Left, right – what do labels matter when a homeless man dies on a freezing night?

Left, right – what do labels matter when a homeless man dies on a freezing night?: "The urge to attach labels to people is human. It makes life simpler. But labels stick if left unchallenged, so when a member of Aosdána tweeted that last week’s column was an example of “the class war credentials – pro-establishment – of the Irish media”, I reread it to see how I had offended and perhaps to atone.
To recap: I wrote that in my experience the people whom Paul Murphy TD describes as “ordinary” and “afraid of the government” can be startlingly outspoken when senior politicians come to canvass. If the gentleman tweeter disputes this, he has never been on a canvass.
The column also described politicians’ routine self-abasement before a demanding electorate in the perpetual mission to mind the seat, while suggesting that the same electorate should examine the mote in its own eye, given its abrupt U-turn towards Fianna Fáil in 2007."



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George Shultz Gone Solar. Now That's a Sign of Thawing in the U.S. Climate Debate - Bloomberg

George Shultz Gone Solar. Now That's a Sign of Thawing in the U.S. Climate Debate - Bloomberg: "As Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, George Shultz faced off against Muammar Qaddafi, the Soviet Union and Chinese communists.

His latest cause, though, is one few fellow Republicans support: fighting climate change.

Two years ago, Shultz was alarmed when a retired Navy admiral showed him a video of vanishing Arctic sea ice and explained the implications for global stability. Now, the former Cold Warrior drives an electric car, sports solar panels on his California roof and argues for government action against global warming at clean-energy conferences.

Living a life powered “on sunshine,” Shultz, at 93, has a message for the doubters who dominate his own party: “The potential results are catastrophic,” he said in an interview. “So let’s take out an insurance policy.”"



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2014 Is Likely to Be the Earth's Hottest Year Ever. Why It Doesn't Matter. - Bloomberg

2014 Is Likely to Be the Earth's Hottest Year Ever. Why It Doesn't Matter. - Bloomberg: "This is why arguments about global warming are so exhausting. The politics of climate change, which are messy and confusing, have nothing to do with the facts of climate change, which are fairly uncomplicated and straightforward.

The takeaway from today's news isn't that the Earth got hotter in 2014. It's that the Earth is getting hotter, period."



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Scam stories: an auditor’s accounts - The Hindu

Scam stories: an auditor’s accounts - The Hindu: "n the book, Rai indicts the government on five different scams. But before that, he tells us a little of his personal story. Joining the IAS in 1972, Rai’s early days saw him in limbo land as the government of Nagaland sparred with the Central government. The young Rai made the long journey from the training academy in Mussoorie to Dimapur and then Kohima, only to be told on arrival, to go right back. Such little anecdotes set the tone for Rai’s memoirs. As he moves on, to the Kerala cadre, Rai had his own share of mini standoffs with ministers, but is able to manage most, included one with the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

When Rai was appointed as the CAG in 2008, he took the office very seriously. In the chapter on the role of Audit for instance, he delves into history, on the powers and the respect accorded to his predecessors in Audit, as far back as the early days of independence. He made speeches on these matters, and evaluated very seriously all criticism directed at the CAG office. Some of this criticism was scathingly personal, and Rai quotes former Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, as saying of him (Rai) “The R-virus has infected the India growth story”."



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