random voices

A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy
By MICHAEL POWELL
The Oxford don, a liberal atheist who is arguably the world’s most influential evolutionary biologist, continues to turn the prevailing view of evolution and natural selection on its head.

HG
Califormia

According to Karl Popper's definition of science, Evolutionary Biology is not science in the sense that it is not falsifiable. The theory cannot be examined by controlled experiments.

The very fact that Prof. Gould and Prof. Dawkins cannot agree with each other is evidence that evolutionary biology is not as rigorous a science as Physics. Even Physicists dare not refute the possible existence of God the first cause. I am amazed by Mr. Dawkins's audacious claim that his theory refutes the existence of God.

Refuting the literal story of Genesis is not a difficult task. Anyone with common sense will know that there is no way Noah can have the engineering know-how to build the arc, let along preserve all forms of living beings. Can anyone build the arc with today's technology?

It is a trap for rational, secular minds when reading the Bible. It is easy to say: "How can anyone with basic intelligence believe this literally?" Well, metaphorically, it makes sense to many people. And that doesn't make them stupid.

Dawkins's fundamental pitfall is that he believes whoever disagrees with him is stupid. From what I know, this is not the feature of a top-notch thinker. All top thinkers I know are humble because the more you learn, the more you realize the limit of human knowledge.

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Stocks Decline a Day After Fed Sets Latest Stimulus Measure
By GRAHAM BOWLEY and CHRISTINE HAUSER
Investor pessimism about the outlook for the United States and European economies was deepened by weak data for the euro zone and a grim assessment from the Federal Reserve.

James J. Connolly
Waterford, Connecticut

The world economic system is now in free fall, folks. First time since the 1930s.

The folks at the controls (banks, the Fed, Democrats, Republicans, EU, IMF) have no idea what they are doing.

The man behind the curtain is panicking, and he has reason to do so.

Prepare for 30 percent unemployment nationwide, mass layoffs of public employees, and a nationwide moratorium on future foreclosures as Obama's main campaign platform for 2012.

Stop the nonsense about a double recession.

The Second Great Depression is here.

Capitalism is in its death throes, and the subservient governments of Europe and North America have failed to prop it up after trying every trick in their books.




anges
Midwest

Perhaps the Fed's own thrashing about on monetary policy contributes to "spooking" the economy. After an heroic response to the events of the autumn of 2008 during which Bernanke helped prevent a catastrophic worldwide economic meltdown, the Fed has since started one horse after the next, all of which have keeled over well before the finish line.

We had QE and then QE2 and now the "Twist" and several other perturbations of the money supply. None of this has done a bit of good - and no wonder. The economic problems are endemic: over-reliance on consumerism, massive private and government debt, uncompetetive labor costs, a failing educational system, a stupendous system of entitlements and public pension costs -- on the state level especially -- that cannot be honored. All these lie at the root of our economic problems and there is no way out other than austerity, frugality, a reduction in labor costs and a rationalization of our balance sheets. The Fed has, instead, sought a magic solution to our ills, a "Hey, Presto!" monetary gimmick (e.g. ultra-low interest rates) that will cause everything to spring back to prosperity -- as if the past thirty years of foolishness never occurred.

The best thing the Fed can do now is -- nothing. Let interest rates rise to where the genuine demand for money puts them and quit goosing the money supply. At the moment, it is impossible to adequately assess risk and credit requirements because the money markets are so distorted by the Fed's incessant thrashing and magical thinking.

We all owe Mr. Bernanke a debt of gratitude for his actions three years ago. But, he needs to stop his Ben the Great magic act so that we can, as a nation and as individuals, address our real problems. These problems are real, profound and pervasive -- and they cannot be solved by monetary gimmicks.

Suzanne
Florida

Large corporations keep saying they don't understand why their stocks are so depressed: bookings look just fine for the next 18-24 months. Yet the media screams that the sky is falling. Why am I starting to get the notion that this "whole recession thing" is some gigantic scam? Who is making the money or otherwise profiting from this psychologically induced recession? Yes, it sounds like a crack-brained conspiracy theory, but there are a number of ways to deal with credit and demand issues constructively and NO ONE is doing it. Have I been viewing the class warfare too myopically? Are the masses in the process of losing the last battle, while never having known they were involved in a war until recently?
This isn't the death throes of capitalism, but it may be the death throes of democracy.


Boat52
Naples, FL

"We all owe Mr. Bernanke a debt of gratitude for his actions three years ago." No we don't because he didn't do anything other than debase the currency, inflict significant damage millions of savers who have witnessed the vanishing of their interest income, and dump huge sums onto to bankers so that they could earn bonuses even greater than before the financial crisis. The above statement should read: "Bankers all owe a debt of gratitude for his actions." It is time for a regime change at The Fed and a return to an interest rate environment that rewards capital formation and savings rather than one that stimulates more debt accumulation.


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WikiLeaks’ Founder, in a Gilded British Cage
By DAVID CARR
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is more hunted than hunter these days, an itinerant with no permanent address save for a country manor provided by a former British journalist.

Martin
New York

Assange should get the Nobel prize. He has exposed more corruption and official crime than all the world's journalists of the past 10 years. And so of course they villify him or talk about personality. Wikileaks represents an enormous challenge to a press which has turned from exposing corruption to joining it, from informing to distracting and deceiving.



hn
london

We live in a police state where you can be "free" as long as you don't disturb the big Capital and the governments which main function is to protect the Banks and the big corporations. The war in Iraq started on a lie, as is well known now. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It seems that hundreds of thousands died because of that lie.

People are still dying there because of the false reasons given for the war. Iraq is a mess now but it is also a big source of profit for many American companies. 



Then comes Julian Assange, who was brave enough to publish documents about the war, revealing information that gave us a better idea of what happened during the war in Iraq. Better than anything the press did, actually. 

And all this journalist can do is to write a cynical story portraying Assange as a paranoid, funny character. Assange is living the way he is so we could know more. He really deserves better than to be portrayed as a caricature.


caseycsw
13350

Assange is a modern day hero for exposing the murderous underside of the US corporate empire, and some day it will be recognized on a universal basis. For now we must endure NY Times articles portraying him as a seething and scheming Shakespearean figure, tragic because he has allowed himself to end up cornered in a "gilded cage". Actually, this article is more benign than most of the more sophisticated attacks on his reputation that the Times has deployed in the past. Just as the Gray Lady continues to ignore progressive opposition to the current state of affairs, while trumpeting the latest Tea Party sneeze almost as readily as Fox News, it occasionally stops to actually focus on left-wing demonstrations by bashing their intent and spirit altogether, such as in the wonderfully demeaning piece by Ginia Bellafante, "Gunning For Wall Street, With Faulty Aim"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/nyregion/protesters-are-gunning-for-wa...
This, of course, is hardly surprising since many of the Wikileaks have pointed to the close bond between mainstream journalism and the corporate elites. Murdoch's hacking scandal is proof-positive. But it is truly sad to see the Gray Lady, once a staunch advocate for liberal and progressive causes, tied and bound by the sophisticated "right-wing lite" ideological wiring of her own gilded cage...



Jim Prince
New York

Dominique Straus Kahn goes free without a trial.

Barack Obama gets Nobel Peace Price with no qualification. Actually he is now blocking the freedom of Palestinians to have a free state and live in dignity.

You know they will get Julian Assange, one way or the other.

This is the new world order!