People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world’s leading authority on global warming has told The Observer

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that people should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further…

Pachauri, who was re-elected the panel’s chairman for a second six-year term last week, said diet change was important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems - including habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle and other animals. It was relatively easy to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport, he said.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has also warned that meat consumption is set to double by the middle of the century.

‘In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,’ said Pachauri. ‘Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,’ said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian.

Now look — I like making jokes about global warming fanatics because I’m still not convinced that mankind has any say in the temperature of the planet. Even so, if we make it a few degrees hotter, I think that’s better than another ice age, right? (Remember, North America used to be under about 2 miles of solid ice. Also, I’ve read that global warming will cause another ice age. I guess I just can’t win.) But my mind is always open for new facts.

So let’s break this down: Dr. Pachauri — who is a vegetarian — wants the rest of the world to adopt his vegetarian eating habits. Now, that doesn’t disqualify his position that the planet should change their diets, but it certainly does raise some eyebrows.

I’m not sure that a reduction of cows as livestock would lead to a more carbon-neutral climate, though. I mean, What about all of the grass and plants that the cows feed off of? Do they not neutralize the carbon by converting it to oxygen? Perhaps the cows “emit” at a rate greater than the grass can absorb. But, cows can only “emit” when their bodies have taken in energy, so one might assume that the ratio of grass:cows is sort of a natural level. But I don’t know; I don’t have access to those sorts of numbers.

My point is, Don’t necessarily trust “authorities,” such as the UN. Dr Rajendra Pachauri is from India, where vegetarianism is practiced regularly (>30% of Indian citizens) for religious reasons. Once again, this doesn’t disqualify his position, but it raises a question of confirmation bias in his studies. Perhaps there are multiple benefits to the planet from eating meat that he overlooked? I’m not saying I know that to be true, but I am saying that I don’t know it to not be true.

Israel will not allow Iran to attain nuclear capability and if time begins to run out, Jerusalem will not hesitate to take whatever means necessary to prevent Iran from achieving its nuclear goals, the government has recently decided in a special discussion.

According to the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, whether the United States and Western countries succeed in thwarting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions diplomatically, through sanctions, or whether a US strike on Iran is eventually decided upon, Jerusalem has begun preparing for a separate, independent military strike…

Now the response from Iran:

A senior Iranian military commander has warned that any US or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic would start a new world war, the state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday…

“The unrestrained greed of the US leadership and global Zionism… is gradually leading the world to the edge of a precipice,” Jazayeri said, citing the unrest in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Georgia.

“It is evident that if such a challenge occurs, the fake and artificial regimes will be eliminated before anything,” he said, without naming any countries.

Iran does not recognise Israel, which is often described by officials in Tehran as a “fake regime.”…

Iranian officials have repeatedly said they have no intention of freezing enrichment and that the country is currently operating about 4,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges and installing several thousand more.

So Israel basically threatens Iran with war if they don’t back off their centrifuges, and Iran’s response is to not only not back down, but to ramp up the amount of centrifuges. Think gas is expensive now? Wait until the region is sporting some impressive mushroom clouds.

Now for some partisan opinion…

A war between Israel and Iran means a war between the US and Iran. Now remember — Iran is surrounded by Iraq on the west and Afghanistan — or a “hard place” (get it?) — on the east. This gives Iran literally no chance of winning this potential war save threatening a “scorched earth” policy (which only becomes severe if Iran develops nuclear capabilities).

If it’s executed properly with Israeli/US troops attacking the west and US/British troops attacking from the east, Iran will go down in a few days with minimal friendly losses; and from what I hear — which is frequently not the whole story — the people of Iran are good and domestic terrorism in Iran is non-exisistent, so the rebuilding process shouldn’t take too long. (Although that’s what we said about Iraq, too.)

My point is if war breaks out in the Middle East we have the potential to squash it almost immediately if we have proper war funding and authorization. I believe under a President John McCain this would be the case.

But what of a President Barack Obama? Would he make us fight this fight with our hands tied behind our back? Surely he must offer Israel at least some help, being that Israel is (arguably) our top military ally. But would he be willing to offer them our full help, and use both Iraq and Afghanistan as launching pads for strikes?

Either way, I think Israel is going to act whether we want them to or not; so at some point a choice by the US must be made.

Why don’t you tell me what you think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Let’s think: Why did Barack Obama choose Joe Biden? (1) It’s a safe pick, (2) He really needed an old white guy, and (3) He’s a straight-talker and won’t be afraid to play the “attack-dog” role…

… which explains why Palin is such a good pick. (1) She’s a safe pick (strictly pro-life, pro-gun, economically conservative), (2) She’s a fresh face that could easily woo disgruntled women voters away from Obama, and (3) She neutralizes Biden’s attack role.

How so? Because as a male politician, you can’t lay it on too thick against a female opponent. It’s not fair — sorry guys — but it’s the truth. Look at Rick Lazio against Hillary during the 2000 New York Senate race. He got nasty during a debate and it totally ruined his campaign. Take note, Mr. Biden.

Oh, it also restores some of the “maverick” image to McCain, who was assumed to have gone with the “safe” Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney; and that takes some of the “change” momentum out of Obama’s sails.

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An Iowa community college president resigned less than a week after a photo was published appearing to show him pouring beer into a young woman’s mouth.

The school’s board of trustees on Thursday unanimously approved Robert Paxton’s resignation. It also approved a severance package that officials said was valued at about $400,000…

The photo, which was published Saturday in The Des Moines Register, shows Paxton with a group of young people on a boat. He is holding a small keg above a young woman’s head. The Register said the photo was taken over the Fourth of July weekend at Lake Okoboji and sent to the paper unsolicited.

A message left at Paxton’s office wasn’t immediately returned Thursday. He previously defended the photograph, saying the keg shown was broken and wasn’t dispensing beer…

Haha, “the keg was broken.” Even if it was broken, that would mean he wasn’t pouring beer into a young girl’s mouth, merely trying his damndest to pour beer into a young girl’s mouth. And I guess that makes the photo explainable? Hmm.

Forget all of this though, my biggest question is, What did this guy tell his wife he was doing at the time? “Oh yeah honey, I’ll be home late today, big board meeting to go to.” Oops. I would have liked to be at the dinner table when the wife brought this story up.

Summer box office sets new record

[This summer,] almost everything worked for the studios.

The school’s-out movie season concludes this weekend, and domestic ticket sales so far total $3.9 billion, up a little more than 1% from last year’s record summer, according to Media by Numbers…

Don’t you dare speak of that naughty R-word “recession.” How can you have a bad economy and at the same time break record-numbers in the entertainment business? If gas prices were really hurting families and “middle-class” Americans, they wouldn’t be piling into their SUVs to see The Dark Knight for the 4th time.

Oh, what’s that? You want substative proof that the economy is strong? Ok, check this out:

Gross domestic product, or GDP, grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, its fastest pace in nearly a year, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The revised reading was much better than the government’s initial estimate of a 1.9 percent pace and exceeded economists’ expectations for a 2.7 percent growth rate.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned the economy will be weak through the rest of 2008. Economists believe growth will slow in the July-September quarter to a pace of around 1.5 percent, and will turn even weaker in the fourth quarter.

3.3% eh? Not too bad for a country waging 2 wars and fighting record gas prices at the same time. So don’t believe the politicians telling you that the whole country is going to fall apart soon — it won’t. At least not until Social Security and Medicare blow up in our face.

Also, let’s look at Bernanke’s estimate: a third quarter growth of 1.5%. Well, the government predicted 1.9% last quarter and ended up with 3.3%, so a 1.5% estimate should give us around 3% growth. I’ll take that.

A Connecticut youth baseball team with a phenomenal 9-year-old pitcher has been disqualified because its team is too good.

The team, Will Power Fitness, has an 8-0 record thanks in large part to pitcher Jericho Scott, the New Haven Register reports. His pitching is so fast and accurate, the Liga Juvenil De Baseball De New Haven asked the team’s coach, Wilfred Vidro, to replace him so he wouldn’t frighten other players.

“The spirit of the league was community, family, well-being, nurturing,” Peter Noble, the league’s attorney, told the Register. “It’s an extended family and it’s been disrupted.”…

The Scotts said the league - which is not affiliated with the Little League - wanted Jericho to play for a stronger team. The parents and the coach claim the reason is because that team is sponsored by a local barbershop where the league’s president currently cuts hair, the paper reported.

“If you keep these kids on the field you keep them off the streets,” Leroy Scott told the paper. “I’d rather have him [Jericho] in the midst of this controversy on the field than dealing drugs on a street corner.”

Most telling part about this? The quote from the league’s attorney, which talks about “community,” “nurturing,” and an “extended family.” My question is, Why is this pitcher not part of the family? How can the league claim to be “nurturing” if it’s so willing to exclude one particular member?

Notice how the league wants Jericho to “play for a stronger team.” That’s nice — the old “we know what’s good for you more so than you know” routine. Sounds like the same attitude of the people that want to take more of my tax money. (Of course I was going to tie politics into this post.)

Lastly, what’s up with Leroy’s quote? (Leroy is the father, I believe.) He talks about his son dealing drugs on a street corner. A 9 year-old? Really? Why does this guy have drugs on his mind? Wait to be a negative person, Leroy.

I’ve always subscribed to the theory that Obama’s skin color will bring him more votes than it will lose. And why? Because America is not a racist country — not anymore. Deal with it, victimizers.

The Bush administration is set to put a high-profile nuclear deal with Russia on hold, according to US diplomats.

Officials expect Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, to recommend that George W. Bush, president, recall the civil nuclear co-operation agreement from Congress in the wake of Russia’s conflict with Georgia…

Moscow has put great store in the civil nuclear co-operation deal, which would permit the potentially lucrative transfer of fuels and materials between the two countries. The US had earlier argued the agreement was needed to set up an international nuclear fuel bank in Russia.

The idea of such a facility, intended to dissuade countries from developing highly sensitive nuclear technologies, has won broad international support.

OK, it’s not that big of a deal, but still — US-Russia tensions aren’t looking good lately. Is this going to effect the 2008 election? Mmm…. not so much, because voters care much more about the economy than about what’s going on with Russia.

But the informed voter recognizes that McCain’s tough stance towards Russia — similar to Reagan’s treatment of the “Evil Empire” — was what worked in crumbling the Red Regime in the 80’s/early 90’s. What’s Obama’s foreign policy with Russia? I’m not sure; but I think it involves a lot of “talking,” followed up by “tough talks” with potential sanctions such as “not talking anymore,” or “talking less,” or “we’re not going to talk to you until you apologize.”

So let’s get down to business.

For Barack Obama: He needs the whitest, plainest, most white-breadish, most boring male pick possible. That rules out Hillary, Sibelius, and others, leaving Tim Kaine, Evan Bayh, and Joe Biden.

But it won’t be Biden — Obama’s already getting Delaware no matter what, and Biden’s experience will make Obama seem hesistant about his own. So scratch that one.

And it won’t be Tim Kaine, because he looks too much like Gumby.

But seriously, Tim Kaine can’t be the guy because he has almost less experience than Obama. If you can imagine that.

So who are we left with? Oh, yeah: Evan Bayh. He’ll be the one.

For John McCain: He needs a real conservative, although he did sound pretty good — and by “good” I mean “conservative” — at the Saddleback debate. But the bad news for McCain is that there is no real conservative out there waiting to be picked. Just Mitt Romney, a guy that outspent his Presidential opponents about 10:1 and only won one state (Michigan, where his dad was governor). Not exactly a guy with a base.

So I don’t know, I guess I’ll go with Romney, but I’m thinking it might be a wildcard. Maybe someone that’s really going to excite and unite the country; someone that has a history of fighting for America against foreign combatants, and is firmly behind the concept of American dominance. That someone — is Michael Phelps.

McCain/Phelps ‘08!