Categories
Economics Environment Liberty Politics & government

[539] Of suspension news and an idiotic messenger that refuses to get to the goddamned freaking point

I was rather furious upon learning that Malaysian Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan is being suspended from his post because he questioned the Malaysian government’s position on issue regarding de-recognition of an Ukrainian university.

Quoting The Star:

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said Sothinathan “broke ranks with the front bench” when he stood up in the Dewan Rakyat to question Dr Latiff over the CSMU issue.

Following the ruckus, Nazri said he had informed Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is the Barisan Whip, of the incident.

“I provided the tape and Hansard of the proceedings to Datuk Seri Najib for him to have a look at it so that he can inform the Prime Minister,” he told a press conference at the parliament lobby.

It seems that when one joins the government, one doesn’t have the leisure to have diverging views, much less question any of the government’s policy. So much for a democratic society.

After reading The Star’s article concerning the issue however, I’m not sure whether I should be more mad at the government or The Star. No thanks to the The Star’s article, I had to read eight goddamned paragraphs in order to learn why Datuk S. Sothinathan is being suspended.

Eight! Reuters on contrary needs just a paragraph to answer the goddamned why. And Jeff Ooi, which is a blogger, does a better job at reporting the issue than The Star, which is a national newspaper.

Point to The Star – get to the goddamned freaking point, punk! What the hell the editors at The Star are doing anyway?

p/s – just a few days ago, I found out that the relationship between pollution and environment is described in Kuznets curve. I talked about relationship between development and environment at length in two posts (here and here) only to find out that somebody had proposed it years earlier. It could easily have been Hafiz curve or something. Sigh…

LOL!

Categories
Photography Politics & government

[538] Of Philip A. Cooney and Exxon

He resigned from the White House. And then, he is hired by Exxon.

Charming. More at NYT (reg. req.).

p/s – another photo from my walk last week.

There is really nothing about the photo but somehow, I like it.Well, actually, when I was at that particular spot, there was this ethereal feeling. It was dark there in the woods despite the brilliance of the sun. A few beams of light penetrated the woods’ canopy with dandelion (could be just dust) everywhere.

Maybe, like Elfland or something which later, reminded me of Neverwinter Nights, and then later, Ashenvale and ultimately, World of Warcraft.

pp/s – Help. I’m addicted to Warcraft. Anyway, Catacomb Crusaders! (You will need to play WoW in order to appreciate the humor, not humour)

Categories
Politics & government

[537] Of Philip A. Cooney

Several days ago, the New York Times revealed that reports concerning climate change published by the White House had been repeatedly distorted by a former oil industry’s lobbyist. According to an article by the NYT (reg. req):

A White House official who once led the oil industry’s fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved. In many cases, the changes appeared in the final reports.

The revelation continues to prove that the Bush administration is not serious in fighting climate change, claiming uncertainties in science as an excuse. But this development goes beyond uncertainties and downright pure manipulation of scientific report. Understandably, a lot of people are very unhappy upon this finding.

About three hours ago, Philip Cooney resigned from the White House.

WASHINGTON – A former oil industry lobbyist who changed government reports on global warming has resigned in a long-planned departure, the White House said Saturday.

White House however is still defending the former oil industry’s lobbyist after such fiasco. Well, I’d suppose that is to be expected. I mean, clear lies are the basis of invasion of Iraq and the administration is still looking for some kind of weapons made by leprechauns.

I must admit however, finding a leprechaun is hard.

Categories
Photography

[536] Of boredom

I went for a little walk today in the evening and managed a couple shots.

This is my favorite.

Categories
Economics

[535] Of another victory for free trade

Amidst the Europhobics’ victory cries and even some ridiculous calls for a return of the Franc and the Deutsche Mark, there is a good news originating from the middle of Europe.

Switzerland has voted to join the Schengen zone.

Signaling Swiss desire for closer integration with the EU, about 55 percent of voters, or 1.47 million people, supported joining Europe’s passport-free “Schengen” zone by 2007.

Hail to free trade.

p/s – and yeah, today’s World Environment Day. Then again, everyday is Earth Day.