Monday, March 26, 2012

DENIAL

So, it's below freezing tonight in my part of the world, a night of deep winter, only it's Spring. And the past few weeks have seen many days and nights of Midsummer, only it was Winter. In fact in the past few weeks over 7,000, that's right, seven thousand records were broken around our country for the highest temperatures on that date ever. And now all the Spring blossoms, and even crops that came out too early, will freeze tonight.

Yet, there are still those who deny climate change. Or say this is the "normal" way weather varies. They deny global warming is real, even though the hottest years on record for the USA all occurred in the last decade.

And then there are those who accept the facts, that yes, islands are disappearing from rising water, the tundra is thawing, polar bears can no longer get to their prey over ice because it's melted away, Spring comes earlier and lasts shorter as Summers begin sometimes, like the past few weeks, while it's still Winter, and last well into shortened Falls.

Scientists predict all kinds of problems as a result of global warming. Only ten years ago they were warning that weather would become more extreme, and sure enough it has, including last year that saw more extreme weather events than ever before in our history.

This is an unprecedented crisis for the entire world. And yet when I went to the place where I work out the other day, above a bank(!), on the doorway from the parking lot someone had taped a leaflet with the large boldfaced headline: "WAKE UP AMERICA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"

But it wasn't about global warming and climate change, the first sentence made it clear why we needed to wake up: "President Obama and his team of radical socialists, Vice President Biden, House Speaker Pelosi and others are attacking our way of life."

That lie was followed by many more, including that the unemployment rate is going up, that the stimulus bill was a failure, and that "Obama is trying very hard to wreck our free market system at a very rapid pace in order to destroy our economy so as to initiate a policy of socialism" which they then define as "spreading the wealth of the upper and middle classes to the poor, thus taking away your liberty and freedom."

There's more lies and then at the bottom a handwritten addendum saying "Obama is collapsing and destroying America right before your eyes (Do your own research)." But what they mean by research is obviously rightwing web sites and propaganda since real research would have resulted in this flyer never having been written. [I ripped it down and threw it out but on my way out another had been taped up, which I also tore down and bought home so I could quote from it.]

This is what those who know better, and those who should know better, among rightwing Republicans and media figures and other rightwing propagandists, are reaping. And as it always has in the past, it will not only harm those they target, which is anyone whose interests don't align with the rightwing corporate and super wealthy masters, but will eventually come back to bite them in the ass as well. I hope that happens before it's too late.

22 comments:

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

This comment is not about climate change per se, but about the Trayvon Martin case. Am I the only one that's having a hard time buying George Zimmerman's "self defense" story? And this whole thing about hoodies, more manufactured Giraldosity. I have a photo of my Dad, a devout Orthodox Jew, a very learned and highly respected man in his community and a patriarch, a dentiat for 50 years, sitting at his desk wearing a hoodie as he recovered from bypass heart surgery - he's in his late '70s at the time. And look at the photo of Zimmerman - unshaven, with a stud in his left earlobe - how gangsta does this look? Much moreso than a kid in a hoodie on a cold and as I understand it rainy night. And what was he thinking, if he's a legitimate, supposedly trained neighborhood watch person, following someone solo, even after the 911 dispatcher told him "you don't need to do that."? If you live long enough, you can smell a fish, and this smells like a rotten fish to me.

JIm said...

Robert, Just like the Duke University case, facts will come out, which may or may not reveal whether the killing was a murder or self defense.

The man caused global warming theroists have said that the medieval warming and little chill was most likely specific to Europe and was not world wide. The cores recently taken off shore at the Antartica, measuring temperatures in those same periods counter the man caused global warming theroists. It was warm and cold, mirroring what happened in Europe.

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

Many facts are out already, such as the 911 dispatch tapes, the obfuscation and publicity seeking of Zimmerman's lawyer and his so called friends, the unprofessional police work (or lack thereof) and the obvious lack of transparency.

tom said...

Good timing.... http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/28/opinion/mann-climate-change-email-attacks/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Follow the money of climate science debunkers and where does it lead..

Lally said...

Tom, thanks for that link. It's shameful what the right is trying to do to scientific inquiry and evidence, discrediting anything that counters the corporate greedheads that rule the right.

JIm said...

Robert, I assume you agree, with the Obama justice dept. when they seem to condone the Black Panthers bounty on Zimmerman.

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

as tony randall said to jack klugman on the odd couple, "when you assume, you make an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'.." In this case, u. The Justice Department does not condone a bounty on Zimmerman, so please cut the crap. But Zimmerman does need to be brought to justice and vigilantism and rampant gun abuse does need to be checked. And murder by irresponsible zealots has to stop.

JIm said...

Robert, I suspect that, if a Tea Party group were to put a bounty on someone or intimidate voters at a polling place, Obama's justice department would be very quick to act. I believe it is Holder who has been the the ass.

tom said...

Hi, Jim - first it is a group styling itself as the New Black Panthers Party not the Black Panthers who are the group that has been around for a long time. Second lets be clear that the bounty is for a citizen's arrest of Zimmerman. Kinda like posting a reward for locating a criminal. This is several degrees below what a bounty is usually assumed to mean. Does this mean it is right - no - no more right than tweeting what somebody thought was Zimmerman's address. Is this a Federal crime - I don't know. If it is against local laws then shouldn't the local or state deal with it. Just because the Feds are involved with the case does it mean this offer of a reward falls under their jurisdiction - again I don't know. But it seems it should be a local issue first. And it seems to me that groups on the right have issued 'bounties' before.

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

Thank you Tom, for countering Jim's opinionoids with rationality and actual facts.

JIm said...

Hi Tom,
You make good points. Could you name bounties that have been issued on the right. The most vigorous current conservative group on the right has been the Tea Party, of which I consider myself a member. You say that bounties have happened on the right. Can you name one? Has the Tea Party been guilty?

JIm said...

Hi Tom,
I believe you may have missed that on Thursday, members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense circulated a “wanted dead or alive” poster for George Zimmerman over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.


Continue reading on Examiner.com New Black Panther Party poster: George Zimmerman wanted 'Dead or Alive' - Spokane Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/new-black-panther-party-poster-george-zimmerman-wanted-dead-or-alive#ixzz1qYTh8o5H

tom said...

Seems, Jim that that did happen, but I can only find one photo of the poster. I thought that was curious.
And think farther right than the Tea Party. The NBPP don't represent Liberals any more than the some of the far right militia groups represent Conservatives.
I see one leader of the NBPP has been arrested on gun charges.

tom said...

Just to continue a bit and get back to Eric Holder (another Black man the right loves to hate)I would still ask if the poster is a)illegal and b) a Federal or state crime if it is illegal. I am still curious about the photo of the poster.

Lally said...

Tom, it's a diversion. I would have deleted the comments but you started responding so I've left them. But the facts are rightwing hate groups have multiplied exponentially since Obama's election. Something like a 700 percent rise. And violence from the homegrown rightwing militias and other armed groups has dominated all domestic political violence pretty much exclusively since since Reagan. The gun law that led to people being able to kill an unarmed citizen if they felt in any way threatened was written by ALEC, the Koch brothers' rightwing legislation arm that actually writes laws for states to then adopt if they have enough Republicans to do it, and it was backed not only by the Koch brothers but by Walmart, which sells the most guns "legally" in the country and therefore profits by such laws (there are now more guns in the USA than people) and by the NRA of course which has run out of ways to justify its existence since people can now own what amounts to contemporary versions of machine guns and carry arms in church and in bars and shoot anyone in many states with the same law as Florida who they think might want to harm them. Which means if the one I usually delete and me were in Florida and he made the kinds of threats he's made against me on the blog and in private emails, I'd have the right to shoot him in the face and walk away a free man. But somehow it's not the rightwingers who end up dead in these confrontations, it's always the minority or the young teenager walking up the wrong driveway or etc.

tom said...

The gun law is so open to abuse and it would be different if a black man was attacked and defended himself. In looking for photos of the "poster" I came across any number of racist, immigrant hating, etc sites that had the article up. But no photo. I'd like someone who knows more about what you can do with images to look at it. And I know, I keep falling in the the mud and responding. Probably the frustration of living in a area where gun rights advocacy is strong and the local gun shop has been quick to use the right wing fear factor to boost sales. Our local AM station carries both Rush and Beck as well as Phylis Schafly. Thank God for FM. It is interesting how Jim jumps on a black militant racist group while ignoring all of the hate groups on his side. We've seen the signs carried by some Tea Party members. Oh, well. Like most Liberals I have to go to work tomorrow. I am curious to what will happen to all the very large religiously conservative families here if the Republicans get their way and they lose their food stamps and other government aid.

tom said...

And before I go to bed - one last link http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/opinion/collins-more-guns-fewer-hoodies.html?_r=1

Lally said...

Tom, What will most likely happen is their leaders and media masters will convince them that it's the fault of liberals and Democrats and Obama, and they will mostly likely believe them. It's enough to make you want to move to Canada (as is talking to a friend today who doesn't have health insurance and is broke and can't get the help he needs and the worrying is causing more health problems etc. whereas if he were in Canada like many friends and extended family, it would already have been dealt with and for free).

JIm said...
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Lally said...

Oh, and thanks Tom for the link to that Gail Collins op-ed, she's got it correct, but she's preaching to the choir as I suppose I am too for the most part these days,

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-foxconn-vow-wide-revamp-200107606.html

It's all catching up. Things will have to change for the better, but there's a price to pay. The GreedOpoly will burn itself out and only when we realize that God wants us to be our best, to have relative equality and good life will the messiah have arrived. No one on this planet needs more than a hundred million to live wonderfully for her/his lifespan, especially when one's gain comes at the expense and well being of others. Call me a socialist or whatever you desire, I cannot in good conscience and soul carry on knowing that many others are suffering due to my taken for granted comforts. Like going to the market any time I want and buying nicely packaged slaughtered being. Or going to Walmart and buying a high powered gun and killing someone who's wearing a hoodie. This should not be possible or thinkable in our world. I will stand face to face with any ;terrorist', gangbanger or other on this planet without a gun.

JIm said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.