- I mentioned that the Athabasca glacier in Alberta has receded a little less than a mile over the last 125 years. So logic would tell us that the glacier began that process in 1892, correct? (Actually, it was probably even earlier; at one point, much of northeast Kansas was covered in ice. I'm glad it's not today.)
- In 1892. Benjamin Harrison was President. The gas-powered automobile was not yet in production. The U.S. population was about 63 million, less than a fifth of today's total and about equal to the combined populations of California and Texas today. Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states. In other words, the glaciers were receding long before our world was filled with cars, long before the carbon footprint was a thing, long before sign-waving protesters screamed about climate change before climbing back into their gas-burning cars and driving back to their coal-fired electricity cooled homes.
- Could it be that the Athabasca glacier is receding in part because, in an effort to educate the masses about the impact of global warming, the Canadian government transports tourists across it in massive, 30-ton, diesel-powered vehicles?
- The day the withdrawal from the Paris Accord was announced, a very well-educated, successful woman commented to me, "We don't need coal!" She made this comment while we were sitting in her air-conditioned boardroom, with the lights on and our laptops plugged in, the Keurig and mini-fridge running, in the state that leads the nation in consumption of electricity fueled by coal. She is also passionately anti-Trump. Obviously, there are a lot of people who don't understand this issue, but form their views about it based on party affiliation.
- So Elon Musk dropped off the President's business advisory council. Pardon my yawn. Massive government spending on climate change directly benefits Musk's companies, which are innovative, but famously unprofitable. Without government subsidies, they'll be even more unprofitable, and could fail. Too bad, Elon, Figure out a way to make an unsubsidized profit through alternative energy, and you're our biggest hero. But don't suck our tax dollars to prop up your little experiments, especially when your net worth is about $13 billion.
- Meanwhile, kudos to President Trump for being that rare politician who appoints a guy like Musk to his council, then doesn't grease his palm with the people's money. Trump did what he thought was the right thing, even if it cost him an influential guy like Musk. Most politicians sacrifice the right thing to give special favors to their friends. Nobody else is talking about this.
- CNN is gushing over French President Macron's English-language response to President Trump's decision to pull out of the accord (like the fact that the guy can speak English is a big deal - hey, je parle Francais, un peu). One talking head went so far as to declare him "the new leader of the free world." Please. The guy was only elected 20 days ago, and thus far all he's accomplished has been kissing Angela Merkel's skirt. Declaring him the new leader of the free world at this early juncture would be as premature as handing a U.S. President the Nobel Peace Prize less than nine months after his inauguration, for doing nothing more than going on a global apology tour. Oh wait ...
- Consider this: the U.S. didn't pull out of the Paris Accord because we're planning to revert to wholesale pollution and destroy the earth, nor because Donald Trump doesn't believe in climate change. We pulled out because we're already doing our part, and we don't need to subsidize those who aren't, and who won't well into the future. The U.S. has reduced its carbon footprint dramatically over the last few decades, so let's let the rest of the world do their part.
- Now, some would argue that saving the world from global warming is so important that the U.S. should be willing to subsidize other countries' efforts. Those same people would argue, in the next breath, that the U.S. shouldn't be the world's cop. Can't have it both ways: the U.S. should save the world from one threat, only to sit back and see it destroyed by another? Folly. Besides, I don't need some kid living in his parents' basement, playing Guardians of the Galaxy after he gets done with his shift flipping burgers at McDonald's, spending my tax dollars so freely. Let the people who buy into the notion that climate change is our biggest threat donate their money to combating it, rather than demand everyone else foot the bill. Meanwhile, I'll keep driving my 35mpg car and picking up other people's trash.
****************************************
A lot of people are outraged over Kathy Griffin's latest stunt, and are plastering stories about her all over social media. I'm not going to do that. In fact, I'm reluctant to even mention her here.
Why, you ask? Shouldn't I be outraged?
Perhaps. But I understand why she did it: she's a relatively talentless attention junkie who has made a career of trying to extend her 15 minutes of fame by being outrageous, since she can't do it on the merits.
She likes to brag about all the talk shows and venues she's been banned from as a result of her shenanigans. She proudly created and starred in a reality TV show about being on Hollywood's D-list, probably because she's bitter about the fact that she lacks the chops to make the A-, B-, or even C-list.
She pranced topless beside a road in Miami while the paparazzi snapped away, and even posted some of the images on her own Twitter account. Most celebrities who get caught au naturel try to suppress those photos. But they've typically become celebrities by being talented, and don't need the extra publicity. While everyone else participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge a few years ago, she did so fully nude and on camera.
I would have to imagine those images are far more disgusting than her most recent one.
Thanks to all the attention she's been getting, she's been able to command headlines, even calling a press conference and playing the victim card, and pointing out that Ted Nugent did something equally reprehensible (ah, the "you do it too" defense - the last resort of small but guilty minds).
I'd rather not play her game by spreading her name all over social media, drawing more attention to her like a fly to ... well, you know. When people do that, Kathy Griffin wins. Let her fade into oblivion, where she belongs.
****************************************
I've been wanting to address this for a while now. I cringe every time I hear some anti-war lament about "sending our sons and daughters into harm's way." Do these people think the government goes about raiding people's homes, snatching little Bobby or Suzy from their cozy beds under the cover of darkness, and sending them off to slaughter?
Last I checked, we have a volunteer military. People sign up to defend this country, even if that requires the ultimate sacrifice. And the military people I've known are more than ready to go defend the U.S., even if it means risking their own lives. Remember the surge in enlistments that took place after 9/11?
Sure, there are a handful who join up for the pay and benefits, but when they get their deployment notice, they say, "Hey, that's not what I signed on for." Thankfully, they're few and far between.
If my own daughter or son-in-law enlisted and got sent to the front lines, I'd worry about them. I'd pray for their safe return. And if, God forbid, they lost their lives, I'd be crushed.
But I wouldn't blame the government that deployed them after they volunteered to serve. I wouldn't disown them for that choice. I'd be proud of them, and I'd honor their memory each and every day.
The military folks I know understand that while drone strikes can be effective, there is no substitute for boots on the ground in some applications. A drone strike did not take out bin Laden, nor did a spy satellite locate Hussein. We want them on that wall, we need them on that wall.
I hate the notion of war, of armed conflict, of people having to kill other people in order to achieve peace. There should be better ways, but sometimes there aren't. Especially if the other side doesn't want to achieve peace, and insists on continuing to threaten lives.
Had the U.S. never engaged in armed conflict, we'd all be singing "God Save the Queen" or shouting "Sieg Heil."
****************************************
So, in my last post I mentioned the fact that I'm going to be a grandpa. And I do worry about the world we're going to leave to that precious lad. However, I don't believe his biggest threat will be eking out an existence in a barren desert with no food or water, thanks to global warming.
I worry about a world in which people have to live in fear of violence, and not just from terrorism. The anonymity of social media has made snark en vogue. I used to comment that people would say things on social media they'd never say to someone's face. Sadly, that seems to no longer be true in a time when people get into fistfights on airplanes, or at political rallies. When protesters punch police horses, for crying out loud. A time when civility is dead.
I worry about a nation in which you have to work for more than half the year just to pay your tax bill. A nation where the government rules the people, instead of the other way around. Where the minority rules, where we're so divided that civil discourse is impossible, where the media controls the message, and where the outcomes of free and fair elections are only accepted by those who voted for the winner, with everyone else claiming they don't have a President, yet demanding their rights as a citizen.
I worry about him not being able to find a job in high school, because all the menial jobs are required to pay a wage that would support a family of four, so automated kiosks have replaced those jobs. So he has to wait until he has a degree to be able to learn the value of work, of managing his own money, of contributing to his own support. I worry that he won't be able to afford a car, because emissions standards have priced them out of reach for all but the wealthy.
And I especially worry that my grandson won't be able to avail himself of one of the most valuable benefits of a college education: exposure to multiple, divergent viewpoints that will expand his horizons, encourage spirited but respectful debate, and allow him to use his God-given judgment to form his own world view.
But I have hope. I see it when I see his parents not succumb to the media spin, the thought police, the temptation to be nasty to other people. When they champion values like hard work, personal responsibility and thrift. When they show a willingness to listen to others' views, whether they agree with them or not.
Sadly, crazy has become the new normal, and vice versa. Thankfully, there are still those who are fine with being the neo-crazy. I'm putting my hope in them, for my grandson's sake.
No comments:
Post a Comment