Space Truth, Artifact, or Human Hope

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Here is a recent science list serve post about recent photos from Mars along with the link to the related full article.
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Mars rover spots formations resembling flower, snake
The Mars Curiosity rover has sent back images of what appear to be a flower-like shape embedded in a rock and a snake-shaped rock stretching across the Red Planet, causing a stir among NASA officials and space enthusiasts alike. Guy Webster, a spokesman for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the flower-like object “appears to be part of the rock, not debris from the spacecraft.” Space.com (1/5)
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http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eemXCjrxogCfpMtvCidmrhCicNLJJS?format=standard
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A WindowView Perspective:

Let’s think beyond the post and think about the bigger picture on scientific exploration and what some humans, scientists included, are thinking.

Early on photos from Mars gave an impression of pyramidal shapes and even a face like mount, small mountain, or rock formation. Was the face an image from an ancient Mars based civilization. Some would like to think so. The best approach is to look for the basics and evidence for all conditions even those that might support life. As NASA missions have become more sophisticated, the examination of the planet becomes more fundamental and less sensational in it’s orientation. Evidence for water on the planet would be the more reasonable start to understanding the potential for life on Mars. But water alone does not make life.

There are intriguing questions we can ask:

1) If we find that conditions on Mars were previously favorable to the survival of life forms, does that necessarily imply life was there?
2) If we found, in future missions, evidence of microbial life, what conclusions are we to make of the evidence? ( Keep in mind microbial life from earth ejecta could have reach Mars and thus provide an explanation.)
3) Regardless of missions to date, when will NASA be able to create surface cores and retrieve the cores for closer examination?
4) At what point do we stop ourselves in interpretation based only on what the data do provide?

The first question can also be applied to planet Earth. After all, many conclusions are drawn from the presence of life, but the ability to describe how even the most primitive life forms might have an origin by material means is elusive at best. The arguments over evolution—as an explanation for the origin of life—are often bypassed with the foregone conclusion that it just happened. That’s assumption. Selection and change in existing organisms is an observable phenomenon, also associated with the term evolution, and that is not assumption.

If evidence from conditions on Mars suggests life, then that is only a first step in defining what the data really say—including about origins to life. After all, we are still facing that dilemma here on Earth in the midst of teaming life forms. And the more we study extinct or extant forms on Earth, from microbe to vertebrate, the more complexity we find … and assumptions are it just happens. Science journals are filled with complex examples for life and life systems, but we educate ourselves from a material perspective, thus we say it had to have happened from material means alone … and this includes by chance, by trial and error, and transitions for which there is limited or no evidence.

Looking deeper into Mars surface will be necessary and more telling than the recent spectacular surface missions. Hey, it’s all exciting stuff. What a marvel to even see the Red Plant close up.

But the real question goes back to a material perspective. Just watch scientists default to material explanations, even when these fall short. Finding evidence for past or present life any where else in the solar system, or beyond, stands to be the materialist’s opportunity to invalidate the Bible by science. But not finding evidence for life any where else doesn’t validate the Bible or pose a negative reflection on science. The Bible is another unique data set of another type. Yet, trying to disprove God is not a new invention. Holding fast to a material framework as if science has all the answers is also not a new invention.

The real complete picture of what conditions are on Mars will take more than the photos we have thus far. Upon reflection, the science post refers to a flower and snake shapes, but neither is this flower nor snake. The references however go to the underlying possibility or desire that science explains all, when in fact both scientific and theological perspectives together yield a complete and larger picture of our existence. This is the overall WindowView approach … not closing off, but opening the full view. This allows the evidence from science and scripture to give a unified and harmonious picture wherein life is with purpose and meaning and not by chance and meaningless.

Give it some thought … after all it’s you who looks through the window!

Director, WindowView.org

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A Coral Group Sings Change Tune

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Sadly, a swim along the shore of a tropical island … these days … brings us to an encounter with change in the form of vanishing coral reefs.

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St. Croix and all the islands of the Caribbean suffer the same plight. Water temperatures, chemistry, and perhaps other factors now lay waste once fertile reefs. Some evidence of the occasional brain coral or fan still populated the more vanquished areas. In some areas vast under water fields of Elk horn coral lay bleached and lifeless.

There are on our planet select areas that support dense living coral, but even the Great Barrier Reef in Australia now is undergoing dramatic change.

The Bible states we are to be stewards. Elsewhere it refers to the earth wearing out like an old coat. And regardless of whether change is directly due to human activity, or other factor, is less relevant when we take a sobering look at the fact that three decades ago, yes THREE, the corals were all relatively healthy … all over the planet. Change comes quicker than we want to acknowledge.

What is the value to coral life, or any life for that matter? How integrated is coral to the greater scheme of all life on earth? … so as a Ph.D. Biologist I’ll just chime in and say it is all so integrated as to be on purpose. To visibly see one part fade brings the thought that earth’s life support is fading.

While not wanting to sound dour, reality speaks through visual data. Follow the evidence … where does it lead us? One thing about WindowView is we say: “Look, Think, and Discern!” Discern based on your window observations! Snorkel the shoreline and LOOK for yourself. We did … today.

There are signs that some corals are resistant to factors that bleach and kill all others. But would the resistant ones bring back the larger reefs? Not soon perhaps.

The coral today sing a tune that grows softer … to nearly a whisper. To this we say: “Take some time to think about life and its importance!” Are you here by chance or purpose? And if on purpose … how will you respond? Remember, WindowView is about looking … but it’s your window through which you see the evidence for life, relationships, and purpose that really matters the most. Might this be the bigger view where there is a Science and Scripture Harmony … Welcome to WindowView!

Director, WindowView.org

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MARS: High Hopes, High Expectations, A Back Door

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QUESTION: “Is there life on Mars?”
NEXT QUESTION: “Was there ever life on Mars?”

The following text is from a scientific list serve that notifies recipients of current science news. The post below is for December 4, 2012. Read the post here with the two questions above in mind:
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Nothing definitive found in Curiosity’s first Mars soil test

NASA confirmed that the Curiosity rover found a mix of chemicals and water in a sample of sandy Martian soil, but no complex carbon molecules that are considered to be essential for life. The results of a soil analysis by the rover’s chemistry laboratory show that the sample is typical Martian soil, said Ralf Gellert, mission scientist and associate professor at the University of Guelph’s department of physics. Scientists believe that the best chance of discovering complex carbon is on the Red Planet’s Mount Sharp, which the rover will not visit until next year. ABC News/The Associated Press (12/3)
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One thing to keep in mind is that carbon molecules of various kinds are present throughout the universe. These are not likely indicators of life forms. But finding carbon on Mars is more likely going to lead to the second question and not the first.

Today there are hundreds of factors that provide the conditions making our planet suitable for life. Mars, even in past history, likely meets a mere handful of these same conditions. If NASA finds any evidence suggesting life was or is present on Mars, we are faced by a reality that will be lost as soon as the findings are declared. And that reality is initially twofold.

First, any such evidence will need highly sophisticated follow up work for life identification certainty. But the media will spin and play the story for all it’s worth. This will dominate the more critical need for conclusive evidence.

Furthermore, if life is or was on Mars, it’s origin may be from Earth itself. That fact alone would confine the discussion and bring us back to the notion that we live on the only or one of a very few planets with life.

Second, from a WindowView perspective, the science news will push the agendas of skeptics and the anti-religious. This will confuse people who do not look closely at scientific and scriptural information in an objective context. This may fool many into losing faith without discernment of what is a truthful assessment for where the evidence really leads us.

Are the NASA explorations tied to hopes and expectations … Well yes, of course, scientific exploration is marvelous and sometimes awesome. The human nature is invested in exploration. But truth is not limited to the material scooped up from a planet’s surface.

In total, the numerous factors for Earth supporting life all lead to a calculation and logical conclusion that the environment and position of our planet reflect design. If you explore the evidence this point grows by leaps and bounds!

No matter the material viewpoint, there is sufficient evidence in the harmony of science and Scripture to take us back to the window, to think further, and to see life in a much more special context than what news of molecules from Mars may first lead us to think.

Let’s not let hype be a back door to escape truth!

So … Are you the product of mere chance or is there purpose to being, purpose to life? Throw back the shutters, open the window, and see where the evidence leads … and don’t be fooled by the spin of the news media.

Director,
WindowView.org

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View on Near Nuclear Explosion – Russia and Tehran

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Might a harmony of themes from science to Scripture leave us unsurprised by stories like what follows. A materialist view would say there are risks to nuclear reactors. We agree. But when we think of scriptural links to words and names like “Gog and Magog” the relation between Russia and Iran is also not a surprise for more serious reasons.

Nuclear science in the hands of Tehran is long past being accepted for peaceful purposes. The apparent fact that the reactor was not lost due to internal mistake is actually unfortunate. The reactor will continue on its mission. From the north something is coming into the scriptural story … and that is very relevant to the events we see unfolding today. Dark clouds form over the Middle East. A science perspective plays into the scenario of Gog and Magog … how so … do a search on the Internet and see why … it was written by Ezekiel eons ago for this day and these times …

Alarm in Tehran and Moscow over Bushehr nuclear reactor’s near-explosion in mid-October

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 1, 2012, 1:13 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr was shut down in mid-October for fear of an explosion. Saturday Dec. 1, an authoritative Russian nuclear industry source revealed the cause of its malfunction: “Indicators showed that some small external parts were… in the [Bushehr] reactor vessel….” They were identified as “bolts beneath the fuel cells.”

Debkafile’s Moscow sources report this information came from a source in the office of Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian nuclear energy authority Rosatom, which supervised the construction of Iran’s first atomic reactor at Bushehr.

According to our intelligence sources, Russian scientists and engineers were rushed from Moscow to Bushehr when Russian leaders including Vladimir Putin were warned that the danger of an explosion at Bushehr was high. Neither Moscow nor Tehran reported what was happening. Now they are racing against the clock to get the reactor back on stream.

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Another perspective contributing to the WindowView
WindowView.org

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Intelligence Denied or Intelligent Design

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There are many cases where a blog receives comments that are spam. And in other cases short notes that are so brief as to leave us wonder: “What really is that person thinking? Have they really thought it through?”

Skeptics abound. A web site that hints at a “Science and Scripture Harmony” may seem laughable to those that only relate to a material existence. Yes, we live in material bodies in a material universe. But the comment offered by “Md man” (see below) is thin.

To think requires a physical presence and a brain. The brain is presumed to contain the entire mind, but that is neither proven as yet nor entirely a material entity. Further, it is not circular as suggested to say I think therefore design … where one avoids the entire cascade of evidence for design, complexity of structures, like the brain, as well as the complex instruction set in the DNA that assists in making the complex three dimensional structure of the brain. Remember, DNA after all is information. Complex information.

And no less, the comment stated below ignores scientists who say the structure of the brain and it’s operations are confounding to any explanation of chance origins. Even Darwin battled with issues of complexity in thinking about origins. His expressed concerns for what might be the weakness to his theory go to the very root of complexity and specificity.

Dr. Francis Collins, a few years ago, stated aloud to our hearing that the theory of Intelligent Design would be a passing movement. But a couple years later, his work and others, continued to demonstrate that even junk DNA shows complexity in function. DNA switches exist in the junk areas. Thinking that evolution devised a higher order function to turning genes and cellular processes on and off … is design in motion. Dr. Collins, a Christian, is mired in a world of secular thinkers … But his evidence from the lab only complements what physics says about a beginning. All the information at our finger tips speaks to a greater harmony. Science data and Scripture information may overlap in certain ways … But the WindowView asks us all to look at the entire set of information from these two spheres … they are not mutually exclusive if you see that all of this describes the entire explanation as to why we exist in the first place. Md man has yet to see this point and is left to a skeptical frame of mind until he throws back the shutters to see the full view.

Here is what Md man said:

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A new comment on the post “Intelligent Design on Trial — Kitzmiller and Miller Miss The Point” is waiting for your approval

Intelligent Design on Trial — Kitzmiller and Miller Miss The Point

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Author : Md man (IP: 98.70.124.12 , adsl-98-70-124-12.tys.bellsouth.net)
E-mail : ______________@yahoo.com
URL :
Whois :
Comment:
I think therefore I am intelligently designed? That, my friends, is the most circular logic I have heard in a long time. That means by default every response to the ID critics is wrong because they had to think of an answer. What irony!
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Director’s Response:

To really understand intelligent design or even the existence of an intelligence that embraces the entire universe, really takes thinking beyond self. And yet, the very point is a relationship between ourselves and Himself. This Window is a place to see that life is not merely by chance and therefore opens our mind to consider there is a purpose for being. Visit WindowView.org and make A Step Up to Life.

Director,
WindowView.org

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Archaeologists unearth temple complex near Jerusalem

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Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University unearthed the ruins of a temple complex dating to 1100 B.C. at Tel Beth-Shemesh near Jerusalem. Archaeologists believe that the temple was destroyed and desecrated when the Philistines invaded. The researchers said goblets discovered at the site along with stones arranged to direct liquids were clues that the structure was used as a place of worship. Sci-News.com (11/13)

From the article:

“This temple complex is unparalleled, possibly connected to an early Israelite cult – and provides remarkable new evidence of the deliberate desecration of a sacred site,” explained co-directors of the dig Prof Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr Zvi Lederman of the Tel Aviv University’s Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology.

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Bible, Earthquakes, Science Data in View

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Previously we cited a series of serious earthquakes (see blog post: Science Data, Current Events, and Nature as Biblical Indicators, March 11, 2011) that prominently made a resonating note with the following scriptural statement declaed in the Bible:

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. “(Mark 13:8 NKJV)

What the Messianic Writings are referring to involve events leading up to Messiah’s return to Israel.

The illustration below reveals how active the planet is in recent time. You can visit the original article with the graphic shown below. ( http://www.livescience.com/21284-world-earthquakes-map.html )


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To be clear, earthquakes alone don’t make the linkage complete, but then ARE you looking at how this relates to ALL the other signs we can see in the daily news. The most remarkable point to add here is how nations are building a swell of momentum in opposition to the mere existence of Israel. There is war elsewhere, too. There are serious troubles, globally, in the areas of economics, environment, and human relations. And famine is local to where ever you live, someone nearby, in even the most affluent areas … is hungry. All of this contributes HUGE pieces of significant evidence to complete the picture. Are you seeing what the Window reveals?

The reason for WindowView is to get you to LOOK at the science and scriptural evidence that are right in front of you. And if you don’t know what the Bible says … then read it for yourself! Most people let others tell them what to think without thinking for themselves. What kind of person are you? What does the evidence tell you?

Director, WindowView.org

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Global Conditions to Messiah’s Return

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WHEN WILL MESSIAH COME?

In “Fiddler on the Roof” Tevye takes a moment to look to the heavens and asks G_d, “Wouldn’t this be a good time for Messiah to come?!”

We look around the world, with Bibles in hand and say … things are looking bleak and conditions just have that feeling of “we are heading to the end of the age” … in other words, the time the Bible speaks of when Messiah comes!

HOW DOES THE WORLD SEE IT?

In the June 15 issue of Science magazine, Dr. Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist from Brazil, comments on an upcoming conference on global conditions. He compares the Rio de Janeiro 2012 UN Summit meeting to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development also held in Rio de Janeiro. While the climate and global issues are similar, then and now, there are three key differences Dr. Nobre highlights in his editorial.

First: the obvious degree of interconnectedness among nations, which he notes “would have been unimaginable in 1992.”

“Today’s global society is linked culturally, socially , and economically. Highly interconnected systems can confer remarkable stability, but they are prone to abrupt change, as shown by the global financial crisis and recent food security issues.”

Second: the concept of the “Anthropocene” describes an era we now live in where human behavior is recognized as a key driver for change. This influence may have surpassed what our planet is able to bear, including significant loss of biodiversity .

Third: In the past 20 years is geopolitical change where emerging economies play a larger role than before. Examples here include the rapid growth and productivity in Brazil, China, and India.

WHAT KEY INGREDIENTS DO WE NEED for MESSIAH TO RETURN?

While all three points made by Dr. Nobre are all so very true, there is one more ingredient that has come in recent time. So, into the window we add a fourth factor!

Fourth: Global communications and the linkage of commerce make Messiah’s coming much more possible now, than ever before.

The fact that the entire world will be able to SEE events in Jerusalem is not only part of the prophesy that describes events wrapping up the age, but now this is possible in a big way through hand held devices including video and audio that streams wirelessly around the globe.

A study concerning the “two witnesses” described in the last book of the Messianic Writings (a.k.a. Revelation) provide the vital example of what the entire world will see … everyone will see these two and what happens to them. Everyone will know, see, understand with the help of streaming technologies. Twenty years ago, no one could have imagined what we have today.

Linkage in commerce also makes for a computerized system that ultimately opens the way to total control of sales and purchases of all goods.

The Bible’s description of a “mark of the beast” without which one could not buy or sell anything speaks to a global control … entirely possible via the Internet. In fact, hand held devices are quickly becoming electronic credit cards. The UPC symbol and scanner codes we see all around us become like a mark that is necessary for buying anything.

SO WHEN?

Our point is that we have arrived at a global state where the interconnectedness, like Dr. Nobre’s first point above, has advanced so swiftly that Messiah’s return can clearly be described as imminent, soon, at any moment now … the globe is wired wirelessly and ready.

Are you seeing what we see here? Are you ready?

For those who look at the big picture, all the perspectives in the Window’s View give a clue on what is coming our way.

Director, WindowView.org

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Losing Sight of Where We Are

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REMEMBERING WHERE WE ARE

Each month or more so each week NASA scientists are able to discern the existence of yet another planet or solar system in our galaxy. Over the past decade or two we have watched the Hubble telescope upgraded and the reach of this instrument gets us ever closer to the beginning of the universe. This is marvelous advancement and the images and data are awesome.

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To many, the data are material evidence for humans being only a material existence in a material universe … to such thinking THIS is all there is.

At this point we could write an appeal for the non-theistic minded to be awestruck to the point of saying our knowledge of the complexity and vastness of the universe reveals the nature of an awesome intelligence, a creator, and thus open the door for God … why not reveal His being through the science information we have today.

After all, if Darwin could see Hubble images or the extreme electron microscope magnification of cell details, from animals and plants, wouldn’t that have affected his theorizing?

WHERE WE REALLY ARE TODAY

Sad thing is, as we see marvelous scientific discoveries, we also have news of struggles in the Middle East. Isaiah 17 decries the woes of Damascus and today we see the words come true. The tide of Arab nations also turns against Israel and that is a tell tale sign of where the world really is today. Not just a world on a planet in outer space … but a world hell bent in turmoil.

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We can gather the data from our technically awesome machines … but what we really do is exhibit sin and strife. We are really living the themes, events, and predictions of the Bible. That IS where we really are! Ironically, the extremists plot and exercise their plans in the name of religion, but this too only fulfills what the Bible has reported in advance, for hundreds of years. This biblical fact is inescapable and not masked by competing texts. Think about it … sit and look out the window of your existence.

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The contrast between our objective nature, to gather scientific information that truly reflects the awesome nature to our existence, is offset by the myopic and subjective nature that says the struggles foisted on the masses is in some way advancement of the human race. Struggles come through more than wars and terrorism … also through unemployment, poverty, greed, political unrest and the list goes on and on. This is where WE are. Are we a good example for the rest of the universe?

In the end, the subjective thinking will be attacking a chosen people … chosen for saving and chosen for leading the objective few to the Eternity that the Bible clearly states is ahead of us.

So, where are you today?

Director, Windowview.org

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Political Stupidity AND Solar Smarts

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The other day we wondered what the total cost of the Iraq was was … and doing a Internet search led us to the total figure of $797 BILLION.

Next question: What might that money have accomplished aside from conducting a war effort.  If humans could generate more electricity to power homes and electric cars, might that help turn the US away from other energy dependencies.  Might it combat global change and even benefit the entire planet?

In hind sight, political leaders in Washington (present and former Presidents, current and past Congress persons, PACS, NGOs, the whole lot of the intellectual elite … all get a finger pointed at them here) can be blamed for following a really dumb strategy.  What does war accomplish in this case?  This is not a plea for peace and love, etc. This is a look at the window’s view!

Lets consider this a view to CORPORATE all inclusive blame. Actually, is anyone or everyone aware of what humans might have done?

Yep, hindsight is great stuff for sure … but we sit in the window and look out at the world and this is what we see.  There are approximately 69 million single family homes in the US.

QUESTION: If a typical basic solar installation for a home is $25,000, then how many homes might be covered if the US Government had offered a 50% subsidy ($12,500) to those homes adding solar to supplement power in the home and local power grid?

ANSWER: 63.7 MILLION homes could have added solar with the 12,500 dollar subsidy.  Okay, so not every home is a prime candidate for solar.  What if the Government gave a $25,000 subsidy to all homes that qualify for a full subsidy.  That halves the total installations to half the number of dwellings, but also remember these would be selected from the more efficient installation sites.  Total installation fees to cover 31.9 MILLION homes would mean power from the sun to create a more robust power grid and to help support a more broad electric car transportation base.

The added electric input from solar would also reduce dependence on coal, oil and gas … and even with current technology, less efficient solar collectors, the implications are still HUGE.

The real lesson to learn here is that the US and other countries around the world are short sighted on political and nationalistic conflicts and not making decisions for long term benefit … benefits to the country and addressing global change concerns that will certainly confront us for generations to come.

And what of Iraq?

Well, civil unrest in the Arab states recently taught us how the political leadership in Iraq would have been ousted over the same period we could have been installing solar collectors. And the real crime is … mounting debt, lost jobs, deferred clean energy, and avoidance of other benefits.  Is anyone paying attention?

The writer of this article is not particularly political, neither conservative nor liberal, not really Democrat nor Republican … but from an OBJECTIVE view looking at human choices we all can think of … that is the Window’s View!

What do you think?  Have you written a politician a note recently?  Well?

Invite them to the window!

Director, WindowView.org

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