tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11 2013-05-16T18:00:42Z covers politics, foreign policy, science, technology, media and culture with an eye toward issues of conflict between worldviews. It reports otherwise under-represented developments and discovers facts and points of view that otherwise might be missed in public dialogue. Contributors include former Discovery News ambassadors and elected officials, public policy fellows and writers nation-wide. Movable Type 5.12 tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72261 2013-05-16T17:41:02Z 2013-05-16T18:00:42Z

Georgia Tech, in concert with AT&T and a company called Udacity, is offering a master's degree online in computer science for only $7,000. If you actually go to Georgia Tech's campus and get your master's, the fare is $40,000. This...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 master's degree online in computer science for only $7,000. If you actually go to Georgia Tech's campus and get your master's, the fare is $40,000. This is the next wave of revolution in higher education. The halls of ivy have priced themselves out of the reach of the middle class, and even the upper middle class. Giving more "scholarships" is a way for the most-endowed schools to handle sticker shock, but that usually does not meet the needs of people who just don't want to pay so much for what increasingly is irrelevant, ideologically driven schooling. ]]> Wall Street Journal op-ed today, you may soon be required to take certain classes on race, gender, etc. The pressure for such silliness comes from student groups on that left that disrupt and silence events and speakers they don't like and apparently hold the faculty and senior management in thrall. Well, soon they can have their way. People who don't care to spend a small fortune to get propagandized--and are just too mature, frankly--will have financially agreeable options. If you want to learn skills for making a living, get an online degree. That's where we're going. If you want the satisfactions that come from stimulating and civilized learning, join a Great Books club!]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72241 2013-05-15T22:37:18Z 2013-05-16T01:09:27Z

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey will be in Washington, D.C. tomorrow to meet with President Obama, the main topic being the future of Syria, Turkey's embattled neighbor. In that connection, the President should ask him again about the...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 ">reopening of the Eastern Orthodox Halki Seminary. ]]> today in the 21st Century. In many ways, Turkey has advanced materially under its present government. One of the arguments for the Erdogan regime is that its express Muslim character is more forward-looking than its secular predecessors and more supportive of free enterprise. Peace with the Kurdish (also Sunni) minority has progressed admirably under Erdogan. Turkish cities are growing in cultural as well as economic terms. Turks generally are liked and respected in the world. Meanwhile, Erdogan supporters in Turkey want the West to cut the government some slack on the issue of headscarves for women in such public places as universities and government offices. Headscarves were banned in secularist days and some commentators believe that their acceptance leads inevitably to intense social pressure on all women to wear them, a return to veiling like that enforced in Iran. What is permitted today will be required tomorrow. And that leads to increasing intolerance of social differences--raising a whole range of issues of civil rights for women and freedom of religion for minority Christians. Maybe that concern is unduly pessimistic. If so, one way to dispel it is to exhibit proactive official toleration of Christians in Turkey. As is, they not only cannot open new churches (and couldn't under the secularists, either), let alone proslytize, but they also cannot even operate seminaries to prepare their clergy. America has been too slow in confronting Assad. However, before we go further in Syria actions it would be nice to have some understandings with Turkey and other neighbors of Syria about what that country will be like for all minorities once the fighting is over. And it would be nice for Turkey to show some leadership and set a more positive example on the topic of religious freedom in the region.]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72231 2013-05-15T18:15:00Z 2013-05-15T19:25:21Z

A stunning provincial election surprise in British Columbia Tuesday returns the more free enterprise Liberal Party to power with a larger majority over the left wing New Democrats (NDP). The NDP was expected to win--it was up eight to...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 A stunning provincial election surprise in British Columbia Tuesday returns the more free enterprise Liberal Party to power with a larger majority over the left wing New Democrats (NDP). The NDP was expected to win--it was up eight to nine points in pre-election surveys--because of supposed voter opposition to gas and oil pipelines to connect Alberta's energy fields to ocean shipment points in B.C. The NDP had pledged to stop the pipelines. The Liberals will exact environmental protections, but they support the pipeline expansions, especially the controversial Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline to ship Alberta tar sands crude oil through Burnaby, B.C. With the oil pipeline and the Enbridge Northern Gateway gas pipeline expansion both likely to get a go-ahead in B.C., Canada's leverage in persuading the Obama Administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline through the central U.S. probably is increased. Had the New Democrats, who oppose the B.C. pipelines, won yesterday, the national Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper would have lost a psychological advantage on the energy issue, as well as a practical alternative to Keystone. Now Mr. Harper can advise the Americans, either allow Keystone to go through or we will send our added energy supplies to China. The pipeline controversy was expected to hurt the incumbent government of British Columbian Premier Christy Clark. Instead Liberal Party strategists think it helped. British Columbians apparently were satisfied that the gas pipeline and the extension of an oil pipeline would not hurt the environment and would boost the province's economic future. This sentiment was plainly missed by pollsters going into the election. Photo Credit ]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72221 2013-05-15T05:15:18Z 2013-05-15T05:17:25Z

1) Reduce the size of government. 2) Reduce tax rates. 3) Increase criteria necessary for attaining non-profit (tax free) status....

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 1) Reduce the size of government. 2) Reduce tax rates. 3) Increase criteria necessary for attaining non-profit (tax free) status. tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72211 2013-05-15T03:10:39Z 2013-05-15T22:18:20Z

It seemed strange at the time, and it continues to seem strange: the radical Left in Europe (and the U.S.) and the Islamists fundamentalists in Iran were in effective alliance at the time of the Iranian revolution. The ramifications are...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 useful, if not exhaustive, analysis. ]]> Today's news carries stories of progressive outrage that the Obama Administration obtained records of AP phone messages in order to track down a leak about Yemen Islamist terrorists. Conservatives might want to tread carefully. The net cast by DOJ was very wide, raising questions of propriety. On the other hand, does the government have no defense against leakers who endanger national security? Why support the Left in this cause?]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72131 2013-05-13T22:18:35Z 2013-05-13T22:53:14Z

A Saudi Arabian has been detained as he entered the US at Detroit carrying a pressure cooker in his luggage. The Tsarnaev brothers' weapon of choice, the pressure cooker apparently can be converted to a bomb following directions online,...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 A Saudi Arabian has been detained as he entered the US at Detroit carrying a pressure cooker in his luggage. The Tsarnaev brothers' weapon of choice, the pressure cooker apparently can be converted to a bomb following directions online, courtesy of al Qaida. Will we soon have pressure to ban pressure cookers? Well, some Miami-Dade County students have a petition for just that cause. Williams-Sonoma already has taken pressure cookers off their store shelves. Can Crate&Barrel be far behind? ]]> But, if pressure cookers are outlawed, only outlaws will have pressure cookers. tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72111 2013-05-13T19:06:53Z 2013-05-17T23:19:23Z

The recent local election successes of the UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) have shaken everybody up, even the Labour Party. Regarding the EU Prime Minister Cameron wants to mend it rather than end it, and President Obama has given him...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 Obama has given him his blessing. Cameron also is proposing a free trade zone with the U.S. and Britain, which has long made sense. But it is hard to see how that works--unless one of two things happens. 1) Britain exits the Eurozone, or 2) part of "fixing" the EU is to abandon much of the regulatory regime and to make freer trade among free market/democratic countries a stronger standard going forward. The "fix", in that case, means an end to the EU as we know it and a new free trade zone that includes Europe and North America. ]]> including large part's of the governing coalition. So pressure for a "fix" is not just coming from the UK. The EU was a great idea so long as it was a trade zone that harmonized markets. The regulatory and bureaucratic over-reach of Brussels has finally caught up with the project, however, and so has the practical toleration of unsustainable spending by member states like Greece. One way or another, "re-form" seems to be coming.]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72051 2013-05-10T00:14:30Z 2013-05-13T19:52:21Z

The way to trouble the pro-life advocate is to ask what he or she would do in the case of "rape or incest". That question tripped up at least two U.S. Senate candidates last fall and led to their defeats....

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 after-birth abortions, an idea that literally was only the stuff of satirical invention a couple of decades ago. But in 1997 "ethicist" Steven Pinker of Harvard more or less defended the practice in an article in the New York Times. That helped break the taboo among some, though hardly all, progressives. Regarding Gosnell, it is said that the disgusting conditions of his clinic, the insensitive, even cruel treatment of women there and the readiness to "snip" the spinal cords of babies born alive after an abortion attempt shows the need for better facilities under nicer conditions. ]]> op-ed appeared in The Washington Times. At Discovery Institute we ask the question (in various contexts), What does it mean to be human? Regarding abortion, for decades it was never about babies already born.Killing infants is what the Molochites did in the ancient Middle East. It has caused people to shudder ever since. But not any more?]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.72031 2013-05-09T20:54:03Z 2013-05-13T22:55:22Z

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the petty crook and video-maker in Los Angeles who was made the fall guy for the Benghazi killings, was the subject of a discussion with my Discovery colleagues yesterday before I blogged "Free Nakoula". Was I going...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 Instapundit been on this topic for months, but today Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, also has a fine piece on "The Benghazi Patsy" at Politico.com. Remember, after the killings, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised the father of one of those killed that the maker of the video would be "arrested and prosecuted." Indeed, he was. And he is still in jail, though ostensibly for parole violation. ]]> de facto violation of the First Amendment by the L.A. judge? Fall guy, patsy, scape goat. How did Nakoula wind up taking the blame for what in reality was White House and State Department mismanagement of the Benghazi crisis? Why was he given such a long (one year) sentence for a parole violation that was not even related to his original crime? I hope you will find others taking up these questions in coming days. ]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.71991 2013-05-08T22:57:36Z 2013-05-11T00:19:11Z

America is supposed to be a country that doesn't have political prisoners. But Nakoula Basseley Nakoula looks increasingly like one, a small time Los Angeles crook made a scape goat to cover up the Obama Administration's failure in Libya and...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 He has just testified to Congress, "I was stunned. My jaw dropped." ]]> I wrote about this last fall, and so did others, of course, but nothing has been done to free Nakoula. There's no excuse for keeping him in jail any longer. ]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.71981 2013-05-08T22:22:24Z 2013-05-09T01:23:27Z

One of saddest qualities of ego-driven politics is some new office-holders' refusal to learn from their predecessors. I have seen it in local, state and national governments. One would think that the newly elected official would be eager to learn...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 One of saddest qualities of ego-driven politics is some new office-holders' refusal to learn from their predecessors. I have seen it in local, state and national governments. One would think that the newly elected official would be eager to learn all he can from those who went before, especially since there is no longer any threat to his own position. Instead some new office-holders think that the people who had a job before couldn't possibly know as much about the office they just left it as does the newcomer. For example, take the case of Dixy Lee Ray, who followed Daniel J. Evans as governor in Washington state in 1976, a job for which Evans did not seek re-election. The outgoing governor and his staff prepared a file cabinet full of precise status reports on government agencies for his successor. But these reports were contemptuously tossed aside. That was a sign of hubris, not any warranted confidence. Clark Judge comments today on the continuing failure to learn from past administrations--not just W's--how to handle foreign policy crises. Benghazi is the case in the news today, but it is not alone. "For example, what was going on with President Obama's 'red line' comment about chemical weapons in Syria? OK, he overstepped his talking points, as we have been told (is this an instance of protecting the boss or blaming him?). But didn't anyone then ask, if Syria now does indeed use chemical weapons, what will our red line be? The failure here was not the comment - or not just the comment. It was the follow-up. What was the protocol? "Again and again the administration appears to have no regular procedures for acting on national security matters or recovering from missteps. "Take the Fast and Furious scandal. This wasn't just a Justice Department fiasco. Whatever Attorney-General Eric Holder and others in his clown car intended, they ended up making a series of significant weapons shipments to the deadliest enemies of the democratic country and ally with which we share our southern border. Since then, it has been all cover up, no follow up. What did the president and his administration do to make amends to the Mexican government and help them deal with the mess Mr. Holder and company had created? Where was the protocol?" The Benghazi story is one of the most spectacular cases, of course. Foolishly, the Obama Administration committed itself to a story line that al Qaida was all but destroyed with the death of Bin Laden. That boast put the White House in the position of having to spin or ignore any new attack that might happen. When, during the presidential campaign, the attack happened in Libya, it had to be represented as the result of a U.S. made video. The media largely complied with this transparent fiction. Eventually the truth comes out. By that time, alas, the public has lost interest. That may the real protocol that is in operation.]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.71961 2013-05-07T21:44:26Z 2013-05-07T22:00:00Z

It is an irony that the Reinhart-Rogoff study on national debt's role in limiting economic growth was not widely known until the left started pummeling it recently. It was ushered into prime time by Rachel Maddow at MSNBC as if...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 It is an irony that the Reinhart-Rogoff study on national debt's role in limiting economic growth was not widely known until the left started pummeling it recently. It was ushered into prime time by Rachel Maddow at MSNBC as if it were a new Watergate scandal. (Bengazigate gets no such attention.) Reinhart-Rogoff had omitted some data that changed the nature of their claim that after 90 percent national debt, economies flag. But, after they corrected their data, the validity of their main argument remains. Our Discovery Senior Fellow Scott Powell finds it all distracting. You don't need the Reinhart-Rogoff study to know that governments that borrow to much are also borrowing trouble. letter on debt graced Monday's Wall Street Journal editorial page, had a dry after-thought. The controversy over the Reinhart-Rogoff study has had the useful effect of causing more people to take notice of the debt issue. They'd better. The federal deficit is going down a few hundred million this year ($700 billion, versus $1 trillion last year), but the debt keeps growing! Says Powell, "One (other) positive that I see in the Reinhart-Rogoff controversy is the reminder that ideas have consequences. The fact that big spenders and Keynesians of many stripes jumped all over the error to discredit them reveals how important their empirical work has been to this debate. Prior to this flap, I figured their work was an academic sideshow. So it was good to see just how much influence their work has had. Perhaps a small sign of hope." ]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.71851 2013-05-03T23:47:28Z 2013-05-04T00:38:51Z

The three major parties in Britain are faced tonight with a huge movement of votes in local elections to the relatively new United Kingdom Independence Party. UKIP's main issue, ironically, is Britain's place in the European Union. Essentially, the Establishment...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 The three major parties in Britain are faced tonight with a huge movement of votes in local elections to the relatively new United Kingdom Independence Party. UKIP's main issue, ironically, is Britain's place in the European Union. Essentially, the Establishment is out of sorts. The UKIP has been dismissed as "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" by Prime Minister Cameron, who now has to explain that, of course, he is not talking about the roughly quarter of the country that voted UKIP. Still, alarm bills are ringing in political party offices and teeth are gnashing in newspaper editorial offices and the BBC. It reminds me again of the old Noel Coward song, "There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner." ]]> They're out of sorts in Sunderland And terribly cross in Kent They're dull in Hull And the Isle of Mull Is seething with discontent" Mr. Coward was satirizing the left wing defeatism of post-war England, but his ditty also could apply this weekend to the three traditional parties, and especially the Liberals, who took a real beating in the local elections, and the Tories, who are most threatened by the patriotic UKIP and its agenda. The assumption is that the right in Britain is dead or dying and can safely be ignored. That is turning out to be very wrong. If PM Cameron wants to reverse his fortunes, he might do the logical thing, and steal the UKIP's clothes, as they say--and put the EU subject on a referendum soon.]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.71841 2013-05-03T22:35:41Z 2013-05-03T22:56:01Z

One reason George W. Bush is regaining popularity is that the truth will out, even in this wicked world! In Bush's case, the truth is flattering. For example, without fanfare the former president entertains wounded vets at his ranch...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 One reason George W. Bush is regaining popularity is that the truth will out, even in this wicked world! In Bush's case, the truth is flattering. For example, without fanfare the former president entertains wounded vets at his ranch about once a month. It is his way of showing appreciation and support. Recovery from a serious injury can be very lonely, and having some attention paid by the former Commander in Chief has to help. Here is a picture of "43" dancing with a female vet. He's informal, he's obviously sincere and gentle. A gentle man. Photo Credit]]> tag:www.discoverynews.org,2013://11.71821 2013-05-02T20:11:13Z 2013-05-03T00:49:18Z

The uncomfortable subject of infanticide can be obscured by academic rhetoric and by changing the subject, such as to costs to the parent(s), costs to society, legal "rights", etc. Let's tut-tut about those. Of course, the same used to happen...

Bruce Chapman http://www.discovery.org/p/7 The uncomfortable subject of infanticide can be obscured by academic rhetoric and by changing the subject, such as to costs to the parent(s), costs to society, legal "rights", etc. Let's tut-tut about those. Of course, the same used to happen when the subject was a black person's ability to vote or the ante-bellum issue of slavery. There always are excuses; the human imagination is resourceful. the responses to our Senior Fellow Wesley J. Smith's work on the "bioethics" of killing ("terminating", "precipitating the demise", etc.) of babies after they are born. Moral clarity is what Smith brings to the topic. Moral confusion, code words and soothing distractions are what most academic bioethicists provide. No wonder they are attacking him. And notice the ways they do it. Anything but head on. For the reader's edification, Wesley Smith's funding from Discovery, as he says, comes from our support of what he does. This is not because we have donors eager to get into the field--I wish we did, but we don't. Smith too often is a lonely outpost of ethical sanity in a world of self-righteous degeneracy. ]]>