Curtis Dahlgren
A few words from Lewis and Cross to Joe Wilson; "Eat, drink, and be wary!"
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Environmental alarms have been screeching for so long that, like car alarms, they are now just irritating background noise." — N.Y. Times (3/12/05) www.renewamerica.com/columns/dahlgren/090209
"I am under no illusion that the new scientific evidence I have described will end the debate over whether mankind or nature is the primary driver of climate change. Quite the opposite, really. I am hoping that the debate will finally begin." — Dr. Roy Spencer (Townhall — January 2009)**
THE ENERGY SPENT ON FEAR TACTICS RE GLOBAL WARMING COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER SPENT ON REAL PROBLEMS SUCH AS THE HOUSING BUBBLE. But, "follow the money." Too many people were enjoying the "profits" of the real estate bubble. Facing the facts would have spoiled the fun. The same can be said now of the false "climate change" scare.
Besides that, not only were there big bucks to be made in "climate research," but it was so HIP! The "most highly evolved generation in history" loves nothing if not hipness and "change." Therefore I want to quote some "ancient" history, and words of wisdom, to wind down the year.
George Eliot said: *
I desire no future that will break the ties with the past.
It always remains true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.
Consequences are unpitying.
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.
He was like the cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.
An ass may bray a good while before he shakes the stars down.
An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry [and the elderly?].
Falsehood is easy, truth so difficult.
Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.
The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.
Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution.
Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.
No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.
But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current talk or even current philosophy ["conventional wisdom"].
Genius at first is little more than a great capacity for receiving discipline.
Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.
Quarrel? Nonsense; we have not quarreled. If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?
Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
Whether happiness may come or not, one should try and prepare one's self to do without it.
* "George Eliot" was actually the penname for one of England's first famous published women, Mary Ann Evans Cross (1819-1880).
[Given today's hip cultural climate, maybe I'd do better if I used the penname of a female, eh? Nah!]
P.S. I stumbled across Mary Ann Cross while checking out C.S. Lewis quotes at www.brainyquotes.com (they were listed as "similar writers"). The above quotations by "Eliot" could have been written today, or tomorrow even, they are so applicable to current events and events yet to come.
Incidentally, Lewis died on Cross' birthday on November 22, 1963 (the day JFK was assassinated).
Even as the "deist" Tom Paine left us a legacy in the 18th century, so did Eliot (Cross) in the 19th century, despite the fact that she was a bit of a rebel and drifted away from the religion in which she was reared. That's not always a bad thing automatically, but I want to close out 2009 with a few 20th century quotations attributed to C.S. Lewis:
"Their are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Alright, then, have it your way."
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make a more clever devil."
"[Like an egg] we must be hatched or go bad."
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive."
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
"The safest road to hell is the gradual . . . without signposts."
"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-face and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."
Or as Solomon put it in Proverbs:
"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall . . There is a [high]way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the [high]ways of death."
"Broad" is the way that leads to death, but narrow is the straight path.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, BUT EAT, DRINK, AND BE WARY (be wary of the liars in politics, academia, and the media).
PPS: My nomination for the quotation-of-the-year (2009) is "YOU LIE" by Congressman Joe Wilson [see www.renewamerica.com/columns/roberts/091229 ]
And whatever you do, don't miss the analysis of Climategate by Fred Hutchison [ www.renewamerica.com/columns/hutchison/091224 ].
Not to repeat myself, BUT — if they will lie to you about global warming, they'll lie to you about so-called health care "reform," too. If we can still stop this madness, the life you save may be your OWN.
Oh, by the way, one of the worst quotations of the year was in the Detroit Free Press, the day after the attempted terrorist attack on the airliner:
"It was unclear Friday why the man wanted to attack the flight arriving from Amsterdam."
That slant on the news would be laughable if it were'nt so serious. I guess the writers of the article weren't the writer of the headline: "Man says he has Al-Qaida ties; may be charged . . . "
[Taxpayers are now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on "security" and medical care for two terrorists (counting the Ft. Hood shooter), and all some people can say is, "Why did he do it? Was it a cry for help?" Are we going stark raving mad?]
* * Roy W. Spencer, a research scientist at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, authored "CLIMATE CONFUSION; How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies That Hurt the Poor."
© Curtis Dahlgren
December 29, 2009
"Environmental alarms have been screeching for so long that, like car alarms, they are now just irritating background noise." — N.Y. Times (3/12/05) www.renewamerica.com/columns/dahlgren/090209
"I am under no illusion that the new scientific evidence I have described will end the debate over whether mankind or nature is the primary driver of climate change. Quite the opposite, really. I am hoping that the debate will finally begin." — Dr. Roy Spencer (Townhall — January 2009)**
THE ENERGY SPENT ON FEAR TACTICS RE GLOBAL WARMING COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER SPENT ON REAL PROBLEMS SUCH AS THE HOUSING BUBBLE. But, "follow the money." Too many people were enjoying the "profits" of the real estate bubble. Facing the facts would have spoiled the fun. The same can be said now of the false "climate change" scare.
Besides that, not only were there big bucks to be made in "climate research," but it was so HIP! The "most highly evolved generation in history" loves nothing if not hipness and "change." Therefore I want to quote some "ancient" history, and words of wisdom, to wind down the year.
George Eliot said: *
I desire no future that will break the ties with the past.
It always remains true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.
Consequences are unpitying.
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.
He was like the cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.
An ass may bray a good while before he shakes the stars down.
An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry [and the elderly?].
Falsehood is easy, truth so difficult.
Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.
The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.
Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution.
Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.
No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.
But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current talk or even current philosophy ["conventional wisdom"].
Genius at first is little more than a great capacity for receiving discipline.
Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.
Quarrel? Nonsense; we have not quarreled. If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?
Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
Whether happiness may come or not, one should try and prepare one's self to do without it.
* "George Eliot" was actually the penname for one of England's first famous published women, Mary Ann Evans Cross (1819-1880).
[Given today's hip cultural climate, maybe I'd do better if I used the penname of a female, eh? Nah!]
P.S. I stumbled across Mary Ann Cross while checking out C.S. Lewis quotes at www.brainyquotes.com (they were listed as "similar writers"). The above quotations by "Eliot" could have been written today, or tomorrow even, they are so applicable to current events and events yet to come.
Incidentally, Lewis died on Cross' birthday on November 22, 1963 (the day JFK was assassinated).
Even as the "deist" Tom Paine left us a legacy in the 18th century, so did Eliot (Cross) in the 19th century, despite the fact that she was a bit of a rebel and drifted away from the religion in which she was reared. That's not always a bad thing automatically, but I want to close out 2009 with a few 20th century quotations attributed to C.S. Lewis:
"Their are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Alright, then, have it your way."
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make a more clever devil."
"[Like an egg] we must be hatched or go bad."
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive."
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
"The safest road to hell is the gradual . . . without signposts."
"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-face and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."
Or as Solomon put it in Proverbs:
"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall . . There is a [high]way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the [high]ways of death."
"Broad" is the way that leads to death, but narrow is the straight path.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, BUT EAT, DRINK, AND BE WARY (be wary of the liars in politics, academia, and the media).
PPS: My nomination for the quotation-of-the-year (2009) is "YOU LIE" by Congressman Joe Wilson [see www.renewamerica.com/columns/roberts/091229 ]
And whatever you do, don't miss the analysis of Climategate by Fred Hutchison [ www.renewamerica.com/columns/hutchison/091224 ].
Not to repeat myself, BUT — if they will lie to you about global warming, they'll lie to you about so-called health care "reform," too. If we can still stop this madness, the life you save may be your OWN.
Oh, by the way, one of the worst quotations of the year was in the Detroit Free Press, the day after the attempted terrorist attack on the airliner:
"It was unclear Friday why the man wanted to attack the flight arriving from Amsterdam."
That slant on the news would be laughable if it were'nt so serious. I guess the writers of the article weren't the writer of the headline: "Man says he has Al-Qaida ties; may be charged . . . "
[Taxpayers are now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on "security" and medical care for two terrorists (counting the Ft. Hood shooter), and all some people can say is, "Why did he do it? Was it a cry for help?" Are we going stark raving mad?]
* * Roy W. Spencer, a research scientist at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, authored "CLIMATE CONFUSION; How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies That Hurt the Poor."
© Curtis Dahlgren
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