Politika Erotika: THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: China Needs an Einstein. So Do We.

Politika Erotika: THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: China Needs an Einstein. So Do We.: "I’ve been thinking about China as I read Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Albert Einstein. China isn’t even mentioned in the book — “Einstein: His Life and Universe” — but Mr. Isaacson’s stimulating and provocative retelling of Einstein’s career plays into two very hot debates about China.

First, what does Einstein’s life tell us about the relationship between freedom and creativity? Or to put it bluntly: Can China become as innovative as America, can it dominate the 21st century, as many predict, when China censors Google and maintains tight political controls while establishing its market economy?

Second, how do we compete with China, no matter how free we are, when so many of China’s young people are studying math and science and so many of ours are dropping out? Or to put it more bluntly: If Einstein were alive today and learned science the boring way it is taught in so many U.S. schools, wouldn’t he have ended up at a Wall Street hedge fund rather than developing theories of relativity for a Nobel Prize?"

Canada Announces Goals for Reducing Emissions - New York Times

Canada Announces Goals for Reducing Emissions - New York Times: "OTTAWA, April 26 — Canadian industries must cut the rate at which they produce gases linked to global warming by 18 percent over the next three years, the federal government said Thursday.

While the new plan offers an accelerated timetable compared to an earlier proposal from the Conservative government, it falls well short of the country’s commitments under the Kyoto protocol on climate change."

Commentary: What would Jesus really do? - CNN.com

Commentary: What would Jesus really do? - CNN.com: "NEW YORK (CNN) -- When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues,� abortion and homosexuality?

Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.

Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal.

The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it's high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a 'get out of sin free' card must not be allowed to justify their actions."

Are humans hard-wired for faith? - CNN.com

Are humans hard-wired for faith? - CNN.com

Evolution fares poorly in Newsweek poll

Crooks and Liars � Evolution fares poorly in Newsweek poll: "Evolution fares poorly in Newsweek poll
By: Steve on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 PM - PDT

The latest Newsweek poll included a variety of interesting questions about Americans and religious matters, including the not-surprising fact that 91% of the public say they believe in God and almost as many (87 percent) say they identify with a specific religion. But perhaps more importantly, Newsweek also asked poll respondents about modern biology.

Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution; one-third (34 percent) of college graduates say they accept the Biblical account of creation as fact. Seventy-three percent of Evangelical Protestants say they believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years; 39 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 41 percent of Catholics agree with that view.

These poll results come just a few months after an international study was conducted to measure which countries were the most accepting on evolutionary biology. Of the 34 countries involved, the United States ranked 33rd. Only Turkey ranked lower."