Turkish anger at US Armenian 'genocide' vote

Armenian-Americans have lobbied for official use of the word "genocide"

Turkey has reacted angrily to a US congressional panel's resolution describing as genocide killings of Armenians in World War I.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had been accused of a crime it did not commit, adding the resolution would harm Turkish-US relations.

Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and says it is considering other responses.

Correspondents say it is still an extremely sensitive issue in Turkey.

The government of Turkey, a key American ally and fellow Nato member, had lobbied hard for the American Congress not to vote on the issue.

The White House had also warned that the vote would harm reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.

Delegation

The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

It calls on President Barack Obama to ensure that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide" and to label the World War I killings as such in his annual statement on the issue.

It was approved by 23 votes to 22 by the committee.

ANALYSIS Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Washington Ankara has already withdrawn its ambassador from Washington for consultations - in reaction to what will be seen as a significant international insult. Washington will now be working hard to limit any further diplomatic fallout. As one of the United States' most important allies in the Muslim world, Turkey's influence is important on both Iran and Afghanistan. And the cheapest and safest way of extracting American soldiers from Iraq next year would be from neighbouring Turkey - if the diplomatic atmosphere permits.

A Turkish parliamentary delegation had gone to Washington to try to persuade committee members to reject the resolution.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says Turkey must be hoping that, as with a similar resolution two years ago, the issue will not come to the floor of the House for a full vote.

In 2007, it passed the committee stage, but was shelved after pressure from the George W Bush administration.

Turkey accepts that atrocities were committed but argues they were part of the war and that there was no systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Armenian people.

The Armenian government welcomed the vote, calling it "an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity".

'Too important'

MASS KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks in 1915-6 Many historians and the Armenian people believe the killings amount to genocide Turks and some historians deny they were orchestrated More than 20 countries regard the massacres as genocide Q&A: Armenian genocide dispute

During his election campaign Mr Obama promised to brand the mass killings genocide.

In October last year, Turkey and Armenia signed a historic accord normalising relations between them after a century of hostility.

Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.

Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as genocide - and more than 20 countries have done so.

Source

China 'must reduce rich-poor gap' - Premier Wen

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing

Mr Wen set out policy goals for the coming year

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said China must reverse its widening income gap between rich and poor.

He said benefits of a growing economy - expected to expand by 8% this year - should be distributed more fairly.

In a major speech at the start of China's annual parliamentary session, the premier also said the economy needed restructuring.

He wants Chinese firms to improve their ability to innovate, producing high-tech and high-quality products.

The premier's comments came in a wide-ranging speech delivered in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, where the largely ceremonial parliamentary session is being held.

In the keynote speech, Mr Wen reviewed the government's work over the past 12 months and set out its policy goals for the coming year.

Registration reform

The speech touched on many issues, but on a number of occasions the premier spoke about the need to make China a fairer society.

"We will not only make the 'pie' of social wealth bigger by developing the economy, but also distribute it well," Mr Wen told about 3,000 delegates, returning to a theme that he has often spoken about during his premiership.

"[We will] resolutely reverse the widening income gap," he added later, in a speech that lasted more than two hours.

As part of that project, the premier said China would reform the household registration system that classifies people as either city or rural dwellers.

This controversial system means many migrant workers - farmers who travel to towns and cities to find better-paid work - are unable to get proper services.

"[We will] gradually ensure that they receive the same treatment as urban residents in areas such as pay, children's education, healthcare, housing and social security," he said.

But Mr Wen did not outline what policies would be introduced to achieve that aim, and when they would come into force.

And, importantly, he said reforms would only be carried out in towns and smaller cities, suggesting the system would remain in place in big urban centres such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Mr Wen also addressed what he called a "complex situation" facing the economy, which he said should expand by 8% this year.

Fuelled by innovation

Last year China was desperate to keep the economy growing following a global downturn that left many Chinese people without jobs.

But now, having weathered the worst of that crisis, Premier Wen said China needed to concentrate on restructuring the economy.

"This is a crucial year for…accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development," he said.

He wants future growth to be fuelled by innovation.

China should also expand consumer demand by getting people to spend on such things as tourism, fitness and other services.

Delegates to the Chinese parliament are appointed, not elected, but in his speech Premier Wen indicated that he does listen to those outside the government.

Many people across China are currently concerned about rising house prices that mean many cannot afford a home.

Mr Wen said China would do something about it.

Source

China's democratic 'window dressing'

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing

China is keen to refute accusations that it is a one-party state

University professor Xu Hui is a rare breed of politician in China - he is not a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr Xu is the vice-chairman of the China Democratic League (CDL), one of eight non-communist political parties in China.

China's government makes a big deal of these parties in an attempt to prove that the country is not a one-party state.

Their members are taking part in this year's annual parliamentary session, which begins on Friday.

But while they do offer advice to the communists - and sometimes criticism - these parties are little more than "window dressing".

In reality, the Communist Party stifles genuine, open debate and often locks away those who express alternative political agendas.

The eight democratic parties, as they are termed, were formed before the communists took power in China in 1949.

They include the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) and the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party (CPWDP).

Mr Xu is vice-chairman of the biggest party, the CDL, which has more than 200,000 members scattered across the country.

Party members are, like Mr Xu, mostly intellectuals; many of them are involved in the education or health sectors.

The vice-chairman is currently in Beijing to take part in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body that meets at the same time as China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).

Disagreements

As he relaxed in his hotel room before the start of the CPPCC, he told the BBC that his party plays a vital role in China's political system.

"We go to the countryside, we go to factories, and we go to schools and universities," said the softly spoken professor.

In our system it's much easier to reach agreement and to put our policies into reality Xu Hui

"We talk to people and try to sum up their problems, reach recommendations and then present our reports to the government."

Sometimes the government acts on this advice, sometimes it does not, said Mr Xu.

He said his party, on occasion, disagreed with the communist-led government - as with the pace of change in the education sector.

But the eight democratic parties do not get into public arguments with the communists - that is not their job.

Under the Chinese system, the role of these non-communist political parties is to advise the communists, not to challenge their position as the ruling party.

As the government states on its main website: "The [Chinese Communist Party] and the democratic parties are totally equal under the constitution, but politically the latter are subject to the leadership of the former."

They might be subject to communist control, but the existence of these parties allows the Chinese government to claim that the country is not a one-party state.

Showing people that they listen to those outside the communist party is important to China's leaders, according to Willy Lam, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

He said the government has often put these non-Communist Party members in senior positions at both the central and provincial level.

But he added: "It's not too cynical to say that this is just window dressing."

'Not ready'

Real political debate is not encouraged by the government in China; it is conducted in internet chat rooms or in the privacy of people's own homes.

Liu Xiaobo: 20 years of activism Mystery of China's missing lawyer

People who openly challenge the government are often prosecuted.

Writer and dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December for co-writing Charter '08, a manifesto calling for political change in China.

One of the things Mr Liu called for in the manifesto is an abolition of the Communist Party's monopoly on power.

But that is not something that Mr Xu thinks could - or even should - happen in China in the foreseeable future. He said the country is simply not ready for it.

Indeed, in some respects Mr Xu thinks China's political system has advantages over those used in the West.

"In our system it's much easier to reach agreement and to put our policies into reality," he said, referring to the lack of formal constraints on the ruling party's power.

"In some countries they spend a very long time discussing a small problem. If they cannot get agreement, the work is just put aside."

And that, for Mr Xu, appears to be the heart of the issue. Getting things done efficiently with the minimum of fuss - and no dissent - is the ideal system. No wonder the Communist Party likes him.

Source

Legal limbo stalls Thailand industry

New projects at the Map Ta Phut petro-chemical hub have been stalled

By Rachel Harvey BBC News, Bangkok

Thailand's economic prospects could be put in jeopardy because of a continuing dispute at a huge industrial complex.

Recent figures on GDP and exports have been encouraging for the Thai government.

But economists and investors are warning that two major factors have the potential to derail Thailand's nascent recovery.

One is political instability. The other is the legal morass at Map Ta Phut.

Map Ta Phut is one of the biggest petro-chemical hubs in the world.

It is the size of a small town built of gleaming steel pipes, storage tanks and chimney stacks, jutting out into the sea; an industrial peninsula clearly visible from the white sand beaches and fishing villages on either side.

Map Ta Phut has been driving Thailand's industrial growth for decades.

I want the government to know that we are suffering mentally as well as physically Noi, resident near Map Ta Phut

But last September the Constitutional Court put the brakes on.

Local environmentalists successfully argued that several new projects were in breach of pollution laws.

The laws were part of the 2007 constitution, but because there have been so many changes of government in Thailand in recent years, the regulations were never properly established.

Companies could not possibly comply.

Thailand's political turbulence left a legal loophole which was successfully exploited by the environmentalists.

The court ruled that more than 70 projects should be suspended.

Mr Chainoi says environmental guidelines have not been made clear

A handful have since been allowed to continue, but more than 60 projects remain stalled - 25 of those, some $4bn-worth (£2.6bn) of investment, belong to the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, PTT.

"It's not that we tried to evade or tried not to follow the new requirements," said Chainoi Puankosoom, the CEO of PTT Aromatics and Refining.

"It's just that we don't know how to follow it."

Mr Chainoi says his company has gone out of its way to ensure that all environmental and health impact assessments are completed properly.

But according to the law, those assessments should go before an independent panel of experts to be signed off. The panel has never been established.

Local complaints

The legal limbo has made investors, domestic and foreign, increasingly nervous.

Lenders and contractors are seeking reassurance that contracts will be honoured.

Japanese firms are involved in several joint ventures in Map Ta Phut.

Jo Jitsukata, president of the Japanese chamber of commerce in Thailand, warned that although current agreements were probably safe, if the dispute drags on, future investors might be deterred.

"From the investor's view, what's the rule?" he asked.

Juan said pollution from the Map Ta Phut complex was increasing

"Already we are committed to the projects and borrowed the money from the bank. That's a big problem for investors.

"Not only for the Japanese, but also Thai investors and other foreign investors."

The legal dispute may be recent, but the complaints of local villagers are long standing.

Juan, 67, and Noi, 71 have been living in the shadow of Map Ta Phut for 16 years.

Juan expertly wielded a well-worn hoe to remove weeds growing around her fruit trees as she talked.

As the industrial plant has grown, she told me, the air quality has got progressively worse.

"The mangoes are much smaller than they used to be," she said.

"The tree has flowers, but there is not so much fruit. And look at the dark dust on the banana leaves."

Juan's husband Noi sat quietly in the shade. Six of the elderly couple's relatives have died of cancer.

"Whenever I think about it I feel very bitter inside," Noi said, his voice cracking with emotion as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Noi said he doesn't know if pollution is to blame for his loss.

"I'm not a clever man," he said, but he wants his concerns taken seriously.

"I want the government to know that we are suffering mentally as well as physically."

Precedent set

The government is listening. It is now providing peripatetic clinics providing free health checks for local people.

Samples of blood and urine are taken; eyes and skin are checked for any ailments.

There is even a mobile X-ray machine, mounted inside a shiny new bus.

Mobile clinics check the health of people living near Map Ta Phut

The clinics fulfil two functions - providing basic care and reassurance for the local population while at the same time gathering potentially valuable data.

The government is also trying to sort out the legal limbo over Map Ta Phut.

A special committee, including representatives from all sides of the argument, has been set up to resolve outstanding differences.

Eventually, most, if not all, of the suspended projects will be allowed to continue. Thailand simply cannot afford its industrial heart to stop pumping.

Whatever the outcome, Suthi Achasai, one of the environmentalists who brought the legal case to court, believes the Map Ta Phut dispute has set an important precedent.

"People in other areas will now be more aware and more careful of any kind of development that's similar to this," he told me, as we stood next to the beach, with Map Ta Phut's distinctive skyline dominating the horizon.

"Lessons have been learned here. The private sector can't take things for granted anymore and the government knows it has to enforce the law."

Environmentalists like Suthi are demanding accountability. Investors want legal clarity.

Thailand's economic future depends on them learning to live together.

Source

How Chile's quake could have shortened a day

Nasa scientists believe Chile's devastating earthquake may have speeded up the Earth's rotation and shortened the length of a day.

Researcher Richard Gross and his colleagues at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California calculated that Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake could have cut 1.26 microseconds off the length of a day.

Not that anyone would notice however - as that's one-millionth of a second.

But why does movement in the Earth's crust give the planet an apparent turbo boost?

< href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/dhtml_slides/css/v2/styles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> How an earthquake could shorten a day The Earth is not a perfect sphere. It is pinched in slightly at the poles and bulges at the equator. As such, it rotates with a wobble just like a spinning top. However, changes in the distribution of mass can affect this spin. In the same way a skater speeds up a spin by pulling in their limbs, a quake can make the Earth rotate faster by nudging some of its mass closer to the planet's axis. Movements in atmosphere and oceans can have a similar effect. Nasa calculates the quake in Chile shifted mass to such an extent that it changed the rotation rate to shorten a day by about 1.26 microseconds, or one millionth of a second. Source: Nasa, British Geological Survey The Earth is not a perfect sphere. It is pinched in slightly at the poles and bulges at the equator. As such, it rotates with a wobble just like a spinning top. However, changes in the distribution of mass can affect this spin. Brian Baptie, of the British Geological Survey, explains how the Earth's lack of rigidity is what allows changes to the planet's rotation - and the length of a day. "The earth is not rigid and movements of its constituent parts, including the atmosphere and oceans, occur. These effects introduce a wobble - a movement of the Earth's axis - which is small but detectable," he says. "A small wobble can be caused as a result of great earthquakes like the recent event in Chile and Indonesia on 26 December 2004, due to the movement of mass close to the earth's surface, but it will only be marginally detectable by the most sensitive instruments and is not a cause for concern." Using the same mathematical model as it used for Chile, the Nasa team had estimated the 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004 would have shortened a day by 6.8 microseconds. But, as Nasa and other scientists also point out, the Earth's rotation rate changes all the time as a result of variations in winds and ocean currents, and doesn't have much practical consequence for people because of the tiny amount of time involved.

Source

What future for capitalism?

What future for capitalism?

Empire looks at the impact of US-style capitalism on economies across the world [AFP] Two years after the bubbles of the world's financial fantasy have burst with spectacular effect, millions have lost their homes, millions more have lost their jobs, and economies around the world continue to stumble. THIS MONTH'S GUESTS STUDIO GUESTS Professor Joseph Stiglitz Nobel prize-winning economist Tariq Ali Editor of the New Left Review Ann Pettifor Fellow of the New Economics Foundation Dr Ruth Lea Economic advisor for Arbuthnot Banking Group INTERVIEWEES David Rothkopf Author of Superclass: How the rich ruined our world Dr Christopher Davidson Author of Dubai: The vulnerability of success Joanna Tatchell Author of A Diamond in the Desert: Behind the scenes in the world's richest city Jim Krane Author of City of Gold: Dubai and the dream of Capitalism The West's masters of the universe had promised global prosperity, persuading much of the world to worship before the three gods of modern capitalism: privatisation; de-regulation; and global economic 'liberalisation'. But as their economic trinity unravelled, turning market fantasies into public nightmares, those same individuals and institutions responsible for the mess were called in to clean it, and pave the way for a better future. In the process, the banks that benefited mostly from crony capitalism and got us into this mess continue to reward themselves handsomely, as tax payers pick up the tab. Empire asks: What does the future hold for crony capitalism? And what are the alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation? This episode of Empire airs from Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 1900; Thursday: 0300, 1400; Friday: 0600; Saturday: 1900; Sunday: 0300.

Source

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Commentary

I'll try and find the episode on youtube where it's usually posted, but this was a VERY very good episode on globalization, regulation, and our financial collapse.

The ending as well was very good and put everything in perspective with a joke.

Every Central Falls teacher fired, labor outraged

Every Central Falls teacher fired, labor outraged

10:00 AM EST on Wednesday, February 24, 2010

By Jennifer D. Jordan

Journal Staff Writer

Central Falls High graduates gather in support of the teaching staff during Tuesday’s meeting in which all 93 teachers were fired.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The full force of organized labor showed up in Central Falls Tuesday, with several hundred union members rallying in support of the city’s teachers and bringing plenty of harsh words for the education officials who were about to fire the entire teaching staff at Central Falls High School.

Video

Board fires every Central Falls High School teacher

More projo videos

“This is immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful and disrespectful,” said George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, to shouts and cheers from a crowd of more than 500 at Jenks Park. “What is happening here tonight is the wrong thing … and we’re not going to put up with it.”

Signaling the national significance of the situation in Central Falls, the American Federation of Teachers sent representative Mark Bostic with a message of support from the union’s 1.4 million members.

“We are behind Central Falls teachers, and we will be here as long as it takes to get justice,” said Bostic.

Meanwhile, state and local education officials received some high-powered support of their own, when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan weighed in, saying he “applauded” them for “showing courage and doing the right thing for kids.”

After the vote, Central Falls juniors Ana Leiva, left, and Amanda Mendez are visibly upset.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

Busloads of teachers from across the state turned out.

“I think the real goal is to bust the unions,” said Julie Boyle, an English teacher at Coventry High School. “Sometimes a teacher is the only touchstone in a student’s life. I’m sad for the students who will lose their touchstones.”

Just an hour after the rally, the Central Falls school Board of Trustees, in a brief but intense meeting, voted 5-2 to fire every teacher at the school. In all, 93 names were read aloud in the high school auditorium — 74 classroom teachers, plus reading specialists, guidance counselors, physical education teachers, the school psychologist, the principal and three assistant principals.

Each educator stood as their name was called, many wearing red, one of the school’s colors. Some cried.

“Shame on you,” a few of the teachers shouted at the trustees and Supt. Frances Gallo.

Leslie Estrada Yes

The state’s tiniest, poorest city has become the center of a national battle over dramatic school reform. On the one side, federal and state education officials say they must take painful and dramatic steps to transform the nation’s lowest-performing schools. On the other side, teachers unions say such efforts undermine hard-won protections in their contracts.

Vladimir Ibarra Yes

“This is hard work and these are tough decisions, but students only have one chance for an education,” Education Secretary Duncan said, “and when schools continue to struggle we have a collective obligation to take action.”

Anna Cano Morales Yes

Duncan is requiring states, for the first time, to identify their lowest 5 percent of schools — those that have chronically poor performance and low graduation rates — and fix them using one of four methods: school closure; takeover by a charter or school-management organization; transformation which requires a longer school day, among other changes; and “turnaround” which requires the entire teaching staff be fired and no more than 50 percent rehired in the fall.

B.K. Nordan No

State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist moved swiftly on this new requirement, identifying on Jan. 11 six of the “persistently lowest-performing” schools: Central Falls High School, which has very low test scores and a graduation rate of 48 percent, and five schools in Providence. Gist also started the clock on the changes, telling the districts they had until March 17 to decide which of the models they wanted to use. Her actions make Rhode Island one of the first states to publicly release a list of affected schools and put into motion the new federal mandate.

Mary Lou Perez No

Gallo and the teachers initially agreed they wanted the transformation model, which would protect the teachers’ jobs.

But talks broke down when the two sides could not agree on what transformation entailed.

Gallo wanted teachers to agree to a set of six conditions she said were crucial to improving the school. Teachers would have to spend more time with students in and out of the classroom and commit to training sessions after school with other teachers.

Sonia Rodrigues Yes

But Gallo said she could pay teachers for only some of the extra duties. Union leaders said they wanted teachers to be paid for more of the additional work and at a higher pay rate — $90 per hour rather than the $30 per hour offered by Gallo.

Ana Cecilia Rosado Yes

After negotiations broke down, Gallo said she no longer had confidence the high school could be transformed and instead recommended the turnaround model. Gist approved Gallo’s proposal Tuesday morning and gave the district 120 days to develop a detailed plan.

Supt. Frances Gallo sought to have teachers agree to six conditions she said were crucial to improving the school.

Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers’ Union, said she is reviewing several legal options but has not decided what course of action she will take.

B.K. Nordan, one of two trustees who voted against firing all the teachers, nevertheless delivered some of the harshest words of the evening to the high school’s teaching staff. Nordan, a graduate of Central Falls High School, now works as a teacher in Providence.

Central Falls High School teachers, from left, Deloris Grant Edmanuel Gil and Dale Dearnley are among those who were called to stand as it was announced they were being fired Tueday night at the school Board of Trustees meeting.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

“I don’t believe this is a worker’s rights issue. I believe it’s a children’s rights issue,” Nordan said. “…By every statistical measure I’ve seen, we are not doing a good enough job for our students … The rhetoric that these are poor students, ESL students, you can imagine the home lives … this is exactly why we need you to step up, regardless of the pay, regardless of the time involved. This city needs it more than anybody. I demand of you that you demand more of yourself and those around you.”

A national dilemma

Even in a school system known for its academic troubles, the numbers at Philadelphia’s Vaux High School are jaw-dropping: More than 90 percent of 11th-graders tested last year could not read or do math at grade level.

But next fall, at least half the teachers at Vaux and 13 more of Philadelphia’s worst schools could be gone. And the school day, school week and school year could be longer.

While federal law has long allowed the overhaul of chronically failing schools, such extreme makeovers are likely to become more common because of more money from Washington, a growing consensus on education reform, and newfound willingness on the part of teacher unions to collaborate, experts say.

Minnesota expects to remake 34 schools by the time students return next fall. Philadelphia plans on transforming dozens in the coming years, and New Haven, Conn., has targeted some of its schools as well.

Associated Press

jjordan@projo.com

Source

Keith Olbermann Special Comment on His Father and Death Panels

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Commentary

I wish for both of them the best.

When money is taken out of the equation of life, you create something known as bliss.

Health care bliss is but a few steps away, should you only care to step forward, you will be in paradise.

Michael Moore Talks 'Capitalism: A Love Story' & More

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Commentary

• 1) Mandatory Public Financing (Political Reform)
• 2) Mandatory Monetary/Financial/Real Estate Reform
• 3) Mass Re-elections (2012, 2016)
• 4) Energy Independence

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without these, we are looking the iceberg in the eye, and we might as well hold on tight because it seems we'll hit it.

MPs quiz 'climategate' scientist

Professor Phil Jones: "I've obviously written some very awful e-mails"

MPs have quizzed the scientist at the centre of the "climategate" scandal, the first time he has been questioned in public since the row erupted.

Professor Phil Jones used his appearance before the science committee to say that he had done nothing wrong.

Earlier, critics told the MPs that the stolen e-mails, which appeared on the internet in November, raised questions about the integrity of climate science.

Lord Lawson called for scientists to be more open about their methodologies.

In November, more than 1,000 stolen messages between scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), based at the University of East Anglia (UEA), and their peers around the world were posted on the web, along with other documents.

Climate "sceptics" have claimed that the stolen data show that some researchers, including Professor Jones, have attempted to manipulate data in order to strengthen the argument that human activities are responsible for warming the planet.

They have also criticised Professor Jones for failing to make raw data and methodology available for public scrutiny, despite numerous Freedom of Information requests.

Question of trust

"The Freedom of Information Act should not have been brought into this," former Chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby, a longstanding critic of climate policy, told MPs.

The e-mails were stolen or leaked from the University of East Anglia

"Scientists of integrity reveal... all of their data and all their methods. They don't need Freedom of Information Act requests to get this out of them."

Also giving evidence alongside Lord Lawson was Dr Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".

Dr Peiser told the committee: "Of course, if you do not have the data sets or methods then you have to trust the word of a scientist.

"You cannot even see if he has done these calculations directly on the basis of solid data, and this is the core of this problem - it is not about the overall science, it is about the process."

When asked if his organisation was planning to carry out its own modelling, he replied: "We are not in the business of climate modelling."

Professor Jones, who has stepped down as the director of CRU pending the findings of an independent inquiry, told MPs: "We have given them the finished product available from the very beginning but not the raw [weather] station data.

"Most scientists do not want to deal with the raw station data, they would rather deal with a derived product."

When challenged about the contents of one of the stolen e-mails in which Professor Jones told a critic of his work that he would not make information available because the data would only be used to undermine his findings, he admitted that he had written a number of "very awful e-mails".

Professor Edward Acton, vice-chancellor of UEA, told the committee that it was not possible to make the entire international data set available because of a "commercial promise".

He explained that a number of contributing nations - including Canada, Poland and Sweden - had refused to make their segments of data publicly available.

The committee is expected to publish its findings before the general election.'

Source

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Commentary

I just want to reiterate one point, that the scientific community has lost on a NUMBER of issues. Science nowadays in a lot of ways, is not science. Why? Because of one simple reason, we want our opinions to become science.

Let me just drive home the message of what science really is:

He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".
He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".
He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".
He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".
He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".
He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".
He said that sound science was based on "testability, replication, and verification".

Keep your opinions to yourself. I want testable, replicable, and verifiable data and experiments.

Anything else is not Science, it's conjecture and hearsay.

Killer whales: What to do with captive orcas?

Killer whales: What to do with captive orcas?

Kalina, the first captive born orca, and her calf

By Matt Walker Editor, Earth News

The recent attack by a captive orca on its trainer at a SeaWorld facility in Orlando, Florida, has again raised questions about our relationship with these top marine predators.

No-one knows what triggered the latest incident, and experts agree that it is almost impossible to determine why the orca, called Tilikum, reacted as it did.

But it does highlight the tensions that occur when we choose to interact closely with these huge animals.

It is also debatable what to do with those orcas, also known as killer whales, that remain in captivity.

While we as humans might find it appealing to free a long-term captive animal, the survival and well being of the animal may be severely impacted in doing so Scientists reporting on attempts to return an orca named Keiko, star of the film Free Willy, back to the wild

"They are highly social animals that tend to live in cohesive groups, so it's quite an artificial environment to capture them and put them in a small area," says Dr Andrew Foote, an expert on wild orcas from the University of Aberdeen, UK

"The tragic events are a reminder that orcas are wild, strong and often unpredictable animals," says Danny Groves, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

Wild attacks

Reports differ, but there have been up to 24 attacks by captive orcas on people.

Contrary to popular perception, attacks by wild orcas on people have also been recorded, though no-one has been hurt.

Researcher Chris Pierpoint of the Marine Mammal Observer Association was working in Antarctica when he once subjected to a rather sophisticated, planned attack by a group of orcas.

Wild orcas in the region cooperate to hunt by swimming together towards seals resting on ice floes.

ORCA FACTS There are currently thought to be 42 orcas held in captivity around the world, with at least 10 born there In the wild, orcas join social clubs where different pods interact Earlier this year, it was discovered that two different types of orca are living off the UK

As they do so, they create a bow wave that washes the hapless seal from the ice and into the water.

"Chris Pierpoint had that done to him when in a rib in Antarctica," says Dr Foote, though he wasn't thrown overboard.

"A famous incidence occurred in the 1960s when a surfer was knocked off his board, but he was fine, the whale didn't bite."

A couple of years ago in Alaska, a child swimming in the sea also described how an orca made a bee-line toward him, before aborting a supposed attack at the last minute.

One idea is that air bubbles in neoprene wetsuits can confuse the echolocation of orcas, so they do not realise that they are approaching a person.

But the scarcity of such attacks underlines the difficulty in pinpointing their cause.

"It's really isolated incidences. Killer whales live in cold water so they don't overlap with people much," says Dr Foote.

Send them home?

What the latest attack by a captive orca reveals is just how little we still know about the animals, in captivity and in the wild.

For example, we are only just glimpsing how intelligent orcas really are and the complexity of their society.

However, few insights come from studying captive whales, though some have helped reveal their acoustic behaviour.

"The science doesn't justify the captivity. One thing I would hope is that this unfortunate incident might lead to a considered discussion on phasing out these marine parks."

So what can or should be done with captive orcas?

One option would be to prevent further deaths by restricting trainers from encroaching too close to the poolside.

Another would be to put down any whale considered too dangerous to be kept in captivity.

The final option, and that which on the surface appears the most palatable from an animals rights perspective, is to release those whales still in captivity back into the wild.

The WDCS has repeatedly called for captive whales to be returned, not least because captivity appears to drastically reduce their life expectancy.

But that is not as simple as it sounds.

A study published by US and Danish scientists last year in the journal Marine Mammal Science documents the attempts to return a killer whale named Keiko from captivity back to the ocean.

Captured in 1979 as a near two-year-old calf, Keiko found fame as the star of the 1993 family film Free Willy, after which public pressure grew to release him back to the wild.

Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport in 1998

Training for his reintroduction began in 1996, and after 2000 his trainers began taking him out into the sea on open ocean swims designed to prepare him for a wild life.

But Keiko rarely interacted with wild orcas, and never integrated into a wild pod.

He also struggled to learn how to hunt, making shallower and less frequent dives than wild whales.

Eventually, and despite the best efforts of his trainers, he could not break his need for human contact, and kept following or returning to the trainers' boat.

Keiko eventually died, still semi-captive in 2003.

"The release of Keiko demonstrated that release of long-term captive animals is especially challenging and while we as humans might find it appealing to free a long-term captive animal, the survival and well being of the animal may be severely impacted in doing so," the report's authors write.

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