Replies

Ron immediately slams Daily as if her observation weren’t correct and doesn’t see the opportunity in it. That is because he can see nothing more than a scam and a power grab in it and makes his money belittling these people. He is indeed so predisposed to the point that he has blinded himself.

I think he makes his point that foundations do have an unearthly amount of power to influence policy. And he did question why they didn't price what your thought-model on the volcano tried to price--nature's disservices.

But turning to the idea of instilling peer review, a better science, for ESA action: Arnold's book mentioned the global warming is-isn't debate, in particular, the manner in which then aspiring VP Albert Arnold reacted when the science he embraced was questioned by other scientists.

You probably recall how Gore's affiliation with Roger Revelle, Gore's teacher at Harvard, and Revelle's paper, authored with two others, Fred Singer and Chauncy Starr, became a stumbling block for Gore. The trio's article: What to do about Greenhouose Warming: Look Before you Leap concluded "We can sum up out conclusions in a simple message: The scientific base for greenhouse warming is too uncertain to justify action at this time." Undue Influence page203.

Clearly, when it comes to the issue of global warming, the science could be questioned as to what is "the best available science" were that science to be used to enforce ESA action. Peer review, in that case, would provide a kind of checks and balances.

(You mentioned ownership of the oceans. I read in NP:The UN is claiming control of the world's oceans as commons. So how does Century 21 advertise ocean property?)

I think people would just claim it and start living there, similar to any other incipient nation. It might make a very interesting test of UN intentions. The settlers might claim fishing grounds, mining rights, etc. As it is, everybody seems to think that they must go through the UN because as US citizens it is our national agreement. Fine, start a country, renounce US citizenship and don't join the UN! It would take money, but what the heck. Stranger things have happened.

Exactly right. I own Mt. Shasta. Pretty, isn't it? I charge you to look at it. Sell photographic rights and use of the name. Conduct tours. Build an underground hotel in the caves for those who wish to commune witht the Lemurians. Sell crystals. I charge downwind farmers for soil replenisment and maybe run a geothermal power plant. Who knows? If I make enough doing all that I may be able to afford the damages when the thing blows. Then I sell the movie rights...

I would have to know a heck of a lot about volcanoes wouldn't I? I would have to figure out how much the worshippers of Lemurians would pay for a pristine mountain compared to the rest of its uses. I might have to build a sacrificial power plant that didn't look ugly and wasn't hard to mitigate when the thing blew. That might take some developments in materials technology. I would have to calculate the crystal deposition rate to know the future value of the next eruption. Heck, I might even find a Lemurian! Think of the interviews! Hold the presses! Where's Barbara Walters??

Fun isn't it? Downright enlivening too. Respectful of the resource, considering all the angles. Developing new technology and learning from it. Saving up the dough to help people when it all gets out of hand. Optimizing the value if the money in the mean time. It's so damned much fun that I can't understand limousine liberal socialists at all. They have no imagination. It comes with the risk aversion attendant to inherited wealth. Pthththtttt!!!