Observations 8.28

Now this is an idea whose time has come, start naming hurricanes after climate change deniers. I first saw this video on Joe My God.


Published on Aug 26, 2013
link

"If you agree that it's time for a naming system that names extreme storms caused change after policy makers who deny climate change sign the petition at ClimateChange.org, before John Boehner blows your entire city away."

note - I stopped using the tag 'global warming' a bit ago and switched to climate change. Rather than have a mess noting that fact here and tagging this post with global warming. If you want to see previous posts on the subject, including those during Sandy, click that tag.

Observations from the Window 8.13

This summer it seems like one weather event after another is a major news item. Just in the past week we've had out of control wildfires in the west, flooding in the midwest, resort swallowing sinkholes in Florida, and this morning massive thunderstorms in the northeast. We haven't even gotten to the peak hurricane season yet. At times like this it's good to be reminded that human caused climate change is just a massive liberal atheistic hoax.

I haven't mentioned America's tard in chief in some time, possibly because he has so much competition or possibly because I'm being overly politically correct, but this seems as good a moment as any to bring him back. I give you Rush Limbaugh during his radio show yesterday when he somehow managed to go from abortion to climate change with hardly a breath. He was commenting on Secretary of State John Kerry's remark that climate change was "a challenge to our responsibilities as the guardians, safe guarders of God’s creation."

"What about God’s creation called a fetus? See, in my humble opinion, folks, if you believe in God, then intellectually you cannot believe in manmade global warming. You must be either agnostic or atheistic to believe that man controls something that he can’t create. The vanity! These people on the one hand, ‘We’re no different than a mouse or a rat.’ If you listen to the animal rights activists, we are the pollutants of this planet. If it weren't for humanity, the military environmentalist wackos, the Earth would be pristine and wonderful and beautiful, and nobody would see it. According to them we are not as entitled to life on this planet as other creatures because we destroy it. But how can we destroy it when we’re no different from the lowest life forms? And then on the other end, ‘We are so powerful. And we are so impotent — omnipotent that we can destroy — we can’t even stop a rain shower, but we can destroy the climate.’ And how? With barbecue pits and automobiles, particularly SUVs. It’s absurd."

You can listen to the entire Limbaugh segment here, if you dare.

I like the beginning where Limbaugh corrects Secretary Kerry's use of the English language. More than likely it was a rather crude attempt at bringing attention to Kerry's Boston accent but as most of Limbaugh's listeners are rather crude I'm sure they fully understood.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 6.10

I've missed my Sunday Observations lately and have a mess of notes that I either have to throw together or shred and I hate an unused note. Anyway some odds and ends, some old, some new.

First I need to apologize for a typo in a previous post. In the post about Miya Ando I called her Maya even though I know her name is Miya and looked over it a few times before I posted. I shall blame auto-correct as my only other excuse is that sometimes I'm just terrible at this writing thing.

Hillary Clinton joined twitter today, joining Bill, Chelsea, the Clinton Foundation, and the Clinton Global Initiative. Its exciting for a number of reasons including her black and white profile pic, you just have to like that. Of all the twitter profiles I have read over the years this may be the best; "Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD..."

During the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma I saw a video that showed a perfect funnel cloud. A local reporter on the scene described it as "the finger of god" and I thought I had never heard a more apt description of a tornado. It also struck me that this tornadoes and other extreme weather events have something in common with guns. Don't talk about guns after a massacre and don't talk about climate change after severe weather.

My current favorite journalist, other than Rachel, is Chris Hayes because I feel like he wants to understand both sides. Even if he doesn't agree with a position he wants to understand it and that's how I like to think I am. I only mention that because I wanted to bring up my current least favorite journalist, at least my least favorite non-wingnut journalist. I can say I have never been thrilled with The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald and his handling of his current NSA stories have just solidified that opinion. His arrogant, holier than thou, there is no other side to the story approach is something I expect from wingnuts and is the polar opposite of Chris Hayes.

I was told that I need to clarify something. A while back I mentioned that I did not like Woody Allen or his movies but technically that's untrue. Midnight In Paris is the exception to that rule. It's Paris, Ernest Hemingway, and Woody Allen isn't in it. Also I may be the only person who can watch both V for Vendetta and The Devil Wears Prada at the same time. I got yelled at for that one.

Finally a fashion sign of the apocalypse, CK's summer scented nail polish. The closest I've ever been to scented nail polish was using paints while painting but if I remember correctly they didn't smell like watermelon. Enough said.

Observations from the Road 5.28

Inspired by an uncle I was talking to this weekend and my brother's reaction to that same uncle. I could have made it longer but you'll get the point.

Some Republicans, wingnuts, and assorted nutjobs believe many things. They believe President Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya and that the current minor scandals are worse than Watergate. They have never seen a gun they didn't like or think would be perfect for self-defense or pigeon hunting. The problem is you can't get ammo for all those guns because the government seems to be hoarding all the ammo to keep law abiding citizens from getting any. In fact some think the Newtown massacre was orchestrated by the federal government to spur gun control and bring on the confiscation of guns.

They believe in death squads, hidden weapons of mass destruction, and that Al Qaeda is stronger than ever. They believe the 4 American dead in Benghazi are worth more hearings than 7,000 American dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As Wall Street reaches record levels they know that President Obama is at fault for the collapse of the economy. They never saw a tax cut or rich man they didn't like or a poor man that they did. They look at a collapsed bridge and say infrastructure is something we can no longer afford even as they call this the greatest nation on Earth. They think corporations are the equivalent of you and I but shouldn't have to pay the equivalent taxes. They think austerity is the best answer to everything even though the evidence would say the opposite.

Than they look at record hurricanes, heatwaves, blizzards, wildfires, floods, and tornadoes and they DON'T believe in climate change. It's just too 'out there' for them because it happens to be cold outside.