Hurray for Global Warming?

I don't know what to make of this, but it sounds fascinating (via Instapundit). I am generally skeptical of the gravity of global warming, and I think the Kyoto Protocol is a naive, useless and costly mistake. At the same time I firmly believe it is a good idea to fight actual pollution, which is unequivocally obnoxious (and often confused with Global Warming).

Scary...

Here is a disturbing article from The Times of London (via Lgf). What I found most offensive actually appears in the very last paragraph:

The poll also highlights anti-Israeli feeling in Germany. More than two-thirds said they believed that Israel was waging "a war of extermination" against the Palestinians.

However the main finding of the poll is also unbelievable:

Some 62% of the 3,000 people questioned by researchers from the University of Bielefeld agreed they were "sick of all the harping on about German crimes against the Jews."

The article itself expresses my cause for concern best:

The poll horrified Lord Janner, a spokesman for British survivors of Auschwitz. "It's appalling," he said. "It raises fears that the current generation are not ready to pass on the history and lessons learnt from those events to their children."

As we all know, what happened during the Holocaust was appalling and mind-boggling. Remembering it and expecting the Germans to make more of an effort at this than, say, the British or the Americans is simply common sense. While I am not claiming that one is personally responsible for one's grandfather's sins, it would seem appropriate to me to feel a special responsibility to make sure the past (and what a past it is) is vividly remembered - and to be gracious about it. Additionally, it would certainly help if the German public opinion were more in touch with reality: finding even the most passing resemblance between the Holocaust and the Israeli - Arab conflict underscores a profound ignorance of either or both, if not a malicious intent to spread falsehood.

Smart move guys!

Well this seems like a smart thing to do! (via Instapundit) No wonder the Lisbon agenda is off track: instead of concentrating on serious and urgent reforms, European governments are focused on building totally useless aircraft and then foisting them on those countries in the world that, while more productive, are for whatever reason in a position of weakness. Way to go Europe!

Reality-based community?

This is an excellent post on Edward Kennedy's annoying habit of saying things and making proposals that are completely unhinged from reality. I wonder what advantage he thinks he'll get from it.
Anyway, I found the above-mentioned post via Asymmetrical Information, one of my favorite blogs. I took a moment to read some of the other material posted on Different River and it really looks like a great blog. I have added it to my favourites (which I rarely do because I'm worried about information overload...).

Arrogance and ignorance

While I have long been convinced of the New York Times' bias, I was taken aback by the sheer sloppiness that this article underscores. Power Line has the goods (via Instapundit).

Brilliant!

This post really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? (via the Diplomad)

Get a load of this...

I had to cringe in frustration when I saw this post on Davids Medienkritik. Apart from the incredibly racist overtones of the article and picture (which appeared in the German weekly magazine Stern) - I simply find it hard to believe a well-intentioned and honest journalist could come up with such despicable material - I also consider it very irritating that millions of Germans regularly read this stuff and actually think it reflects reality. Ironically they believe "ignorant Americans" uncritically accept whatever Bush tells them is the truth and don't realize that it is actually they who are being brain-washed. As I live in Brussels, from time to time I come in contact with such people and what I find most frustrating is that often it seems we live in parallel universes: the sources we respectively use to shape our Weltanschauung are so radically different that with the best of intentions there simply cannot be any significant exchange of ideas.