In my reply to Wirt's posting earlier this week, I was merely pointing out
that it is the belief of many knowledgeable scientists, trained in the
subject, that the level of fear of radiation, radiophobia if you will, is
not supported by facts.  I offered one example of such a position.  I offer
here another, more complete one.

http://www.riskworld.com/Nreports/1999/jaworowski/NR99aa01.htm

The reason I recounted the recollections of my youth in Canada was twofold.
1- Whenever I make a posting about some part of recent history, I sometimes
get a message from someone pointing out that I was originally from Canada
and thus not even familiar with the events at the time.  2- Many people,
including many if not most Canadians, never really knew Canada had nuclear
weapons and Canadian troops were standing nuclear alert during a good part
of the Cold War.  The BOMARC, which I described earlier; the CF 101 VooDoo
interceptor with Genie rockets (not missiles, rockets, they were unguided;)
the CF-104 Starfigther with thermonuclear bombs and the Army with the Honest
John nuclear battlefield rocket.  The latter two were deployed by Canada in
what was then West Germany.  FYI, the last nuclear weapon left Canada in
1984 from CFB Comox in Nova Scotia.  It was the last of the VooDoo-Genie
combination.

I try to make my messages informative as well as to the point, but it was
never my intention to claim any qualification about the issue because my
experiences when I was younger.

Over the last several months, even years, Wirt has posted highly informative
messages about a wide range of subjects, demonstrating an understanding of
many sundry subjects.  I have taken a lot of pleasure in reading many of his
posts and have learned quite a bit from some of them.  I used to relish the
"Wirt Moment" when a message bearing his name would show up in a list of
incoming messages in my mailbox.  Depending on the mood of the moment, I
would either go to that one first, or more usually save it for last so that
I could savor it without interruption.

Over the last year or so however, I have detected a change in his messages
with the addition of political opinions faintly disguised as factual data.
I remember the flap he started over the tax cut about 11 months ago.  A
subject that was definitely off topic.  I don't mind off-topic subjects, I
have started a few and I participate in many.  He displayed a definite
partisanship on the subject almost to the point of trying to pull the wool
over my eyes.  Undaunted, I and many others, responded with factual
information which dispelled the incorrect interpretations he had put forth
on the subject.  I came across this interesting article yesterday, which
should appeal to many on this list who use their Internet browsers.  It is
the first time I have seen such detailed information on how to get the data
which is the basis for the article, from a government web site.  It details
how to use your browser to access the government books for 2001 and to see
where the government "misplaced" $17.3 billion of our tax dollars.  That is
half the tax cut itself, about which the Democrats were in such a panic.

http://www.nypost.com/business/48846.htm

Since then, Wirt has posted many other OT messages expressing his political
views couched in some type of science.  More recently, he made a statement
to the effect there are more scientists who believe the Earth was created
4004 years ago that there are scientists who do not believe in global
warming.  This is an easily demonstrable falsehood.  The opinions on the
subject are varied.  Many of the scientists who you say believe in global
warming know nothing about the subject, however calling them scientists
simply attempts to hide this fact.  If 100,000 lab technicians working on
DNA research believe in global warming, who cares?  They don't know anything
about the subject.  But if Fred Singer doesn't believe it, that carries far
more weight that all those technicians.

http://www.sepp.org/bios/singer/biosfs.html

Here are his positions on some of the issues:

http://www.sepp.org/keyissue.html

Last week, Ted Danson somehow managed to post a message with Wirt's name and
email address.  In this message he was yet again, warning us that we were
almost out of oil.  I have heard this prediction so many times since the
1970s I have lost count.  However, the reality of it is that with the known
reserves, there is oil for a few hundred years at present levels of
consumption.  I have seen estimates of up to 500 years.  More recently, it
has been discovered that some depleted oil wells are actually regenerating
themselves.  It has also been discovered there is more oil in the Gulf of
Mexico than in all of the Middle East.  Oil has been seeping into the Gulf
forever.  There is so much oil it's unbelievable.  What is more likely to
occur in the future is that whilst there is lots of oil, it might become
increasingly difficult to get to, for two reasons.  1- The shenanigans from
Saddaam Daschle and his ilk, putting known reserves off-limits and 2- the
location of other oil fields, such as Antarctica (yes, it has a tremendous
amount of oil and treaties that are on the verge of expiring, but you can
imagine the technical difficulties,) Russia with an absolutely staggering
amount of untapped oil but cold an remote locations, the gulf of Mexico,
simply huge reservoirs of oil, but deep and ANWAR, but so cold and simply
desolate.

Here is an article describing some of the current thought on oil and its
origins.  I think you will find it interesting.

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020529-43772260.htm

The problem with Wirt is the continuous doom and gloom of all his
predictions.  He so well typifies the leftist thoughts from around the
world.  Things are bad and getting worse rapidly.  If the increased UV
caused by the ozone (depletion/spread, take your pick) doesn't kill us
within a few years, then global (warming/cooling, take your pick) will
surely do that.  If it's cold, the oceans will recede and water will go
away.  If it's too warm, the oceans will rise and flood everything, take
your pick.  At any rate, oil, along with the "rain forests" (AKA jungles)
will be gone in a few months, years at the outside, but AIDS will have
killed us all before that as the pollution of the air and the water with the
overflowing landfills overcome us all.  But even before that happens, we
will have run out of food.  All these disasters are caused by humans,
actually by Americans, who do not care about anything but themselves.    I
would suggest you read a book entitled "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by
Bjorn Lomborg.  He is also a deeply committed leftist.

Now does anyone want to discuss LTO?

Denys

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