Letting Go of Orthodoxy

The American Enterprise Online ^ | June 27, 2006 | William Tucker

[neverdem]

There's a lot of evidence supporting global warming, and how more carbon dioxide might contribute to it. How much is anthropogenic, i.e. man made, is the question.

"It is possible that following permafrost melting, the activities and populations of these bacteria will increase. They will produce more methane and/or carbon dioxide, creating a positive feedback loop on global warming," says Whyte.

Please, don't let it be Hillary against Giuliani, McCain or both of them on the same ticket against her and whomever? Remember, the dems eventually picked Kerry as the more electable against Moveon.org moron preferred, moonbat Howard Dean. Don't let their boos against Hillary fool you. God help us.

[headstamp]

Sounds like his wife is starting to wear him down.

[Gordongekko909]

Yeah, this is why mixed marriages don't work out. The stronger one always subsumes the weaker.

[Bob]

I had dinner with a fellow conservative in New York recently and found that we were in profound agreement that Hillary Clinton is emerging as a very admirable politician. There were several mentions of Margaret Thatcher.

Anyone who can describe hillary with the term very admirable without barfing is certainly a different brand of conservative than I'm used to. Mentioning her and Margaret Thatcher in the same conversation is downright scary.

[piytar]

"Global warming. I realize it’s painful to have to confront this issue at a time when Al Gore’s movie is playing in the theaters but the plain evidence of our senses tells us that something unusual is happening to the earth’s climate. We were in Alaska for vacation last summer and you can’t find anybody in the state who won’t tell you they’re seeing things these days that nobody’s ever seen before."

Because, of course, one lifetime of experience is relevant to geological and climactic age. And of course the fact that we are barely on an upswing from a FREAKING LITTLE ICE AGE wouldn't have anything to do with it.

"Evolution."

It is mathematically impossible for life to have evolved randomly. If every cubic nanometer of the earth's surface to a height of 10,000 meters underwent one random evolution every nanosecond, it would still take more than about 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times longer than the Earth has existed for a random sequence of 1,000 bits of genetic data to evolve, assuming that there are 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible life evolving combinations of those 1,000 bits. NOT POSSIBLE. So the theory of evolution at LEAST requires some modification to account for some type of non-random input.

"Hillary Clinton." Don't even go there.

[piytar]

by "1,000 bits of genetic data" I mean "1,000 bits of genetic data that result in a lifeform." Of course, 1,000 bits is nowhere near enough to encode even the simplest lifeform.

[GSlob]

"Sounds like his wife is starting to wear him down."
Chekhov wrote: "The bachelors usually die raving mad. Married people tend to die before they could go crazy". On the basis of this dictum I'm afraid that his allotted span is at its very end.

[FreedomCalls]

I take it you just made those numbers up because a quick check of the math on a piece of paper shows you are way, way off in your calculations.

[FreedomCalls]

Of course, 1,000 bits is nowhere near enough to encode even the simplest lifeform.

A virus is simply a strand of RNA covered in a protein shell.

[Dustbunny]

AP Incorrectly claims scientists praise Gore's movie

[Mom MD]

a "simple" strand of RNA and a protein shell require many data points, and on a molecular level are simple only in comparison to more complex organisms.
The degree of complexity in the simple virus is mind boggling compared to nonorganic molecules

[John Valentine]

I agree with your point of view on "global warming", which is in fact neither global nor warming. But, I think you meant to say that one lifetime of experience is IRRELEVANT to geological and climactic age.

As for you evaluation of evolution as an impossible manifestation of random molecular events, you are wrong in your assumption that life, or the chemistry underlying life, is random. Life is plainly a non-random event.

I could expand on this theme, if I had the time or inclination, ut for me it enough to say that it is obvious, if for no other reason that the fact that atoms are not all alike, as is made clear by a look at the Periodic Table. There is nothing alive there, nor is it random. Why then would life, which rests on non-random realities, would take on the characteristics of randomness?

Whatever the arguments about genetics, evolution and the like, we at least have to clear about that.

[Roy Tucker]

Must be a different branch of the Tucker family tree. My Dad told me mixed marriages are tough to maintain. Good advice.

"She hasn’t proposed any national health care plans lately."

No one says she is stupid, but given the power and the opportunity she will want to nationalize 14% of the economy.

[John Valentine]

If you put a thousand red balls and a thousand blue balls in a box and shake them up real good, then inspect them, and found that the red balls wre all clumped together and the blue balls were not, you would not just stop and declare: "IMPOSSIBLE! This is randomly impossible!"

In this case, investigation might find that the red balls are sticky, and the blue balls are teflon.

This is analagous to molecules; some will attach to each other in certain configurations, and other molecules will not. This differential reactivity can be extraordinarily specific when it comes to proteins.

Life is distinctly and incontrovertibly non-random.

Most obviously, it exists.

[browardchad]

(One of the fun things about being a writer is when you realize you’re doing other people’s thinking for them.)

The writer invalidated himself right there. Maybe Pinch has an opening for him.

[bkepley]

--We were in Alaska for vacation last summer and you can’t find anybody in the state who won’t tell you they’re seeing things these days that nobody’s ever seen before.--

I'm not sure I would have mentioned that anecdotal evidence. It's amazing what the average Joe believes to be true after watching television nonstop for 6-9 dark months.

[freedomfiter2]

The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has varied between 140 parts per million and 280 ppm over the last 10,000 years. It’s now at 360.

Yes and 400 hundred years ago it was warmer than it is now with the lower co2 readings. No connection here.

[freedomfiter2]

Clinton would not be a wimp on foreign affairs.

Then why bother with Giuliani? He and Hillary seem to be in total agreement.

[GOPJ]

Hillary knows the right words to say... and yeah, some of the words are admirable. But her actions (alleged) against the women her husband used puts her beyond the pale. Tactics define. She wasn't "tough" she was thuggy.

I wouldn't trust her if she was speaking my words, dreaming my dreams, and supporting my beliefs.

Past actions trump carefully crafted imaged.

The fact dem media go after her for being too conservative and the MSM covers it, is telling. The MSM cheerfully covers her problems with the radical left with a little too much glee. They are priming her for middle-class acceptance. Hillary will play her own left as Sister Soulja - and the MSM will help her do it.