Since we have so little market news to report to you, we will take our quest for truth and beauty to other areas: global warming and the children of Israel for example. Both are touchy issues. In Europe, if you say you are skeptical of global warming, they look at you like a lion at a Christian. In America, you can say almost any nasty thing you want against Arabs...but if you are planning to run for public office, don’t dare to criticize Israel.
We begin by telling a story that a Jewish colleague told us yesterday.
“You really have to be careful to maintain good relations with your neighbours. That’s something my family discovered in WWII. My father was just a little boy in Paris when the war broke out...and then the French surrendered. You know, France was divided in two...there was the zone occupied by the Nazis and there was the unoccupied zone to the South. Since they were Jewish, they figured they’d sneak across the line and once they got to the unoccupied zone, they would just keep a low profile, not mention to anyone that they were Jews, and they would be safe. But my father was only a kid. And when they put him in the local school, in the little town they were staying in, the first thing he did was tell everyone that he was a Jew. So everyone knew why they were there. And then, when the Germans took over all of France anyone in the village could have denounced them and get them sent to a concentration camp. But no one did.”
This recalled another story. A disagreeable French woman, then in her ’70s, once told us that during the war she had been the directress of a boarding school for little children. It was a Catholic boarding school. But it was wartime and a few of the children were Jewish, sent there by their parents in the hopes that they would be safe.
“When the Germans came to Lyon, they came around to the school. They demanded that we send out the Jewish children. The truth is, I don’t like Jews. But I disliked the Nazis even more. I had already changed the school’s records so the Jewish names didn’t show up anywhere. So, I told the lieutenant that we only had Catholic children. And I showed him the list. If he had wanted to pursue the matter, he probably would have found the Jewish kids and then sent them and me to the camps. But maybe he didn’t really want to find them...you never knew; it was a strange time.”
Well, times are always strange, we guess. And we find our little bits of courage and grace here and there...in odd places...and generally in the shadows. In the harsh light of the public eye, these civilized little acts of kindness and courage wilt like wildflowers...or get run over by a campaign bus.
When a presidential candidate discovers that a former friend or supporter has become a liability, for example, he is “thrown under the bus.” Jeremiah Wright has the tire tracks to prove it – since he was thrown under the bus of the Obama campaign. The Obama group also sacrificed Robert Malley, an advisor on the Middle East, after it was revealed that he had met with Hamas officials. As every American knows, the Hamas fellows are bad hombres, and anyone who meets with them is no friend of Israel. Since being a friend of Israel, like wearing a flag on the lapel, is a requirement for America’s top office, Obama had to push Malley off the team and then run him over with the bus.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor, said he thought the Jewish lobby has become too powerful and is showing a “McCarthyite tendency...by slandering, vilifying, demonizing. They very promptly wheel out anti-Semitism...”
So far, Mr. Brzezinski hasn’t been dropped under the bus, but he should probably check his ticket.
Over on the McCain bus, another man of faith has been tossed beneath the treads. The Rev. John Hagee has views worthy of a man with great faith. According to Gideon Rachman’s Blog in the FT , he believes the European Union is headed by the Antichrist. In his mind, the EU is a prelude to Apocalypse. And who are we to say he is wrong? There’s no mention of it in the EU charter, but who knows what they’re up to?
If Mr. Hagee had stopped there, he probably would have been all right, since most Americans agree that there is something ungodly about Europe. But then he goes further...and says that the Jews were murdered in WWII for a good reason – to drive them to Israel. It’s all part of God’s plan, he says; God made Hitler so the Jews would move to Israel, so the Apocalypse would come, followed by the second coming. How he knows God’s plans in such detail, we can’t imagine, but that’s the beauty of faith; you can believe anything you want...until you put it to the test.
Rev. Hagee is a McCain supporter. But McCain is no longer a Hagee supporter; the reverend had to go “under the bus.”
Under the bus, too, is where skepticism regarding global warming is going. George W. Bush fairly recently got on board, agreeing that the earth’s climate is changing and the humans are to blame for it. And now all three candidates not only favor doing something about it – all endorse the idea of “cap and trade” as a palliative measure.
Here too, faith conquers wit. No one really knows what direction the earth’s mean temperature is going...or why. There are only hypotheses.
“But if you really want to know what it’s like to be a 16th-century heretic, try saying you’re a bit skeptical about man-made global warming,” writes Harry Mount in the Daily Telegraph .
In the middle ages, the Catholic Church made money by offering sinners a way to buy their way out of Hell – with an indulgence. In today’s secular world, you will have to buy your way out of the sin of using too much fossil fuel, by buying “carbon rights.”
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
P.S. to get The Daily Reckoning direct to your inbox sign up to our free e-mail newsletter or if you prefer to use RSS, subscribe to the Daily Reckoning RSS feed.
Related Articles:
- Global Warming Getting Bad Press
- Global Warming Temperatures Falling for the Last 10 Years
- An Old Friend With a New Idea on Global Warming
- Counting the Zeros in the US Economy
- A Market for Long-Term Investors
About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by Smack MacDougal on 29 May 2008:
The biggest false belief about these days is "Global Climate Change".
There's no such thing as "Global Climate".
All climates are local. A climate is the seasonal pattern owing to the blend of prevailing winds and prevailing temperatures in relation to topographical forms.
Prevailing winds and temperatures relate solely to the where in time the earth is within its revolution around the sun.
Further, the only source of heat for the surface of earth is the sun.
In truth, the sun is the only source of heat for the Solar System (hence the name, ahem).
It's well known that the earth experiences BOTH global warming and global cooling.
No man can say if a rise in average earth surface temperature within the band of latitudes where most humans live will last [1] indefinitely [2] for 100 years [3] for TWO years [4] for 20 years.
The average earth surface temperature seems to be in free fall since 1998 as all evidence shows.
Yet wiithout doubt, the earth is experiencing a long run COOLING TREND. It was SO HOT 4.6 billion years ago that NO LIFE EXISTED on Earth.
The Global Warming Alarmists proffer a specious argument -- global warming will kill the human species. No evidence exists for this in the past. In fact, during periods of global warming, humans FLOURISHED.
BECAUSE of Global Warming, Humans left the Iberian peninsula and populated what is present day British Isles.
And when Global Warming happened in the Middle Ages, the human head count increased rapidly, ensuring survival of our species. Men FLOURISHED as they built massive cathedrals and grew wine grapes in Northern England.
Instead of learning how the sun works, the solar system works, how the sun is the only driver in mean surface temperature on the earth, folks in TV Land indoctrinate watchers into a faked Carbon Dioxide Scare Story.
If climate were global, you could grow wine grapes anywhere, anytime, in any soil, growing the same quality and quantity of grapes, regardless of the spot you chose.
Yet, you cannot grow grapes just anywhere. You need grape growing climates and those are few and far between. Climate is a LOCAL PHENOMENON, not a global one.
Comment by Pete on 29 May 2008:
Smack: What about El Nino/La Nina? The Pacific Ocean is a bit large for me to consider that to be 'local'.
The other problem with what you say is that there is no "history" of this being a problem. Well, there never used to be choking smog in Beijing in those years either. I get your point, but I think circumstances are much different now to our history.
Comment by Smack MacDougal on 29 May 2008:
Pete:
You say: "Well, there never used to be choking smog in Beijing in those years either."
Truth: Smog is pollution phenomena, not heat.
You say: "The other problem with what you say is that there is no "history" of this being a problem."
Truth: I wrote, "In fact, during periods of global warming, humans FLOURISHED.
BECAUSE of Global Warming, Humans left the Iberian peninsula and populated what is present day British Isles.
And when Global Warming happened in the Middle Ages, the human head count increased rapidly, ensuring survival of our species. Men FLOURISHED "
You say: "What about El Nino/La Nina? The Pacific Ocean is a bit large for me to consider that to be 'local'."
Truth: El Niño and La Niña patterns NEVER HAPPEN over the whole of Pacific.
Also, when scientists discuss phenomena such as these, they say states are either [1] global (meaning all over the earth, found everywhere, pervasive) [2] local (meaning over some part of the earth, perhaps part of an ocean, part of a continent, perhaps pertinent to a stretch of coastline or a mountain range)
So readers of The Daily Reckoning Australia should wonder about you and your motives. Are you a shill? Are you indoctrinated?
Comment by Greg Weilo on 29 May 2008:
You are not allowed to criticise Israel in Australia either.
Comment by Pete on 29 May 2008:
My point about Beijing is that extrapolating history as a path for the future is not a line of fact...it is just speculation.
I definitely believe in El Nino/La Nina and it's effects. I have seen quite a bit of doco on these things and they made sense. Although it is possible it is all just a part of a conspiracy to indoctrinate me, but these documentaries were not talking about Global Warming anyway, just weather patterns. It is my understanding that El Nino affects Australia and Peru at the least, are they not separated by the Pacific? To suggest that it affects every inch of the Pacific in profound ways would be a bit extreme of me though, its a pretty big ocean.
If I could be bothered to look up what a "shill" is, i'd answer your question accurately. But to make you happy "yep, 100% shill, to the core".
I don't really want to have a debate over this stuff, there are people who would argue this far better than I would, I just thought it was worth pointing out some stuff that I believe contradict your statements. It's okay, I am happy for everyone to believe what they will, it makes for a diverse society
Comment by Smack MacDougal on 30 May 2008:
You confuse Men History, shaped by Acts of Man alone with Natural History, which gets shaped by Universal Forces.
You conflate natural events and political ones. El Niño and La Niña are names given to observed patterns that happen in the South Pacific with some periodicity.
These patterns get connected to increased or decreased amount of rainfall from the observed average taken over long time stretches.
Neither El Niño and La Niña have anything to do with either Global Warming, a geologic phenomena driven by changes in Sun forces, and Global Climate Change, a political action driven by men.
You can write many words that contradict mine, as you have. Yet, because you contradict does not mean what you write is truth.
You cannot go against truth. No amount of wishful thinking, wishful believing in false beliefs, hoping that men the earth over are evil is going to make the Fake Concept -- man-made global warming -- suddenly become a true one.
The story that CO2 causes global warming gets told to justify POLITICAL ACTION --
"Since CO2 causes climate change, Man causes CO2. Therefore, as political men with power over you,we have the right to regulate the actions of everyday persons, including you."
This is what Global Climate Change means.
Comment by Artist on 30 May 2008:
And what is it that you wish to criticise Israel for? For being the only democracy in the region and defending herself against 22 much larger Arab nations, many of whom wish to annihilate her? While you lament that "you can say any nasty thing you want against Arabs" while one wishing to run for office "dare not criticize Israel" let us remember that the events of September 11th were committed by Arabs/Muslims. Of course, not all muslims are terrorists, but there are large numbers of muslim children being taught at their schools and at home to hate the west, and that their greatest aspiration should be to become a martyr for their cause (suicide bombers). Israeli children are taught no such thing and are encouraged to improve the world, rather than destroy it. While Israel has Arabs in parliament, who are treated as equals in all aspects of its society, how many Jews (or Christians for that matter) have government positions in Arab countries? Bill, I look forward to your column every day, but I felt it was important to pull you up on this.
Comment by John on 3 June 2008:
Artist,
Bill isn't criticizing Israel, he's criticizing the public atmosphere in which Israel and Global Warming are not to be challanged, they're untouchable. Do you wonder why that is? There are many countries that have the same qualities as you listed, such as France, England, Germany, etc... But if a politician says something negative about the French no one cares. If they say something negative about Israel it's equivalent to committing political suicide. Strange, isn't it? Same with Global Warming. A politician can openly criticize evolution, a very well supported scientific theory, and no one really cares. But if they criticize the idea of global warming, which has very little science, they're considered uneducated, arrogant, not caring about our future, etc... Why is that?