CHINA GOING CHRISTIAN

The latest post from China hand makes fascinating reading. He says that Christianity is thriving in China, even among Communist Party officials, and that China could well become a generally Christian country in the foreseeable future. Christmas trees are on sale, churches are open and well-attended, Christmas carols are widely and openly enjoyed and non-confrontational proselytizing is allowed. But the Christianity concerned has to be CHINESE Christianity. Links to overseas church organizations are frowned upon. That is certainly a problem for Catholics, given their doctrine of the magisterium of the Pope, but for more democratic forms of Christianity, there is no problem.

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GLOBAL COOLING

Every time there is unseasonably hot weather, someone is sure to tout it as evidence of global warming. Why not? It is no weaker than any of the other evidence that Greenies rely on. Opinion Journal therefore asks, rather sarcastically, but with perfect logic, why the present heavy winter in the Northern hemisphere is not seen as evidence of global cooling?

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GREENIE FASCISM

In his post of 4th., Lefty Australian economist, John Quiggin claims that there is a �preponderance of evidence in favor of global warming� but admits that there are �remaining uncertainties�. He concludes nonetheless that we should start acting as if the case were proven. This despite the fact that the �uncertainties� are large indeed. See Amax, John Daly and Aaron Oakley for just a sampling of them.

Why does Quiggin advocate such an unscientific approach? A large clue might be his statement a little later on that: �I haven't changed my fundamental views in the thirty years since Gough Whitlam was elected.� In other words he still identifies with Australia�s most notorious episode of crazy and dysfunctional Leftism. For background on Whitlam, see here. The Red/Green connection is alive and well.

I wonder does Quiggin realize who was recent history�s chief advocate of �action first�? Yep. It was a fellow Leftist, Benito Mussolini, the founder of Fascism.

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BLACK BEHAVIOUR AT SCHOOL

Realism about differences in black behaviour reported in the �Los Angeles Times�, no less!

(Subscriber registration is needed but use �sabertooth1� for both your subscriber name and password and Voila!)

Link via Razib of �Gene Expression� and my fellow psychometrician, Kimberly Swygert of �No 2 Pencil�

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REGRESSIVE POTEMKIN

The Tugboat Potemkin has churned its paddlewheels gaily once again and naughtily misrepresented one of my more academic posts -- of December 2nd. I pointed out that the phenomenon of �regression to the mean� explains the lower school performance of middle class black children. Potemkin misrepresents that as a claim that the lower performance is a statistical artifact. It is not, of course. The lower achievement levels are REAL -- however we explain them.

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ORWELL

There is an excellent short review of the life of George Orwell here which stresses how it was Orwell�s realism that cut him off from his fellow Leftists. The article also reports how the Left nearly succeeded in strangling Orwell�s writings at birth. The article includes a review of the recent book on Orwell by Christopher Hitchens.

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WOGGERY

I wonder how many people got the joke in a recent posting on WogBlog? He was supporting our Prime Minister�s declaration that Australia would send forces to attack terrorists even outside Australia if they threatened Australia -- and in his argument in support of our PM said: �I expect the PM to protect me, and my car, from terrorists�. �Wogs� (Australians of Mediterranean ancestry) are of course famous for their pride in their cars. It gave me a chuckle anyway.

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HYPOCRISY ABOUT �SEXISM�

�Best of the Web� of 5th. has an excellent enquiry about the beatup surrounding the admission of women to the Augusta golf club:

No one cares if Augusta admits women or not, except for the Times and a group called the National Council of Women's Organizations, which together have contrived this whole phony debate. (Incidentally, how come "women's organizations" are kosher, but a men's golf club isn't?)

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