CNHI News Service

Opinion

January 2, 2013

EDITORIALS: Planets like earth; Lincoln's courage

CNHI News Service

Planetary prediction

(The New Castle, Pa., News)
 
Many astronomers expect the first Earth-like planet outside the solar system will be discovered this year.
 
This isn’t merely wishful thinking. Advancing technology and improved analysis have allowed astronomers to confirm an increasing number of planets circling stars in the galaxy.
 
At first, only large, gaseous planets — akin to Jupiter — were found. But improved techniques have started to locate smaller planets.
 
What’s more, researchers are getting better at assessing how far from their stars these planets orbit. That’s a key factor in determining if a planet could be similar to Earth.
Of course, no one is predicting any confirmation that such a planet will support life. It may be roughly the same size as Earth and orbiting its sun at a distance that makes it neither too hot nor too cold. But that’s not enough to ascertain whether it actually supports life.
 
So far, it remains mere speculation that life exists on other planets in the galaxy. But with billions of stars in the Milky Way, most astronomers find it unlikely that Earth is alone as a planet supporting life.
 
But that’s just speculation, not fact. We know that water and various chemicals are necessary for supporting life on Earth, and it’s presumed these would be needed for life on other worlds. However, even the presence of these building blocks may not be enough to ensure life.
 
Scientists are at a disadvantage in assessing not only the chances for life elsewhere, but what it would look like. With Earth as our only real frame of reference, much of this is a guessing game.
 
And then there’s the matter of the potential for intelligent life on other planets. That’s a whole new can of worms.
 
For years now, efforts have been under way to scan the stars for radio signals that would confirm the presence of advanced life on other worlds. So far, there has been nothing.
But the effort has been hampered by the fact no one knew where to look. If technology is nearing the ability to identify earthlike planets, it will lead to refinement in the search for intelligence.

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Political greatness, 150 years ago

(The Free Press -- Mankato, Minn.)

At a time when American government and leadership sees so hopelessly lacking, it's informative to look back, 150 years ago, when one of America's finest moments, produced by one of our finest leaders, occurred with enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation.



Abraham Lincoln's amazing leadership and political acumen helped define the greatness that America and its form of government can produce.



Unlike too many politicians who let public opinion and political ambitions trump good policy, Lincoln worked tirelessly to end slavery, first through a presidential proclamation and later as he pushed ferociously for passage of the 13th Amendment to forever abolish slavery.



In the midst of a long and devastating Civil War, the proclamation was not popular. By issuing a preliminary text of the proclamation in the fall of 1862, just prior to congressional elections, Lincoln knew his party would take a beating  -- and it did.



"Looked at coldly, the timing of the Proclamation amounted to political suicide: Lincoln was putting the most highly charged issue of the war before the voters, and the voters into the hands of the opposition, without any time for the shock to wear off," wrote Allen C. Guelzo in his book: "Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America."



There remain critics  who claim Lincoln was not personally sincere about emancipation, but that it was simply a convenient war strategy. But numerous examples show that was not the case.



Not only was he so adamant about it that he risked political disaster, he publicly and privately demonstrated his commitment.



When challenged by a delegation of Unionist Kentuckians on whether or not he was sincere in his emancipation strategy Lincoln is quoted as saying he "would rather die than take back a word of the Proclamation of Freedom."



And according to Guelzo's book, Lincoln had come to believe that emancipation of the slaves was God's will, and was demanded by the Declaration of Independence.



At a time when politicians in Washington struggled to find a way to pass a budget, Lincoln's leadership looks particularly unparalleled.

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