Sometimes when you see the headlines that come up, you get overwhelmed by the world that accepts certain kinds of stupidity.
Here's today's top3 stupid articles:
1. Bono hails Group of Eight Summit on African debt relief.
The G8 decided to write off $40bn in debt.
LONDON (AFP) - Irish rock star and activist Bono hailed the agreement by Group of Eight finance ministers on debt relief, although much more needs to be done to eradicate poverty in Africa.
"What we have here today is a little piece of history," the U2 frontman told Britain's Sky News television after the G8 agreed to wipe away 40 billion dollars (33 billion dollars) of debt owed to multilateral institutions by 18 of the world's poorest nations, most of them in Africa.
"There's more to go to really make this an end to extreme poverty, of course," he said, speaking from the German city of Cologne. "But this is one of the three asks that we have -- debt (relief), a deal on an increase in aid flows, and a deal with the unfair trading that goes on between the richest countries and the poorest."
Bono has been a leading figure in a long-running campaign to lift billions of dollars of debt off the backs of African nations, enabling them to use money otherwise spent on interest payments to pay for schools and health care.
He acknowledged that debt relief cannot be divorced from the issue of better governance in Africa, saying: "Corruption is Africa's problem -- it's actually the most important problem."
"There's no point in cancelling the debts and ending up redecorating presidential palaces," he said. "That's not the point."
He held up Uganda as an example of best practice, citing its "poverty action fund" in which savings from debt relief are ring-fenced for development purposes and "everyone can see where the money is spent".
Bono added that it was as important as ever for demonstrators to gather by the thousands in Scotland ahead of the G8 summit on July 6-8 to stress the need for more action to combat global poverty.
"We have to still turn up at Gleneagles," he said. "Believe me, politicians love to sign cheques, but they hate to cash them. Unless we turn up at Gleneagles en masse, the world will try to fudge things -- not the debt stuff, but other things."
"This is an important moment. We have to finish the job."
This is all very well and good. Bono is an activist voicing his opinion about something that deserves our passionate support; which is also his prerogative, something I'm not questioning here.
But folks, you know, when world policies get the stamp of approval of fatcat rich rock stars, and that becomesa headline, you sort of think, fuck, how far have we fallen? It's not that Bono isn't a deserving mouthpiece or that he is stupid or that his cause is stupid. It's that you seriously have to question the leadership of the dumb politicians that create a context whereby grandstanding rockstars can make such headlines. I vomit in their general direction.
2. US NAtional Acedmies to take up Evolution Fight.
Monkey trials never end in the eternal fight for the soul... Just don't let scientific facts get in the way of saving souls, right?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Academies, the flagship of U.S. science, said on Friday it had set up a Web site to battle attempts to portray evolution as mere speculation about how life developed on Earth.
The Web site, http:/nationalacademies.org/evolution/, carries links to various reports on evolution, which some U.S. religious groups want to be taught in schools only if their own views of a divine creator get equal credence.
"The theory of evolution is one of science's most robust theories, and the National Academies have long supported the position that evolution be taught as a central element in any science education program," the Academies said in a statement.
"Over the past several years, however, there has been a growing movement around the country to include non-scientifically based 'alternatives' in science courses," it added.
"Currently there are challenges to the teaching of evolution in some 40 states or local school districts."
Some of these are detailed by the National Center for Science Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping evolution in public school education, at its Web site, http:/ncseweb.org.
The National Academies is an independent organization that routinely provides guidance on scientific, medical and engineering questions to the federal government and other groups that may ask them.
Again, you have to question the stupidity of a world that keeps Evolution as a debatable topic.
At least this too is good news.
3. Cruise Says Holmes 'Digs' Scientology'
Katie Holmes is allegedly a virgin. She is allegedly a strict Catholic which explains the alleged virginity. She is now madly, passionately in love with one Tom Cruise, known scientologist. So now, it's HEADLINE NEWS when Cruise says that Holmes 'digs' Scientology... allegedly. While it is entirely Ms. Homes' prerogative as to when, where, how, and with what, or with whom she should choose to penetrate her own hymen, Scientiology is no such thing for her own mental health to be 'dug'.
"Yes, absolutely. She digs it," the 42-year-old actor tells the magazine. When asked if he's become more passionate about Scientology, Cruise says: "I've always been passionate about it. I've always talked about it when people asked about it."
He also confirmed there was a Scientology massage tent on the set of his upcoming film, "War of the Worlds."
"I also had a cappuccino tent on that set. And I made sure the crews were fed well, too. And if someone wanted an assist from a (Scientology) volunteer, it was there for
them," he says. "People are curious about it — they're always asking me about it, they want to know what Scientology is."In an EW.com poll, 61 percent of respondents said they liked Cruise less now after the recent exhaustive attention to his personal life, 3 percent said they liked him more, and 36 percent said their viewpoint of the "Top Gun" star hadn't changed
When asked by the interviewer if he's going to propose to Holmes, Cruise whispered, "It's gonna happen, man. It'll happen."
HEADLINE NEWS, folks!
Maybe Katie Holmes likes Scientology's position on pre-marital sex. I wonder how Pope Benedict feels about this one. :)
Tell me the world isn't somehow stupid...
Hubble Watches Deep Impact
The Hubble Telescope is going to be utilised to observe the Deep Impact probe's collision into Tempel 1.
The best view is expected to be had by the Deep Impact probe itself, but officials at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which coordinates Hubble's use, say they are ready for anything.
"We will be here and we'll be working," said Cheryl Gundy, a spokeswoman for the Space Telescope Science Institute. Hubble was also trained on the collision of comet Shoemaker Levy and Jupiter in 1994 and "had those great results. We're hoping well see something similar," Gundy said.
While the Shoemaker Levy collision was the first collision of two solar system bodies ever observed, if all goes well, the Deep Impact mission will mark the first time a spacecraft has struck a comet.
As Deep Impact nears the end of its six-month journey, the Hubble is also observing the comet to help guide mission officials, Gundy said.
So Hubble's still got some great uses.
NASA Shake Up
The Washington Post is reporting that the new NASA Administrator is looking to oust 20 of its high ranking officials in th wake of a new report.
The departures include the two leaders of the human spaceflight program, which is making final preparations to fly the space shuttle for the first time in more than two years.
Senior NASA officials and congressional and aerospace industry sources said yesterday that Griffin wants to clear away entrenched bureaucracy, and build a less political and more scientifically oriented team to implement President Bush's plan to return humans to the moon by 2020 and eventually send them to Mars.
The moon-Mars initiative has put severe pressure on NASA's budget, forcing Griffin into a difficult balancing act -- trying to build quickly a next generation spaceship without crippling programs ranging from Earth observation satellites and aeronautics research to maintaining the Hubble telescope.
At the same time, the sources said, Griffin wants to restore NASA's glamour, reasserting the engineering and science leadership that has been eroding since the Apollo era. To this end, the sources said, he is willing to oust as many as 50 senior managers in a housecleaning rivaling the purge after the 1986 Challenger explosion.
"Some people make a lot of changes; some people make a few," said Ed Weiler, director of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "He's going to want people that are on his wavelength, and his wavelength is that he's an engineer and a scientist."
Whoah. This is going to be interesting boys & girls.
Top Predator Report
Longtime readers would know I like top predator stories and they always make an appearance on this blog. Apparently there's one top predator that's on the increase and it's the Grizzly Bears in the Yellowstone National Park. Yeah, Booboo, they're proving to be tougher than your average bear.
Grizzlies have been listed as threatened in the region for 30 years. More than 600 are estimated to live in the Yellowstone ecosystem, a vast swath of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Their removal from federal protection could not come soon enough for some who think the population has grown too large. Bucky Hall, a county commissioner in Park County, Wyo., near Yellowstone, said bears are "just pouring out of the park, literally."
"You'd be hard pressed to find anyone on the ground who doesn't think there are enough bears," he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make the final decision on the delisting proposal. It is not expected until sometime next year, Servheen said.
So, once again, protection might be lifted, which would send them back to being endangered...
500 is the (pardon the pun) bear minimum you need to keep a mammal species going in a pool according to my brother who is a population geneticist. So I'm not really going to accept the claim that bears are "pouring out the park literally".
Not so fast, junior.
- Art Neuro
No comments:
Post a Comment