and Hamas to bury their differences, or bringing in Iran and Syria to determine Iraq's future) but the willingness to fight a battle. In effect, Obama without realizing it, is arguing for a Syrian-, Iranian-, and Hizballah-dominated Lebanon. Such talk makes moderate Arabs despair.
I sent him an email in which I said:
Barry,
The "moderate" Arabs have helped convince the American left that the Palestinians have just grievances. All the rest follows from that. They are reaping what they have sown.
Most unfortunate.
His reply was quite instructive:
Yes, that is absolutely true and I have often used the example of "riding the tiger" and being unable to get off.
Except If that hope is succeeding with the mission in Iraq.
Althouse reads a letter from Obama. Very good. I ♥ Althouse.
:: Comments left behind ::
Monday, May 12, 2008
Burn Clinic In Iraq Needs Help (07:32 PM)
Medical supplies needed:
Medihoney anti-bacterial cream from:
Medihoney Pty. Ltd
POB 66
Richlands QLD
Australia
1 -800-006-334
Int tel +61 7 3712 820
also:
Kerlix
Xeroform Petroleum Dressing
Non-adhesive dressing
Chucks
Tylenol/paracetamol (Clild Infant and Adult)
Motrin/Ibuprofin (Clild Infant and Adult)
IV Line Sets
Benadryl (Clild and Adult)
Do not send cash or checks
Just send the materials asked for to:
Jimmy Compton
SOC
CSC Scania
APO AE 09331
e-mail for more information
jimmycompton --at-- gmail --dot-- com
You can find out more about CSC (Convoy Supply Center) Scania at Global Security
Camp Scania is home to a free clinic run by the 1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team. The clinic, which operates three days a week, has become widely known as a premier location for the treatment of burn injuries, and some patients travel up to 75 miles to visit the small, trailer-housed aid center in southern Iraq. In many cases, Iraqi hospitals lack the supply of painkillers and antibiotics and other equipment that the clinic offers.
The video link was sent to me by J. Ogershok. I posted something he wrote in December of 2006 at Free Will.
:: Comments left behind ::
Thanks to all.
:: Joe Ogershok May 12, 2008 07:59 PM
"one of the consequences that scientists have long predicted" (04:14 PM)
Did you know that earthquakes can be caused by anthropogenic global warming? No, really. That's what a "number" of geologists have been saying:
A number of geologists say glacial melting due to climate change will unleash pent-up pressures in the Earth's crust, causing extreme geological events such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
A cubic metre of ice weighs nearly a tonne and some glaciers are more than a kilometre thick. When the weight is removed through melting, the suppressed strains and stresses of the underlying rock come to life.
University of Alberta geologist Patrick Wu compares the effect to that of a thumb pressed on a soccer ball - when the pressure of the thumb is removed, the ball springs back to its original shape.
Because the earth is so viscous the rebound happens slowly, and the quakes that occasionally shake Eastern Canada are attributed to ongoing rebound from the last ice age more than 10,000 years ago.
Yes, but it's now happening faster and faster! Because of humans!
Melting of the ice that covers Antarctica or Greenland would have a similar impact, but the process would be accelerated due to the human-induced greenhouse effect.
"What happens is the weight of this thick ice puts a lot of stress on the earth," says Wu. "The weight sort of suppresses the earthquakes but when you melt the ice the earthquakes get triggered."
When a quake happens under water it can cause a tsunami. Wu said melting of the Antarctic ice is already causing earthquakes and underground landslides although they get little attention. He predicted climate warming will bring "lots of earthquakes."
Well, if it will bring lots of earthquakes, then obviously it already is, because of the human-induced greenhouse acceleration!
As we speak, glaciers are melting, and all that water is pressing on the tectonic plates! That's because the crust is sensitive:
When the glaciers melt, the reliquified water causes sea levels to rise and increases the weight on the ocean floor, which could also have an effect on the grinding tectonic plates deep below the surface.
The Earth's crust is more sensitive than some might think. There are well-documented cases of dams causing earthquakes when the weight of the water behind a dam fills a reservoir.
Alan Glazner, a volcano specialist at the University of North Carolina, said he was initially incredulous when he found a link between climate and volcanic activity off the coast of California.
"But then I went to the library and did some research and found that in many places around the world especially around the Mediterranean they see similar sorts of correlations."
"When you melt glacial ice, several hundred metres to a kilometre thick . . . you've decreased the load on the crust and so you've decreased the pressure holding the volcanic conduits closed.
"They're cracks, that's how magmas gets to the surface . . . and where they hit the surface, that's where you get a volcano."
No one has claimed that the Christmas tsunami of 2004 was triggered by rising sea levels. But that event seems to have sparked new interest in the links between climate and geology.
Actually, that's not quite right. Back in 2004, Dean Esmay quoted Greenpeace's Director who claimed just that. But the Wall Street Journal warned that such thinking was "unhinged":
People prone to hysteria often become further unhinged in the face of a great disaster, and that may explain these remarkable comments on the tsunami disaster. Still, these comments by the movement's leadership may serve as a case study of how such imaginings work their way into public discussion of the environment. That is all the more reason to come to grips with the real causes of calamities such as this.
Geologists say that groups of giant earthquakes hit Sumatra every 230 years or so. The last quakes there were in 1797 and 1833--and surely not even Greenpeace would blame those on greenhouse gases--and so Sunday's latest quake was more or less on schedule.
Hysteria???
How can the WSJ say such a thing when a "number" of scientists are claiming that the evidence is "stacking up":
"All over the world evidence is stacking up that changes in global climate can and do affect the frequencies of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and catastrophic sea-floor landslides," says British geologist Bill McGuire, writing in New Scientist magazine.
"Not only has this happened several times throughout Earth's history, (but) the evidence suggests it is happening again," says McGuire, professor of geological hazards at University College in London.
Glazner said the main impact of glacial melting is due to reduced weight on the places losing glaciers rather than the increased weight on the ocean floor.
"If you melt that glacier and the water runs into the oceans, that water is spread over the entire surface of the ocean and it might add a millimetre to the thickness of the oceans or something, but you've taken a kilometre off of that place where the glacier used to be."
In light of the stacked up evidence, and the accelerating of the human-induced greenhouse gas acceleration, obviously, today's major earthquake in China might have been, and -- in light of the Precautionary Principle -- probably was, caused by global warming.
So why aren't the numerous scientists saying it was?
Considering that earthquakes are said by a number of scientists to be simply another one of these consequences, I find the continued silence baffling.
:: Comments left behind ::
Increased pressure, decreased pressure...it is all a wash, because there is no net change in the weight on the crust. one pound of ice weighs the same as a pound of liquid water.
:: Gringo May 12, 2008 06:10 PM
"Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
Dec. 13, 2007
His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General, United Nations
New York, N.Y.
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
Re: UN climate conference taking the World in entirely the wrong direction
It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages. Geological, archaeological, oral and written histories all attest to the dramatic challenges posed to past societies from unanticipated changes in temperature, precipitation, winds and other climatic variables. We therefore need to equip nations to become resilient to the full range of these natural phenomena by promoting economic growth and wealth generation. "
Anyway, don't the oceans weigh anything? Don't all those anthropogenically caused tides stress the earth's crust? This theory is just silly.
:: Montjoie May 13, 2008 12:22 AM
The glacial ice could pop off Antarctica like a cork. Of course, it could also do that if it keeps getting colder as well. In geologic time, it isn't very stable. And the results would be terrible. But that has nothing to do with global warming. I imagine if it happened in our lifetime it would get blamed on whatever the crisis du jour is at the time. And that blame would be believed for decades, regardless of scientific evidence. We can expect that humanity will do something stupid in response.
This idea's been going around for a while - that higher sea levels create more pressure on subduction zones, "lubricating" them, so to speak. To the best of my knowledge it's just an idea, and even as an idea, you'd need a sea level rise of 200 feet or more to see any influence on volcanism or earthquake activity.
After Erick's Post of the Austrian Corporal's ranting (funny) I thought it would be good to lighten the atmosphere with a different kind of military man. This is Lieutenant Kije by Prokofiev, Suite op. 60 mov. 4 done by the Robert's College Community Orchestra.
