The issue: Pop stars and how they address their frustration with the state of the world. Be sure to watch both the videos.

Point:

John Mayer, “Waiting on the World to Change.” Watch the video.

Lyric sample:

Me and all my friends
We’re all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing
There’s no way we ever could
Now we see everything is going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Its hard to be persistent
When we’re standing at a distance
So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

Full lyrics.

Counterpoint:

Sarah McLachlan, “World on Fire.” Watch the video.

Lyric sample:

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You’re not alone in this story’s pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

The world’s on fire and
It’s more than I can handle
I’ll tap into the water
(I try to pull my ship)
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
(Bring it to the table)
Bring what I am able

Full Lyrics.

We’ve past Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. Of course, many of us in California with our triple digit heat are asking What end? We are in the season that means baseball pennant races will be decided in less than a month—and I hope you’re enjoying the new theme here at The Space Between My Ears—new school years begin, and this being an election year, the political races really ramp up. Given that we’ll be inundated with loads of political debate for the next few months, what better time for a new installment of Point-Counterpoint?

The point in this debate comes from President George W. Bush in his speech on the global war on terror given today in Washington, D.C. (the full transcript is here):

These terrorists hope to drive America and our coalition out of Afghanistan, so they can restore the safe haven they lost when coalition forces drove them out five years ago. But they’ve made clear that the most important front in their struggle against America is Iraq—the nation bin Laden has declared the “capital of the Caliphate.” Hear the words of bin Laden: “I now address… the whole… Islamic nation: Listen and understand… The most… serious issue today for the whole world is this Third World War… [that] is raging in [Iraq].” He calls it “a war of destiny between infidelity and Islam.” He says, “The whole world is watching this war,” and that it will end in “victory and glory or misery and humiliation.” For al Qaeda, Iraq is not a distraction from their war on America—it is the central battlefield where the outcome of this struggle will be decided….

Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The question is: Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say? America and our coalition partners have made our choice. We’re taking the words of the enemy seriously. We’re on the offensive, and we will not rest, we will not retreat, and we will not withdraw from the fight, until this threat to civilization has been removed.

The counterpoint comes from, well, President George W. Bush during a press conference held on March 13, 2002 (the full transcript is here):

Q: But don’t you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven’t heard much from him. And I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don’t know where he is. I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

Point-Counterpoint has been one of my least-used categories and usually I designate silly posts in it. Today, I’d like it to be a bit more substantive.

Point:

On July 2, MIT professor of atmospheric science, Richard Lindzen, published an opinion in The Wall Street Journal stating, among other things, that there is no consensus in the scientific community about global climate change. His opinion, “Don’t Believe the Hype: Al Gore is wrong. There’s no ‘consensus’ on global warming,” can be read here.

Counterpoint:

UC San Diego professor of history of science, Naomi Oreskes, offers her rebuttal to Lindzen’s primary claim in today’s Los Angeles Times. Lindzen’s opinion critiqued Oreskes’ work and she has decided to defend herself. She claims that there actually is consensus among the majority of scientists that there is global warming and that human activities are at least partly responsible. You can read her piece, “Global Warming—Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Scientists agree: The Earth is warming, and human activities are the principal cause,” here.

My two cents:

I hesitate to present the material in such a binary fashion since from what I’ve read, the views on climate change are rather diverse. A continuum of views with differences in degree is probably more accurate than simply breaking the debate into two clearly delineated camps. I chose to post this as a point-counterpoint becuase these two scientists are directly addressing one another. Finally, I wish that scientists had better public-relations firms. As it stands, it seems most of Americans receive the news about scientific research concerning climate change through politicians and pundits, who though they may be right, can easily be cynically dismissed as having an agenda. I appreciate that scientists don’t want to dumb down their work, but I would hope that they would be able to put it in language most of us can understand.

The issue: Leaders of nations choose alternative forms of transportation.

Point:

Bush to ride with cycling champion Armstrong. Source: Reuters

Counterpoint:

Putin takes supersonic flight in long-range bomber plane. Source: AFP, Yahoo!

The issue: NCAA Bans Indian Mascots From Postseason.

Point:

University of Illinois, Fighting Illini Logo.

Counterpoint:
Fightin’ Whities : Fighting the use of Native American stereotypes

Fightin’ Whities Logo, Copyright 2002 Fighting Whites Scholarship Fund, Inc. All rights reserved.