Global Climate Change and Fascism

I have been reading a facinating book by Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism. In it I came across something that intrigued me.
He says,
"Crisis is routenely identified as a core mechanism of fascism because it short-circuits debate and democratic deliberation. Hence all fascistic movements commit considerable energy prolonging a heightened state of emergency." (pg. 43)
Sound familiar? I thought so too. At http://www.wecansolveit.org/ they state:
"The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Our ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically we are educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable."
A headline from a 2005 USA Today article shouts,
"The debate's over: Globe is warming!"
On the website of the Socialist party of the European Parliment they say,
"GLOBAL EMERGENCY! Climate Change is the greatest challenge facing the world today. The weight of evidence that climate change is happening and that it is man-made is undeniable. It is a global challenge requiring a global solution. Reducing carbon output is not only an ecological but also an economic and social necessity. As Stern says, the cost of inaction far outstrips the cost of taking action. The cost of inaction is huge - that's why we have to act now. We already have or can develop the technological know-how to tackle climate change. By rising to the challenge we will all benefit."
Goldberg gives the definition of fascism as,
"a religion of the state. It assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people. It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good. It takes responsibility for all ascpects of life, including our health, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure. Everything, including the economy and religion, must be aligned with its objectives. Any rival identity is part of "the problem" and therefore defined as the enemy."
(pg. 23)
The American Liberal movemenet has done a clever job of changing the definition of "fascism" to mean conservative or "right-wing" while in reality Liberalism is far more a reflection of fascism. The very name "liberal" has been redefined as just the opposite, forcing scholars to use "classical liberalism" when talking about the likes of the founding fathers, while using "liberalism" to mean left-wing, "progressive" socialist (and I would now argue fascist) philosophy. Perhaps conservatives should point this fact out more often. Unfortunately, most conservatives are too busy earning livings and paying taxes to support our modern wellfare state to take the time to scream and shout and march and protest.

Photos at Shutterfly

I have built a website at Shutterfly to share my pics.
It is here: http://robertdrouhard.site.shutterfly.com/
Hopefully I will have time to edit and upload more soon.

Back From Israel

I made it back safe and sound, no thanks to Continental's sceduling or on-time-ness. I have just begun going through my pics, which I will probably post on some kind of album website, but for now, here are a couple:


This is the view from the hotel we stayed at the first night in Tel Aviv.







And this is the view the next morning at sunrise (for most of the tour we were up by at least 6 a.m.).
I will post more later.

Hi all!

It was a fluke that I could get on that morning...

Anyhoo, we are back in Cairo after our boat trip. By boat trip I should say small cruise ship. It was fantastic. If anyone is thinking about seeing Egypt, one of these boats is definitely the way to go. It was relaxing, and clean, like being at a nice hotel while watching the Nile go by. 

Today we visited the Coptic Christian community here in Cairo. They have interesting and beautiful churches and interesting worship practices. 

Tomorrow morning around 3 am we fly back to Tel Aviv, and I fly home. I had fun on the trip, but I am very ready to be home. 

From Cairo

Internet access has proven to be problematic in the Middle East. Fortunately, I was able to hop on here at the "internet center" at the hotel we are staying at in Cairo.
To fill in, we spent several days in Jerusalem seeing the sites and trying not to loose anyone. We were successful at both.
Jerusalem is as beautiful as I remember it, and I still love the city. They are building like crazy there, but the Old City is as timeless as ever.
I think I am close to 3,000 pictures now. I love having a digital camera because I can capture anything that catches my interest. It has been great taking pictures of the sites, but also the city and the people.
We are now in Cairo. It too is just as I remember it: hot, loud, and dirty. At least this time we are staying in high end hotels. We will be here until 5:00am tomorrow, when we will fly to Luxor to catch a boat that will take us up the Nile, ending in Aswan (I think. Yesterday I thought we were doing the opposite - going to Aswan and floating to Luxor). The boat is supposed to be 5 star, so we will see.
Today we are going to see the pyramids, then relax and rest. We got in at 4 this morning, so Dr. House and I are a little tired.
I might try posting again, though it might have been a fluke that I was able to use the internet this morning.

Second Post from Israel

I am far more busy than I thought I would be, and internet access is a problem.
I thought Israel was ahead of America in terms of internet, but it is not. Hotels still charge by the hour for it.
Anyway, it is late, bjut I am having a great time. We made it to Jerusalem today!
When I get home I will post pictures of the trip. I have taken well over 1000 so far!
More later.

Post from Israel #1

I made it alive!
We finally got unlimited internet, so I am going to update everyone.
We flew into Tel Aviv yesterday evening and checked into a hotel on the Mediterranean.
This morning we left Tel Aviv and visited Ceasarea Maritania, Mt. Carmel, Megiddo, and Sepphoris before heading down to the Sea of Galilee at Tiberias.
Having lived here for a semester, seeing sites for whole days, it is a bit disconcerting the pace at which we must travel. For example, at IBEX we saw Ceasarea and Mt. Carmel in one whole day.
I am having a great time taking pictures, videotaping and generally "gopering" for Dr. House. (This is mostly for Bill - I bought a LowePro Primus for the trip, and it is awesome. I took it as a carry-on because I was not about to check my D50. If you are looking for a day pack that also carries a camera, I highly reccomend it).
The weather is in the 90's but breezy, and very hazy. When we were on Carmel you could barely see across the plain toward Nazareth.
I have to go, but I'll post more as I have time.