Global Warming: Killing Witches

Here’s a forecast for a particularly bizarre consequence of climate change: more executions of witches.

As we pump out greenhouse gases, most of the discussion focuses on direct consequences like rising seas or aggravated hurricanes. But the indirect social and political impact in poor countries may be even more far-reaching, including upheavals and civil wars — and even more witches hacked to death with machetes.

In rural Tanzania, murders of elderly women accused of witchcraft are a very common form of homicide. And when Tanzania suffers unusual rainfall — either drought or flooding — witch-killings double, according to research by Edward Miguel, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The New York Times

This was just a more mind-grabbing example of the political problems that global warming imposes on Third World countries, and it grabbed my mind. Also, Kristof duly notes that the white world had a similar witch-scapegoating reflex back in its medieval era, though the whites were at least able to overcome it.

Global Warming: Killing Witches

Here’s a forecast for a particularly bizarre consequence of climate change: more executions of witches.

As we pump out greenhouse gases, most of the discussion focuses on direct consequences like rising seas or aggravated hurricanes. But the indirect social and political impact in poor countries may be even more far-reaching, including upheavals and civil wars — and even more witches hacked to death with machetes.

In rural Tanzania, murders of elderly women accused of witchcraft are a very common form of homicide. And when Tanzania suffers unusual rainfall — either drought or flooding — witch-killings double, according to research by Edward Miguel, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The New York Times

This was just a more mind-grabbing example of the political problems that global warming imposes on Third World countries, and it grabbed my mind. Also, Kristof duly notes that the white world had a similar witch-scapegoating reflex back in its medieval era, though the whites were at least able to overcome it.

Frank Rich's Eulogy for the Iraq War

The prevailing verdict on the Petraeus-Crocker show is that it accomplished little beyond certifying President Bush’s intention to kick the can to January 2009 so that the helicopters will vacate the Green Zone on the next president’s watch. That’s true, but by week’s end, I became more convinced than ever that in January we’ll have a new policy that includes serious withdrawals and serious conversations with Mr. Maliki’s pals in Iran, even if John McCain becomes president.

. . .

This war has lasted so long that Americans, even the bad apples of Abu Ghraib interviewed by Mr. Morris, have had the time to pass through all five of the Kübler-Ross stages of grief over its implosion. Though dead-enders like Mr. McCain may have only gone from denial to anger to bargaining, most others have moved on to depression and acceptance. Unable to even look at the fiasco anymore, the nation is now just waiting for someone to administer the last rites.

-- Frank Rich for The New York Times

On an amusing note:

Frank Rich's Eulogy for the Iraq War

The prevailing verdict on the Petraeus-Crocker show is that it accomplished little beyond certifying President Bush’s intention to kick the can to January 2009 so that the helicopters will vacate the Green Zone on the next president’s watch. That’s true, but by week’s end, I became more convinced than ever that in January we’ll have a new policy that includes serious withdrawals and serious conversations with Mr. Maliki’s pals in Iran, even if John McCain becomes president.

. . .

This war has lasted so long that Americans, even the bad apples of Abu Ghraib interviewed by Mr. Morris, have had the time to pass through all five of the Kübler-Ross stages of grief over its implosion. Though dead-enders like Mr. McCain may have only gone from denial to anger to bargaining, most others have moved on to depression and acceptance. Unable to even look at the fiasco anymore, the nation is now just waiting for someone to administer the last rites.

-- Frank Rich for The New York Times

On an amusing note:

Deconstructing Obama

Victor Davis Hanson exercises some deconstruction with respect to Obama's controversial 'bitter' speech.

Hanson does a good job of drawing out Obama's slick-player identity. I'm not really turned by this recent controversy, because it strikes me as being more about walking through a minefield of political correctness. It is an off-note, as it is condescending and suggests a chilly aloofness to common folks, but McCain is hardly a more satisfying alternative, and especially since having started to read Nigel Hamilton's book on the Clinton first-term, I favor getting past the Clinton era in our history, myself. Obama's not a saint, but he is a full-witted liberal. We have to elect a mere mortal for the presidency, and he strikes me as the best of our three options.

Deconstructing Obama

Victor Davis Hanson exercises some deconstruction with respect to Obama's controversial 'bitter' speech.

Hanson does a good job of drawing out Obama's slick-player identity. I'm not really turned by this recent controversy, because it strikes me as being more about walking through a minefield of political correctness. It is an off-note, as it is condescending and suggests a chilly aloofness to common folks, but McCain is hardly a more satisfying alternative, and especially since having started to read Nigel Hamilton's book on the Clinton first-term, I favor getting past the Clinton era in our history, myself. Obama's not a saint, but he is a full-witted liberal. We have to elect a mere mortal for the presidency, and he strikes me as the best of our three options.