A little more perspective.  Gaza is about 175 square miles and contains some 1.8 million inhabitants -- that's about 10,000 per square mile, the equal of any major city in the world in size and density.  It is also basically walled off and blockaded anywhere you turn.  In addition, it is heavily populated with people who have already provided rationalizations for violence.  I understand the reasons this was done, and Israel's security needs, but there is no way this is anything other than a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse.  All parties involved have to come up with something better.  Hamas, IDF -- unshoulder your weapons and deal with this impossible situation.  To my country (the US), the EU, and all surrounding nations:  all must be involved in unweaving this most interlocking and tangled of webs before catastrophe happens.

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1870148,00.html

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Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1870148,00.html

One can talk of a Right to health care as stemming from the DOI rights to life and the pursuit of happiness.  At the same time, health care providers have the same right to liberty.  I am all in favor of using markets to meet these rights to the extent they can, but if that's all we have, too many fall through the cracks.  So I find the logic behind Obamacare sound, even if the applications of it need tweaking and revisiting.  Socialized healthcare (like socialized police and fire protection) has its merits, but might be too heavy-handed to work well in the US.  Gosh, I guess I'm admitting I really don't know.  But let's working on the problem.

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Foundation for Economic Education originally shared:

 

"Talk of 'rights' is just a rhetorical game progressives play to get the policies they want (usually a single payer system). But talk of 'rights' does nothing for the goal of actually figuring out how to get people reasonable access to the healthcare they need. To do that, we have to deal directly with the problems of affordability (as in the United States) or with the perverse consequences of rationing (as in Canada). The disastrous rollout of Obamacare just might stimulate a serious, widespread discussion of these options for the first time."

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#14 - Healthcare Is a Right : The Freeman : Foundation for Economic Education

 

There's an old saw about how we need liberals to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems, but we need conservatives to make these ideas work in practice.  There used to be some truth in that.  I'm not sure there is anymore.

http://dailysignal.com/2014/07/26/conservatives-societal-change-comes-best-individuals-government/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

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Conservatives: Societal Change Comes Best From Individuals, Not Government

dailysignal.com

Pew Research released a study of Americans' political beliefs, dividing them into seven categories from "steadfast conservatives" to "solid liberals."

Charles Darwin (if anyone believes Jacob Bronowski and Richard Dawkins) was a Victorian-era gentleman who held the racial views of his time and culture. He clearly did not believe in equality of races, but then neither did Lincoln and virtually everyone else; only Darwin's co-discoverer of Evolution by Natural Selection, Alfred Russell Wallace, rejected the racist views of his day. Paradoxically, this caused him to reject Darwinism as a theory of human evolution, which is one of the reasons why he doesn't have the fame Darwin has acquired. If you enjoy historic irony (as I do), you will find this delightful.

ALL OF WHICH has nothing to do with Darwin's main theories, the discoveries in genetics made during his time (poor Mendel in his overlooked abbey) and after (de Vries in 1901 rediscovering Mendel and making him famous at last), or any of the truckloads of fossil and other evidence from other fields that prove Neo-Darwinism true beyond any rational doubt.Read more (14 lines)Show less

David Strumfels's photos

 

Oh when may reason and fact prevail?
It tries so hard, to no avail.
But fools use both bucket and pail
To provide all lies, both old and stale.

If peace is sought, it will succeed,
If not as swiftly as we need.
Both sides must join to stop the fight
Or there can never be right just might.

Lay down your arms, I beseech you all,
Or death will continue to appall,
Till one day you count up all your dead
And find not one whole heart or head.

Justice will only be for those who heed
The call for peace we desperately need.
Rockets, bombs, and guns shall cease,
And the day come we all want peace.

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David Strumfels's photos

Just over 90 years ago a discovery was made that started a fascinating journey exploring human evolution in Africa. The Broken Hill skull was the first early human fossil to be found in Africa and evidence suggests it probably represents the species that we, Homo sapiens, descended from.

http://phys.org/news/2013-03-early-human-fossil-africa-debut.html#jCp

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First early human fossil found in Africa makes debut

Phys.org

Interesting article.  We should not underestimate advances in CO2 sequestration, or modest increases in nuclear and hydroelectric power.  I'm more optimistic about renewable energies growth in the coming decades than the authors however (think computer revolution over the last 30 years; very similar science and technology are involved).  Add to this improvements in energy efficiency (as has been happening steadily for decades), substitution of natural gas (with sequestration) for coal, and there is yet more cause for optimism.  If we can meet a goal of keeping CO2 levels =< 500 PPM, a 1 - 1.5 temperature rise is within possibility.

I can't agree with Figure II's details.  GW will not only shift the temperature curve, but should broaden it as well.  This means extreme warm events will increase and the opposite decrease, but there will still be plenty (and more, albeit) of both.

Oh, please don't use pictures of cooling towers emitting plumes of steam.  That has nothing to do with CO2 or warming (even ST plants have them), and can only confuse people.  And phrases like,  "global meltdown"  really are misleading