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Nov, 21, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?
Caroline B. Glick:
Civilization walks the plank
Nov, 20, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness
The Kosher Gourmet
By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto
Nov, 19, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality
Elliot B. Gertel:
'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?
Nov, 18, 2008
Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason
Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?
Nov, 17, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason
Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?
Nov, 14, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia
Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead
Nov, 13, 2008
Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic
The Kosher Gourmet
by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla
Nov, 12, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers
Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks
Nov, 11, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?
Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate
Nov, 10, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?
Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist
Nov, 7, 2008
Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality
Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy
Nov, 6, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism
The Kosher Gourmet
By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes
Nov, 5, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors
Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie
Nov, 4, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law
Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East
Nov, 3, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?
Jonathan Tobin:
Was He Wrong About Everything?
Oct. 31, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Our Immutable Noble Essence
Caroline B. Glick: Running against Bush
Oct. 30, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: The End of the Special Relationship?
Steve Lipman: 'Kid Kosher' Gets A Title Shot
Oct. 29, 2008
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: GET US THE TAPE THE L.A. TIMES REFUSES TO RELEASE, AND WE'LL GIVE YOU CASH!
Dr. Ari Korenblit: Making The Write Choice for President
Oct. 28, 2008
Mona Charen: Denial runs through American Jewry
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Sell-off to capitalism or sell-out to Islam?
Oct. 27, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Are tax deductions for charitable donations moral?
Jonathan Mark: The Mystery Of The Arab-American Vote
Oct. 24, 2008
'Why aren't all religious people vegetarians?': Response by Miriam Kosman
Caroline B. Glick: Testing Obama's mettle
Oct. 23, 2008
Daniel Pipes: Obama Would Fail Security Clearance
The Kosher Gourmet
by Linda Gassenheimer: A fast chicken dish with an Asian accent
Oct. 20, 2008
Gary Rosenblatt: Still One Torah
Jonathan Tobin:
Government 'Gifts' Are Not Free
Oct. 17, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Sukkos and the Great Meltdown
Caroline B. Glick: The disappearance of law
Oct. 16, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Copying DVDs: RIP OR RIPOFF?
Cal Thomas: Blaming the Jews (again)
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
March 30, 2005
/ 19 Adar II, 5765
The fear Crichton's latest questions makes scare-peddlers frightened
By
John Stossel
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Michael Crichton's scary movies, like "Jurassic Park," have made
billions. He has sold 100 million copies of his scary books. And now he's
telling us: Don't be scared.
He almost didn't write his latest book, "State of Fear." (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)
"I'm 62 years old," he told me. "I've had a good life. I'm happy. I'm enjoying
myself. I don't need any of the flak that would come from doing a book like
this."
Flak is coming because the fear Crichton is questioning is fear
of global warming. And as Crichton told me, "people's feelings about the
environment are very close to religion."
Global warming, of course, is not a faith that brings comfort.
We interviewed people who seemed almost hysterical about it. One said,
"Greenland is melting!" Another warned that "places like Los Angeles and New
York will be underwater!" One person went even further off should I say
it? the deep end: "I'm thinking it's like the end of the world."
It's natural for people to worry because there's been so much
media hype. A U.S. News & World Report cover story claimed that within 50
years, the ocean "could" be checking in at the glamorous hotels of South
Beach, Fla., while Vermonters "could" get malaria and Nebraska farms "could"
be abandoned because of drought.
Crichton himself used to worry about global warming. But then he
spent three years researching it. He concluded it's just another foolish
media-hyped scare. Many climate scientists agree with him, saying the effect
of man and greenhouse gases is minor.
Many people believe the weather is already getting worse that
the earth is experiencing bigger storms than ever before. That U.S. News &
World Report cover screamed "Scary Weather." But it's not true that there
are more storms today or that weather is "scarier" than it used to be. As
Crichton says, "It's something that almost nobody actually goes and checks."
Sadly, he's right. When "scare stories" fit reporters'
preconceptions, we rarely check with the skeptics. On the subject of global
warming, reporters often listen to alarmists and don't take the trouble to
survey the scientists who really know. And even if they do, it's a mere fig
leaf of fairness. U.S. News, for example, buried its one skeptical voice
under a shrieking headline, after paragraphs predicting disaster, and
between two quotes from alarmists astoundingly presented as voices of
reason dismissing dissenters.
Crichton got his medical training at Harvard, where he paid his
way through college by writing thrillers. When he wrote "The Andromeda
Strain," the story of an organism from outer space that threatens to wipe
out mankind, Hollywood called, and his medical career was over. He's gone on
to write book after book that anticipated the future. "Jurassic Park"
introduced cloning before others really talked about it. "Disclosure," about
a man who's sexually harassed by a female boss, also raised issues that were
ahead of their time. "State of Fear" may be his biggest risk, because he's
taken on environmental groups that some Americans revere with religious
fervor. Crichton says, "Environmental organizations are fomenting false
fears in order to promote agendas and raise money." He points out that the
even the scientists who study global warming have an incentive to exaggerate
the problem. If you say, "there isn't a big problem," you're less likely to
get grant money.
"State of Fear" is already being attacked, he says, by activists
who didn't even read his book. "We seem to be very ready to think it's all
coming to an end," Crichton says. And there are consequences to that kind of
thinking. It can be quite difficult to oppose new laws, however much freedom
and money they will take away from you, when you believe they are the only
thing that can stop major cities from being lost to a sea swollen by melting
icecaps. But we're not on the way to disaster, except in the form of more
laws. "State of Fear" will give you new perspective on "global warming."
Then, when someone tells you "it's like the end of the world!" you can say:
"Give Me a Break."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
STOSSEL'S LATEST
Give Me a Break
Stossel explains how ambitious bureaucrats, intellectually lazy reporters, and greedy lawyers make your life worse even as they claim to protect your interests. Taking on such sacred cows as the FDA, the War on Drugs, and scaremongering environmental activists -- and backing up his trademark irreverence with careful reasoning and research -- he shows how the problems that government tries and fails to fix can be solved better by the extraordinary power of the free market. Sales help fund JWR.
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JWR contributor John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20." To comment, please click here.
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