Insert a Trite Metaphor for a Corral No. 101

Posted on June 12, 2011 in Roundup

Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. William James

Climate Change and the Elephant in the Living Room. When I was a young man, I lived under the shadow of [[nuclear proliferation]]. We were all convinced that we would die in an exchange of [[mutually assured destruction]] aka MAD. The Bomb was necessary because they had The Bomb we were told. Much of the activism of the eighties was directed to ending this scenario. All look hopeless until [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] came around and put [[Ronald Reagan]] on the spot: it was either drop his Star Wars plan or make his administration look like the pack of war-mongers that it was.

Unfortunately for today, we can’t expect our greatest foe — the earth’s atmosphere to make a bold move like Gorbachev and shame us into granting it concessions. It has no propaganda ministry to put out the word of its good intentions. It can only attack us through catastrophes.

While temperatures are moderate here in Southern California, my friends in the rest of the country have been put through a firey furnace. This year has shown that global climate change is a fact with all the tornadoes, strange winters, and heat waves not to mention the hurricanes which are yet to come. One party has cornered the market on climate denial: this was the week when [[Rick Santorum]] called climate science “junk science” and called for strict controls on what people could see on the Internet. Perhaps if Santorum forgot about online hot spots and took a walk in the heat burning down Pennsylvania, he might get a clue. As the first two articles below show, we are in a bad place when it comes to climate. The Republican response to these scientific facts isn’t to provide an alternative to the Democrats’ response: it is to do nothing except those who point out the truth. We need to do with GOP what we do with an abusive, alcoholic spouse: divorce it!

• Carbon Release to Atmosphere 10 Times Faster Than in the Past, Geologists Find — Which means it is exceeding previously clocked natural rates. Which points to artificial stimulation. Also see this article about how global warming is happening faster than ever.
• Weinergate Zealotry On Right And Left Exposes Underage Girls To Risk — I had assumed that they were adults. I hold the people who published their details accountable, however. They knew. Now read these jokes.
• Romney Wrong on Deficits, Auto Bailout — “Wrong” somehow doesn’t express this. “Lies” is better.
• Top ten things Rick Perry doesn’t want you to know about him — This is what we should be seeing more of, not misogynistic gossip about Palin and Bachman.
• Cheezburger founder tells newspapers what they have been doing wrong — Can I Haz Real Journalism?
• Sex, Politics, and God — God didn’t remove King David for his sex scandal and it was worse than what Weiner did by far!
• Censorship Gone Too Far? Canadian Catholic School Bans Rainbows — Left wing “political correctness” calls for rewriting the rules of etiquette; right wing political correctness calls for oppression and censorship.
• Air Quality Worsened by Paved Surfaces: Widespread Urban Development Alters Weather Patterns — I’ve known for years that all that asphalt and concrete made me miserable
• How a Roman Ship Carried Live Fish — A floating aquarium?
• The Pinhegg – My Journey To Build An Egg Pinhole Camera — I have always wanted to do this — but with an egg?!.
• Getting shouted at makes you work harder, but not smarter
• NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Approaches Protoplanet Vesta — This could be the start of the most interesting-least terrifying science story of the year.
• Feminists don’t think all men are rapists — Rapists do — This makes a lot of sense to me. Violent people don’t think they are any different from the other guy. Abusive parents, for example, will insist that other parents beat their kids.