Stern's December 2007 Update

First of all, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Sorry for being late once again with our newsletter.  I started writing it well in advance and never actually finished it...

NYT China Article:

Here are two links one dealing with the development issues and the other the value of life in China. Note that there at at least six articles in the  first series.   The second link gives a good view of the value of life in China and the response to many of the coal mining tragedies in China.  The second article just shows one great aspect of America versus China--the value of life.  Granted there are even issues there with America especially in the last 40 years.  Here are the links:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/14/news/letter.php

http://www.iht.com/pages/asia/index.php

Dental theme:

For the last month, dental work has been the theme.  Ashley and I both had cavities which needed to be dealt with and the kids were able to get their teeth cleaned and have sealants placed.

We spoke to the dentists about Drew’s potential need for his tonsils being removed, but they said to wait and see  which makes us quite happy as we did not want to deal  with  tonsils  being removed.

In sum make sure you are brushing and flossing regularly.

Life in Wyoming:

Two weekends ago, we got nearly eight inches of snow and afterwards plenty of wind too.  Only in Wyoming can you have 40, 60, 80 mph winds and no one blinks an eye.  Given that there was so much snow, we were able to build an “igloo.”

Furthermore, it has been very nice to spend time with our family and  church here.  It is always bitter sweet to leave some place knowing that  you will be gone again for  several more years.  Every place has great  people  which make the stay so wonderful.

One question we get often is how long will you stay in China?  To that I honestly cannot answer.  There are some many variables to the equation that I cannot even begin to surmise "how long..."  Furthermore, I often get asked, "Are you anxious to return?"  That is also a tough question to answer as, there are many variables to consider.  One is the comfort of live here in America, yet the austereness of live in China (that is a good thing, things are not dominating our life), the empowerment of the common man here, versus the lack of empowerment in China, the lack of pollution here versus the predominance of pollution there, the slowness of life (bad and good) in China versus the pace of life in America (again bad and good) to name a few issues.

I spoke with a friend who grew up overseas in a third world country and he says, "bittersweet" is a really good way to describe my reaction to returning to the third world.  He went on to state, "there are things which draw you and yet things which repulse  one from returning...it is a paradox."

Departing Wyoming for Illinois and the return...

We will be departing Wyoming on December 23^rd to visit family in Illinois to spend Christmas and .  we will then spend a week in Florida with family and then be traveling the east coast to see friends and make presentations (depending if weather permits).  We plan to return to China mid-February after visiting friends in Korea.

Some Observations About Life in America:

1. What is up with all the drug ads on TV?  Are a society that has become beholden to a "quick fix"?  Also, if drug companies are training our doctors is that not a conflict of interest? 
   
2. Global Warming is it really real?  Read this link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/mostread/s_492572.html
   

One other thing I would like to bring out is that  debate and questioning  are also apart of the whole issue  not  allowing  "professionals"  to do the job (that begs the question, "how did Al Gore a professional spinster become the poster child for Global Warming?")  Also, if he can win the Nobel Peace Prize, so should all the homeless in the world for their personal contribution to the issue, furthermore, they could use the money more than Mr. Gore.  Stephen Ambrose in his book Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. States that it was the non professionals who built the railroad because the railroad builders from Europe said it was impossible. Furthermore, most innovations and discoveries did not come from individuals from that specific field (Firestone and rubber is one example).

  Unfortunately, there seems to be  a move  towards allowing the professional  "clergy" of  spin  dictate  to  the common man what  he or she should think.   Why were the dark ages dark?  For that  very reason domination of knowledge by a few,  it  makes  no sense for us in 2007 to return to such idiocy yet people want to follow the crowd.  Furthermore,  why of the 2500  scientists on the UN board only  52  were actual climatologists (see second link below for source)?  You see this same type of intellectual ivory tower snobbism in the debate about Intelligent design. 

If, as Evolution would have us believe, that the earth is literally billions of years old, a little warming is like a speck of sand on the beach so, who cares? A little global warming might do Canada and Russia some good.

Why in the early 1970's were we worried about the coming Ice Age?

The most sinister aspect of the whole climate change issue is that world would like to see countries like America have to abide by such protocols as Kyoto since they won't--it is political arbitrage.  China last week called on the developed world to do their part so China doesn't and they won't (see the above article about the costs of development).  That way the third world can finally compete against the developed world and ruin America and Europe economically.  If the greens are allowed to dictate electricity prices will be ten times more expensive than now.  Coal and nuclear power are truly the only feasible sources of electricity (coal cheap and plentiful, nuclear efficient).  Solar is  not efficient enough given the physics of the matter.  Does that mean we should not be conscientious?  Absolutely not!  We need to keep innovating and conserving, but lets  not lose our heads in the debate.

Links to sources:

http://books.google.com/books?id=8HzBjbAaOVcC&dq=the+politically+incorrect+guide+to+global+warming&pg=PP1&ots=mA9q7yuRnE&sig=UQ5-GiAbJB9QvbhWiLQxjn1xvCA&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=the+politically+incorrect+guide+to+global+warming&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS240US240&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail&hl=en

http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2007&month=083

3.  American media bias exists too, especially when dealing with China but even domestic issues.  Sometimes I find our spin to be even more suave than the Chinese...here is an interesting article dealing with gun control and the lack of truthfulness in the media IN America!

http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2004&month=09