Month: May 2018

Watch out for the other GAO! Another Weapon of Science Denial

Surprise! More sneaky public relations by Big Fossil.

When you hear “GAO,” don’t you think the Government Accountability Office—the federal watchdog group that is tasked with keeping government officials honest?

I do.  Or at least I did, until I read about The Other GAO—the “Government Accountability and Oversight” non-governmental organization.  The IRS has given public charity status to this group that is “promising to publish documents about the people and groups behind ongoing court cases against the energy industry and its impact on the global climate.”

Thanks to DeSmog Blog, we hear that part-founder of “GAO,” and Competitive Enterprise Institute lawyer, Chris Horner, announced that the bogus GAO isn’t “going to get into the science debate and other arguments. . . . ”  Instead, they are going to lift the veil off those treacherous, subversive environmental groups, lawyers, and climate scientists who are suing the fossil fuel industry.

See: DeSmog Blog exposes the “GAO”

Continue reading “Watch out for the other GAO! Another Weapon of Science Denial”

Expecting Iran to Break Is a Risky Bet: Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War

Can bullying succeed against fanatics?

President Trump has bet that pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Iran will force Iran to come to accept major changes in the deal or go under economically.  Furthermore, he has gone beyond invoking crippling sanctions to make an implied threat of military action if Iran continues its outlaw ways in the Middle East. Does Trump think Iran is trembling in fear of a U.S. attack?

I wonder.  I just took a backward look at the Iran-Iraq War, that lasted from 1980-1988 and cost Iran more than 150,000 lives.*  The minimum age for military service in Iran is 15; estimates put the fraction of fatalities aged 15-19 at one third (50 thousand).  Iran also sent even younger children into battle.  Although Iraq attacked first, Iran pushed the offensive for most of that time.  As a fraction of the 1980 population of Iran (38.67 million), it is about 1 out of every 258 Iranians.  A proportional loss inflicted on the U.S. today would cost 1,163,000 lives—more than twice the number of U.S. military killed in WWII (405,400), and close to twice the number killed in our Civil War (618,000).  Given such past sacrifices, I expect that Iran is ready to let its people starve rather than yield to the U.S.  After all, the North Koreans have been doing so for a long time, and Iran has far greater resources, and more friends, than North Korea.

Continue reading “Expecting Iran to Break Is a Risky Bet: Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War”

Swaggering Swamp Creatures?

AMERICA FIRST.  AMERICA FIRST. AMERICA ÜBER ALLES
Mike Pompeo, Sultan of Swagger

Nominee for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he intends to “put the swagger back into the State Department.” But just who swaggers? Bullies and braggarts, for two, plus others who want you to believe there’s more to them than meets the eye when usually there’s less. Look up “swagger” in any dictionary and you’re hard put to find anything positive about swaggering. Here’s definition #1 from Webster’s 11th: “To conduct oneself in an arrogant and superciliously pompous manner; esp: to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence.”

That having a tone-deaf person take over the State Department actually looks like an improvement over the do-nothing leadership of Rex Tillerson, shows us the depths to which we’ve sunk in the Trump administration.

Continue reading “Swaggering Swamp Creatures?”

The Best of Elijah Bossenbroek, Continued

“A Song of Simplicity” : A four-minute delight

Those of you who got turned on to Elijah Bossenbroek by my previous post, “Pianistic Thunder [etc.]”* may have already come across this sweet little piece on your own.  In case you missed it, here is, as played by Roberta lovepiano69 . . .

If Bossenbroek’s “I Give Up” is a Niagara of epic strain, this tune is more a clear, slender brook cascading down gentle waterfalls in a sun-dappled forest.

(OK, OK, I’m so badly smitten I am impelled to gush.)

If Bossenbroek had composed no more than these two pieces, he’s already deserved worldwide applause. IMHO.

For those of you have not tired of versions of “I Give Up,” here’s an interesting take by a pianist who is not as skilled as the rest, but perhaps because of it often puts the melody in the foreground, whereas in other performances it tends to blur with the signature motif. An awful lot of pedal with the big bass chords, and drastic shifts in tempo make it a bit heavy-handed, but you might like it. Try Christian Starup at Christian Starup plays “I Give Up”

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* For “Pianistic Thunder,” check out Pianistic Thunder: Bossenbroek, Thomas, Beethoven