Bradbury Hypes Global Warming in MU

Bill Bradbury, Oregon’s gerrymandering, electioneering Secretary of State, has now sunk to a new low. Thursday afternoon, Bradbury addressed students in the MU Lounge on the subject of global warming. Now wait, since when is Bradbury qualified to talk about science? He’s not a scientist, he’s a former businessman turned politician.

Which is why, perhaps, The OSU Daily Barometer’s account of the event said it “echoed Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’” As noted in a Liberty Blog post on Wednesday, many are questioning the scientific validity of Gore’s data. But Bradbury quoted some of Gore’s data, made a bad analogy about an orange, and compared global warming to fascism.

Bradbury’s brand of politics as Secretary of State has been shameful. The idea that he was qualified to speak about science, more so than the well-respected science professors of all political stripes employed at this university, is political cronyism at its highest level. The Barometer didn’t indicate who sponsored he even, but those people should find remember that unless political manipulation is the goal, it’s best to let scientists talk about science.

The Other Side Of Earth Day

On this Earth Day, it is worth mentioning the people no one will mention today. Scientists around the world have been facing professional, social, and political repression for stating that they do not agree with the consensus of the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change).

Lawrence Solomon has recently published an account of these scientists called The Deniers. National Review Online interviewed him about the process of creating the account, as well as some less than well known information about the IPCC and Al Gore’s methods. Since it is guaranteed that you will see some Global Warming hysterics today, I strongly urge you to read his interview as another perspective.

Happy Earth Day, readers.

Soldiers Prefer Dems Says ABC News... or is "News" not the right term?

A recent ABC NEWS story reported that most US Military personnel preferred one of the Democrat presidential hopefuls in the upcoming election. Despite the fact that most American military personnel voted for President Bush in 2004, ABC interviewed five soldiers who all seemed to support a Democrat. (four for Senator Barack Obama, one for Senator Hillary Clinton) None who were interviewed supported the presumptive nominee, Senator John McCain.

I honestly don’t think it would be that hard to find a soldier who supported McCain. This whole story smells greatly of a pro-Dem piece of yellow journalism, and a sad statement about media’s involvement in politics. Stories such as this serve less to report the news and more to disseminate a viewpoint. One that may be grossly out of line with what the reality of the situation suggests. How many soldiers are in favor of McCain? With news reporting like this, we will never know.

State "Special" Session Looms

With the new edition of The Liberty about to hit newsstands, it’s time to get the blog back up and running. And the upcoming “Special” Session of the legislature is also looming upon us. Later this week the Oregon Supreme Court will review the Constitutionality of the upcoming Session, which could have all been avoided had the Governor simply declared an emergency. You can check out the full story here, as reported by Sen. Larry George, who originally sued to stop the session.

The session will go on, as the leadership will find a way to make it happen. Everyone will show up. A couple Liberty staffers will even be interning. But it is a dangerous road that state government is starting down. God help us if the US Congress is the model that the Oregon Legislature is morphing into.

Whose Afraid of Student's With Guns?

Well, at least the way this story is slanted, The Associated Press is. Between the latent editorializing in the sixth paragraph, quotations from a girl who has no qualifications to speak on the subject other than being a student, and not even bothering to expound on the rational of a nonsensical old police chief, this is a pretty loaded story. But at least both sides are presented.

I honestly think it is positively silly that our society is so afraid of guns. When did this happen, and why? This country would have never began, expanded, or even still exist without armaments in the hands of citizens.

Happy Thanksgiving. I'm off to the range.

Your Vote... or this fancy new iPod!!

Politico.com has apparently been able to show that 20% NYU students would trade their ability to vote in next year's election for an iPod. Are NYU students really so confident in the outcome of next year's election that they'd pass off their chance to participate in what will be the most contentious election in our nation's history? (Then again, isn't every election?)

Voting is your civic duty as an American. You don't have a right to vote; you have an obligation. And when I say vote, I mean make an informed decision in the political process. Learn, Discuss, Choose. I feel bad for those NYU kids who wanted to trade their vote for an iPod. Partially because it was the new iPod touch, and those things are basically just iPhones without the phone, and partially (mostly) because brave men and women fought and died and killed to give them something they would willingly throw away for a gadget. We say God bless America, but God bless them. They need it.