Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Oh No! Pandemic! RUN!!!

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Swine Flu ‘outbreak’ to be a global pandemic, the first flu pandemic declared by the body since 1968. This is a real head-scratcher though. The WHO is clear in its declaration that the word ‘pandemic’ does not connote any particular level of severity, but merely geographic spread. The Swine Flu is, by all accounts, quite mild and relatively harmless by flu standards. It is being declared pandemic because it is present all around the world now after having started off in Mexico.

But . . . wait a minute here. The regular seasonal flu spreads worldwide twice each year, once in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter and again in the Southern Hemisphere’s. These regular, seasonal flus—which kill an average of 36,000 people in the United States annually—do not constitute a ‘pandemic’, so why does the Swine Flu? Even with the WHO declaring that the word ‘pandemic’ has nothing to do with severity, most people interpret the word as implying the disease is something they have to worry about. The media’s ongoing fascination with the Swine Flu as some kind of AIDS-like super-bug just adds to the insanity.

Let’s get some perspective. The Swine Flu’s current U.S. death toll is 50 in the U.S., out of 15,500 confirmed cases. The seasonal flu average is 36,000 deaths/year and 5-20 percent of the U.S. population (so about 15,300,000 cases in a mild year). By my calculation, the severity of the Swine Flu is thus currently about 0.14 percent or 0.10 percent the severity of the regular, un-newsworthy, un-pandemic, boring old seasonal flu, depending on whether you calculate based on deaths or the lowest average number of infections.

So let me join with the rest of the world and scream: IT’S A PANDEMIC! OH NO! RUN!

Now let’s go about our regular business like rational, thinking adults who aren’t particularly worried about the relatively small chance of catching a mild flu with a scary name . . . please?

Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?

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Raymond Ibrahim, associate director of the Middle East Forum and author of The Al Qaeda Reader, writes an incredibly detailed, accurate piece in Middle East Quarterly comparing the history of violence within and between the three major Abrahamic religions. The core question is the title of the piece: Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?

Those of us who have actually taken the time to honestly study the three Abrahamic religions and world history know the answer: No. Neither Judaism nor Christianity are as violent as Islam.

It has become ‘politically incorrect’ to say so, and this truth is constantly challenged by moral relativists and historical revisionists these days, but it remains the truth. Biblical, ‘Old Testament’ violence in the Judeo-Christian scriptures was always constrained and limited. It was directed at particular peoples and nations for limited times. Violence in the Qur’an is transcendent of time and space—standing orders from the Prophet Muhammad to slay and conquer non-Muslims.

Even the Crusades, oft cited as a prime example of Christian violence, are wholly misrepresented by many modern historians. While inexcusable atrocities certainly occurred during the Crusades, the conflicts were, at their core, retaliatory against the bloody Muslim invasions of southwestern Europe, the Holy Land, the Balkans, and elsewhere.

We need to stop kidding ourselves about the nature of Islam and the long-term intent of many of its adherents and leaders. That intent is, of course, to do exactly as the Qur’an instructs: convert the entire world to Islam through violence and subjugation.

Supreme Court Puts Chrysler Sale on Hold (Updated)

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The United States Supreme Court has issued a stay, putting the sale of Chrysler LLC to Italian automaker Fiat on hold. The Court gave no indication of when the stay might be lifted. Chrysler went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 30, and serious questions have been raised about the federal government’s involvement with Chrysler since it began receiving federal money in the waning days of the Bush administration.

One of the issues before the Supreme Court is a fundamental issue I’ve gone on and on about: under what authority did the federal government ‘invest’ in Chrysler? The initial auto bailout came from Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, which were intended by Congress to go only to financial firms. Using that money on auto companies was patently unconstitutional. Also before the court is whether it is proper for the federal government to force Chrysler’s investors and creditors to accept pennies on the dollar for what they are owed, and to give preferential treatment to certain creditors over others.

The right answer to all of these questions is, of course, that the federal government grossly overstepped its authority time and time again throughout this process, and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process has been so tainted by improper federal involvement that it must be dismissed entirely and started again. Whether the court will rule properly, however, is anybody’s guess. In the new socialist America, I suspect that the improperly orchestrated bankruptcy will be affirmed by the court.

I weep for the republic.

Update June 9, 2009: As I predicted, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear challenges to the Chrysler bankruptcy, thus allowing the tainted process to continue and clearing the way for the Fiat buyout.

Much Ado About Nothing

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You’d have to be living in a cave to have missed the big news from the last week. President Barack Obama (D) delivered a lengthy speech—over 6,000 words in length—in Cairo, Egypt. The speech was directed at the Muslim world and expressed the President’s desire to ‘reboot’ the relationship between the United States and the various Islamic nations and peoples throughout the world.

I applaud Obama’s efforts . . . although, as a realist, I’m not seriously expecting his speech to accomplish anything. The greater Islamic world-view is one focused on subjugation of other cultures, and a pleasant speech from the President of the United States won’t change that any more than the last three decades of pleasant speeches have. Having said that though, what struck me about Obama’s (admittedly well-delivered) speech was that he didn’t really say anything. Our previous president, George W. Bush (R), had a reputation for a glib, direct, almost dismissive style of communication. Obama, on the other hand, is quickly gaining a reputation for saying tons of nice-sounding words that, ultimately, don’t really say much more than those glib ‘Bushisms’ did.

So what did we learn from Obama’s long, eloquent speech? Well, we learned that the U.S. isn’t at war with Islam (but we knew that already). We learned that the U.S. wants peace and democracy in the middle east (but we knew that already). We learned that the U.S. doesn’t intend to maintain permanent bases in Iraq and we want to get out of Iraq as soon as we can without destabilizing it or the region (but we knew that already). We learned that U.S. policy with regard to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is that there should be an independent Israel and an independent Palestine living together in peace (but we knew that already).

Read more . . .

Palm WebOS Compatibility Note

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Palm Inc. launched its newest ‘Pre’ smartphone today. The Pre runs Palm’s brand new WebOS operating system, which replaces their ancient Palm OS platform, and has been touted as the first platform that might possibly challenge Apple’s iPhone.

It was my intent to initiate official support for the WebOS browser on this site today, since I’ve long been a fan of Palm and hope this new platform will be a raging success for them. Unfortunately, however, Palm has not yet released a WebOS emulator. Without an emulator, I can’t test my site. Without being able to test my site and make sure it works properly, I can’t officially support the browser.

I have adjusted the code of my site to automatically push the mobile version to WebOS users, but cannot verify its function at this time. As soon as Palm releases a WebOS emulator for developers, I will initiate official support. In the mean time . . . well . . . it probably works fine on everybody’s shiny new Palm Pres, but I make no promises.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.