World View
Religion and women
(New York Times): Religions derive their power and popularity in part from the ethical compass they offer. So why do so many faiths help perpetuate something that most of us regard as profoundly unethical: the oppression of women? It is not that warlords in Congo cite Scripture to justify their mass rapes (although the last warlord I met there called himself a pastor and wore a button reading “rebels for Christ”). It’s not that brides are burned in India as part of a Hindu ritual. And there’s no verse in the Koran that instructs Afghan thugs to throw acid in the faces of girls who dare to go to school.
Time to tax hot money
(Guardian): There is a growing movement in both the US and around the world for taxing financial speculaiton. The logic is simple: even a very small tax on trades in stocks, options, credit default swaps and other derivative instruments can raise an enormous amount of revenue. Even assuming large reductions in trading volume due to the tax, the country could still raise more than $100bn a year in revenue or more than $1tn over the US’s 10-year budget horizon.
Trading costs have plummeted over the last three decades due to improvements in computer technology. Therefore, modest taxes on financial speculation, such as a 0.25 per cent tax on the purchase or sale of a share of stock, would only raise trading costs back to the level of the 1970s or 1980s.
Bahamas Pursuing Renewable Energy Projects
(Bahamas Pundit): The Bahamas Electricity Corporation is inviting proposals for renewable energy power purchase agreements in several technologies, officials have told Tough Call. Although there has been lots of talk before, this marks a dramatic policy shift. It is driven by fear that escalating oil prices and supply problems could disrupt the Bahamian economy. International concerns about pollution and climate change are also a big factor. The pending Request for Proposals follows the appointment of a special committee at BEC to research the most viable renewable energy technologies for the Bahamas at utility scale.
One technology that the committee did not explore was the production of energy from garbage. But at least two firms are already pursuing multi-million-dollar waste-to-energy projects with the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for landfills and solid waste collection and disposal.
Recommended reading from The Tribune: Bahamas looks at $60m solar/wind proposals
Why there’s no sign of a climate conspiracy in emails
(New Scientist): The leaking of emails and other documents from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, UK, has led to a media and political storm. The affair is being portrayed as a scandal that undermines the science behind climate change. It is no such thing, and here’s why.
Christians pray for Obama’s death
(Salon): Pastors are invoking Psalm 109 — "May his days be few" — in hopes of saving our country, and our souls. Pastor Wiley Drake preaches on most Sundays in a church tucked in between California’s big amusement parks, a place some people refer to as "Wiley World." The particular Sunday I visited First Southern Baptist Church was the weekend following the Fort Hood tragedy, when U.S. Army psychiatrist, and Muslim, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, shot and killed 13 people. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Drake said as he addressed the group of about 60 gathered in Buena Park that evening, just down the street from Knott’s Berry Farm. “If they’re a Muslim, they’re a danger to this country.”
Screws turn on tax havens
(Sydney Morning Herald): There is little love lost between business and the Tax Office at the best of times, but when the Tax Commissioner, Michael D’Ascenzo, lobbed a grenade at the international investors who had made a $1.5 billion profit selling their Myer Holdings’ shares to the public, the shrapnel flew around the world. Not only had the Tax Office challenged the right of buyout specialist Texas Pacific Group’s clients to keep almost $680 million from the Myer float, but its targeting of the first and largest Australian IPO of an expected avalanche of new company listings as the sharemarket rebounds from the global financial crisis sent an ominous message to the financial wizards.
British territories told to lose their faith
(crosswalk.com): The constitution of St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha islands states that the British territory wishes to respect "Christian and family values." And the constitution of the Cayman Islands declares that it is a "God-fearing country based on traditional Christian values," where "religion finds its expression in moral living and social justice." Given the Cayman’s reputation as an off-shore financial center, that last part might raise a few eyebrows. But what really bothers the British Foreign Office isn’t any possible inconsistency—it’s mentioning Christianity at all.