Truth and the Devil

On CNN last week, they showed John McCain talking to Wolf Blitzer about progress in Iraq. McCain complained that the media was refusing to cover the ‘good news’ in Iraq and claimed that Americans were safe to walk the streets of Iraq. After the interview they had on a CNN correspondent, Michael Ware, refuting McCain’s assertion, stating, emphatically, that it was not safe for Americans in Baghdad.

Apparently, McCain wanted to prove it, so he decided to take a stroll. However, in order to do so,

He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

There’s a new 9/11 conspiracy video making the rounds. It’s called 9/11 Justice, and it can be found here. I was curious if it contained any new arguments, but it’s the same old stuff that has been refuted many times in the past. I thought I’d take the opportunity to point out some of these errors, as it can be applied to many of the major points in 9/11 conspiracy theories.

This week’s Newsweek has feature debating the existence of God. It begins with an article introducing some theistic and atheist concepts, which leads into a several page debate between Rick Warren and Sam Harris. Overall I perceive it as a fairly generous portrayal of the arguments against theism (I’ll let theists judge if it was a beneficial portrayal of theism). There were, however, some interesting parts to take note of.

With the popularity of recent publications by atheist authors such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennet, I get hopeful that atheism will become a more acceptable philosophical position now and in the future. However, there is still a lot of hatred in the world for those who promote a rational world-view, in lieu of mysticism and superstition. Though I must admit, Canada isn’t the first place I think of when I hear about violence towards atheists.
While hanging posters promoting a lecture by Victor Stenger, author of God: The Failed Hypothesis, two atheists were attacked.

One of the men hit him in the face twice, and butted him on his face, causing his nose to bleed, Mr. Trottier said.

An article in today’s New York Times highlights the potential damages of global climate change for third world countries. Despite the fact that the industrialized nations of the US and Europe are the producers of most of the world’s greenhouse gases, it is the third world countries that might be the least equipped to deal with the problem.

Two-thirds of the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that can persist in the air for centuries, has come in nearly equal proportions from the United States and Western European countries. Those and other wealthy nations are investing in windmill-powered plants that turn seawater to drinking water, in flood barriers and floatable homes, and in grains and soybeans genetically altered to flourish even in a drought.