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July 4, 2008 | Nobody has denigrated the service of John McCain or his suffering in captivity as a prisoner of North Vietnam, as much as his supporters wish to pretend that someone did. Nobody has denied that his valor in captivity offers insight into his character. But so far almost nobody has asked the most important question about McCain’s military experience, which is how his past might influence his future as president.

The most pertinent issue is not what McCain did or didn’t do during the war in Vietnam, but what he learned from that searing, incredibly bloody and wholly unnecessary failure of U.S. policy. Clearly he learned that torture is morally wrong, illegal and counterproductive, and he has spoken with great moral authority on that issue. But listening to him now and over the past decade or so, he also seems not to have learned why that war itself was a tragic mistake — and why we needed to leave Vietnam long before we did. - Joe Consaon, Salon.com

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Polar scientists say that “for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.” The scientists “believe the chances of a totally ice-free North Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by huge swathes of thinner ice formed over a single year.”

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Bear on the inside looking outside on a snowy day.

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Science, Evolution, and Creationism …
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On Thursday, the National Academy of the Sciences (NAS), “the nation’s most eminent scientific organization,” produced a book “on the evidence supporting the theory of evolution and arguing against the introduction of creationism or other religious alternatives in public school science.” The NAS notes that scientific progress has “reinforced evolution’s role as the central organizing principle of modern biology.” “We wanted to produce a report that would be valuable and accessible to school board members and teachers and clergy,” said Barbara Schaal, vice president of the academy and biologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Conservatives such as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, for example, have often insisted that there is still a debate on the origins of mankind and that the science clashes with religion. But as the book states, “attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist.” The book will be available on the NAS website.  Source - The Progress Report

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