Global Warming Headline of the Day

Al Gore said that the Earth has a fever. Catchy, alarmist metaphor -- what passes for sober scientific assessment these days.

Here's the latest alarmist headline, compliments of the Financial Times --

"Bush plays for time as the planet begins to burn".

It's official -- the planet has begun to burn.

Someone should host a global warming alarmist headline contest, with the winning headline published in all the leading newspapers of the world.

But wait a minute. Where have I heard this headline, or something like it, before?

I got it --

"Bush Fiddles while Earth Burns".

And that's the way this scorched earth Ball bounces.

I'm Looking Forward to 2012

2012 will be the shoot-out at the It's-OK-It's-Not-OK Corral.

It's the year that two alternative realities collide.

One of the global warming alarmist groups, I think it's the Sierra Club, says we have a 5-year window to take global warming seriously and act; otherwise, it will be a very steep, costly uphill climb to save the planet.

Solar scientists, on the other hand, believe that the current warming caused by solar flares will flame out around... 2012.

I can hardly wait.

(Although, it will probably take two or three years for the data to work through the system, and even then, who knows if the global warming scientists will update their computer models to reflect what, for them, amounts to negative data. As Al Gore put it, it's hard to see the truth when your job depends on not seeing it.)

Bird Poops on President Bush -- Global Warming Blamed.

Washington.
The Unassociated Press.

According to the CCAAA, the lone Sparrow which pooped on U.S. President George Bush on Thursday is on the front lines of global warming. I. B. Burpeen of the Climate Change Alarmist Association of America - the CCAAA - explains that scientists have been expecting BPP - bird poop phenomenon - for months:

"Basically, the warming trends we have been experiencing have loosened the bowels of our feathered friends. Unless man cuts back on C02 emissions, we can expect more airborne bird poop in the future. In fact, the skies will be raining bird poop".

Meanwhile, Climate Change deniers are expected to point out that birds have always been pooping, and that BPP is not a new phenomenon. They are expected to point out that Climate Change projections of increased bird pooping are nothing more than that -- projections.

In another development, the AOCA, the Association of Opportunistic Capitalists of America, have announced that they plan to capitalize on the expected bird poop deluge by offering a complete line of bird poop-resistant clothing, including special deflective hats and shoulder gear.

Clearly, Global Warming is real, and life on earth as we know it will never be the same.

Snakes On A Planet

It's "snakebite season". Didn't know there was such a thing. But they're predicting a record season, and as soon as I saw it, I just "knew" it would be tied in to global warming.

Sure 'nuff!

Early Trends May Point to Record Snakebite Season

MELVILLE, N.Y., May 23, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE)

... "With the increase in reported snake activity and the advent of warmer climatic conditions, we may be witnessing the start of a very busy snakebite season....

Not explicitly linked to global warming, but just wait -- it's a first-rate scare tactic, so expect it to be picked up soon by the global warming alarmists.

Remember how perfect -- perfect -- life used to be BGW (before global warming)?!

"God is Good to Us" - Update"

Good news from the Congo. Rev. Mufika's children are going to be OK. Here's the update I received from him.

brother Rick,thanks for prayers:they have left
hospital on friday.Bethel,Esther,and Lois are gone to
zambia yesterday,but Naomi,Matthew,and Nico,the little
boy,are still under treatment at home.
we saw the power of the resurrection of Jesus on this
accident when we see the vehicule destroyed totally.
Matthew 28:20 is a reality to us.
Please,inform others about it! God bless you!
Mufika.

Let's continue to pray for Rev. Matieu Mufika and his family, that the resurrection power of Christ would continue to be experienced by them on a daily basis.

Is Faith Belief With "No Evidence"?

Here's my response to a blogger who said to a Christian, "the only thing here that is factual is that you have chosen to believe with no evidence."

No evidence?

1. The rise of the early church, with an undisputed resurrection message very, very early on. That's evidence.

2. The uniform willingness of the first apostles to be put to death rather than deny their claims about the resurrection. Some persons may be willing to be put to death for something they believe is true, but few if any are willing to be killed for something they know to be false. Not a single apostle repudiated his witness that Christ rose from the dead and appeared to them. That's evidence.

3. The existence and witness of the four gospels. That's evidence.

4. The words of Christ recorded in the gospels. What they say, especially, about the inward human condition, the human heart. He claims that all men are sinners at heart, falling short of the demands of truth and justice and love. Christ's words can be weighed and evaluated, and one can reach some kind of opinion about him based on his words. That's evidence.

5. The fact that, based both on philosophical and scientific arguments, the universe had a beginning. If there's a Beginning, that is evidence for a Beginner, because in all of our collective human experience, everything that begins to exist has a cause. There are no exceptions to this. So there is certainly nothing illogical or unreasonable about believing in the existence of a Creator. That's evidence.

From that point, it is a matter of making diligent personal inquiry into the nature of this deity, and whether He has chosen to communicate with His creation.

6. Finally, believers enjoy the witness of God's Spirit to the truth of Christ's message. Jesus said that God keeps the secrets of his kingdom from the "wise and prudent", and reveals them unto babes. Christianity is, from first to last, a religion based on revelation.

But that does not mean that it is unreasonable.

There is plenty of evidence to make a leap to faith based on informed reason.

Why is Atheism Attractive To So Many?

I still haven't figured out the attraction of atheism.

Here's a post I made today at a site run by a Toronto scientist whose mission in life (at least his bloglife) seems to be refuting belief in God.

* * *

According to the atheistic worldview, we are uncreated, undesigned, without ultimate purpose or destiny.

We are capable of immaterial behaviours such as reasoning, contemplation; we are driven by immaterial concepts such as justice and love, and yet the world is strictly material, nothing more than a complex interaction of chemicals. The love we feel in our hearts for our children is really nothing more than deceptive chemical reactions of our uncreated brains put there by mindless evolutionary forces to help ensure our survival. We are, at heart, of no more value than swamp gas.

Also, I haven't figured out why, in an atheistic worldview, why reason should be trusted. If our brains are undesigned, and we are the outcome of mindless, undirected material processes, why should rational thought mean anything?

A person might believe all this -- we are uncreated, undesigned, unloved -- but shouldn't this evoke great sadness, rather than the glee typically exhibited by atheists?

"God is Good to Us"

I received a distressing email from the Rev. Matthew Mufika, of Zambia and the DR Congo.

His family has been involved in a terrible car crash, and six of his children are badly injured.

Let us pray his family may experience the Life that is in Christ Jesus and that they may be spared and healed.

Here's the letter as I received it from Mufika.

- - -

God is Good to us.

We were all the family in kolwezi for the 10th
anniversary from 1to 06 mai 07,and on their way back
to lubumbashi,they did a car accident
,Naomi,Mathew,and Nico are unde surgery but
Bethel,Esther,and Lois are injured. they are at Don
bosco clinic in lubumbshi.we neeed your prayers.
please inform the Kerr's.

lot of love
Mufika

The Two Thousand Dollar Light Bulb

By all means switch to the new florescent light bulbs -- just don't break one.

An Ellsworth, Maine woman switched to the new CFLs (Compact Florescent Lightbulbs), broke one, phoned the authorities and ended up with a $2,000 cleanup bill and the lingering concern about mercury poisoning in her home.

Are we crazy? And what about the environmentalists? Have they thought this through?

Here's the money quote from Steve Mallory over at Junkscience.com:

"It’s quite odd that environmentalists have embraced the CFL, which cannot now and will not in the foreseeable future be made without mercury. Given that there are about 4 billion lightbulb sockets in American households, we’re looking at the possibility of creating billions of hazardous waste sites such as the Bridges’ bedroom."

If you're interested, you can check it all out at:

http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20070426.html

and/or

http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7446&Itemid=31

I Saw This One Coming...

A green group is saying today that having children is bad for the planet.

I saw this one coming.

"The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child."

Can it be long before abortion is reframed as a selfless practice?

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album was released in the summer of 1967 in Canada. I was 16 (which makes me 39, going-on-40 today). Everyone got a copy. I remember listening to it in the boathouse at a neighbour's cottage. All the neighbourhood teens gravitated to the site.

Pepper is a true watershed album. The history of rock can be divided into two eras: everything leading up to Pepper, and everything following from it. Rolling Stone magazine ranks it as the #1 rock album of all time.

So, it was a bit of a rite of passage when a couple of days ago I finally got around to uploading my CD copy of Sgt. Pepper into iTunes. Today, I will upload it from iTunes into my iPod.

From vinyl, to CD, to iTunes, to an iPod.

The technology has changed, but the music, which for many is the soundtrack of their lives, lives on.

As I look back to 1967 and the teenager that was, and all that lay ahead, I worship God for his sovereign goodness and grace. I did not know God when I was 16. But I know him now.

And thank him for all He's done for me.

It was a long and winding road that lead me to his Door.

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

What the United Church (Dis)Believes

Many Christian churches have a confession of faith.

In the Anglican tradition, there is the Apostes' Creed and the Nicene Creed, both wonderful and well-worth memorizing, along with the 39 Articles.

In the Reformed tradition, there's the Westminster Confession.

In the anabaptist (Baptist) tradition, there's a rudimentary informal creed along the lines of "we believe the Bible (and reject everything else churches teach that don't line up with it)".

And then there's the United Church of Canada.

In a letter to the National Post today, letter-writer Harry MacLean helpfully outlines the beliefs, or, rather, unbeliefs, of the modern United Church.

* They believe the Bible is an historical record of people's views of God, rather than the word of God [contrary to the witness of Jesus Christ, the apostles, and the tradition of the Church]

* They believe that Jesus was a revelation of God, rather than God him/herself [a nice liberal side-step dodge. Usually damning error is not outrageous, as in "I don't believe Jesus even existed"; the best error is exquisitely subtle.... The Bible speaks of a Subtle One, does it not?]

* They believe the essence of God is love and compassion rather than justice and punishment [Does this mean that God's nature precludes justice and punishment, or that love and compassion are merely more core-values? I think the bottom line here is it means we don't have to worry about sinning. God's a Teddy Bear.]

* They believe that God is non-violent, meaning no apocalyptic “end of time.” [If Satan's evil forces rise up against God and his heavenly host, God won't fight back! If man thumbs his grimy nose at God, God smiles benignly and says, "tut, tut". Evil wins!]

This was the letter I submitted to the National Post:

-------

re: Letter from Harry MacLean

When members of a church such as Wesley-Knox United believe that the Bible is merely a record of how people in the past understood God rather than the word of God, isn't it time for a name change?

Since their leader Jesus Christ clearly understood Scripture as the word of God, isn't it time, in all honesty, to drop the name Christian (as in Christ-follower), and, out of respect for the views of John Wesley and John Knox, drop the Wesley-Knox designation while they are at it?

--------

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

Another One Bites The Dust

David Evans was a "carbon accountant" for six years for the Australian government.

Recent progress in scientific knowledge has weakened his confidence in C02 global warming. (In other words, Al Gore's slides are seven years old/out of date, and need updating.)

He has broken ranks with the climate change community.

He asks:

"At what stage of the weakening [of scientific certainty] should the science community alert the political system that carbon emissions might not be the main cause of global warming?"

An interesting question.

The answer would probably be "not until the present funding cycle has run its course and the effects of C02 reduction strategies have worked their way through society. (And socialists have made their dishonest fortunes through their funny-money carbon offsets.)

Then the scientists can step in and explain why the earlier projections were wrong, and present a new theory and a new catastrophic threat that warrants continued generous funding. It's a strategy corporations use -- having 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation productions in the pipeline to ensure continued revenue streams.

The trick, of course, is that the cause of climate peril must be man -- it's no good if it's just the sun having a bad hair day. There has to be a man-made cause that supports leftist moralizing and interventionist strategies.

The advantage to socialist-minded governments is that a good climate scare can justify socialist levels of government control and taxation. So liberal governments will be happy to continue to fund scare-based science.

In Canada, even the nominally Conservative government has joined the bandwagon, not, alas, sufficiently to avoid the wrath of Canada's answer to Al Gore -- David Suzuki.

A very readable article by Mr. Evans may be found at:

http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2007/04/climate-skeptics-guest-post-why-david.html

And that's the way the Ball bounces.