The big news today was that Al Gore and the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on global climate change. I find Al Gore to be a really facsinating bol, and maybe this Nobel will bring some awareness to the media age devaluation of politics which Gore has come to represent. In a nutshell, Gore, after being millimeters away from the presidency, said "fuck it" and decided that he could make more impact free of the restraints and ethical compromises inherant in politics. Many have understood that politics isn't the sole arena of power in this country, but few have been able to speak from outside the political realm with the authority that Gore can, only because of his former position of power. I still haven't formulated any real statement as to the nature and effectiveness, generally speaking, of this "insider-outsider" thing he's been doing, but no matter what the circumstances, he'll be bustin' at y'all daily for some time to come.
Al Gore is on the Hill today and he'll likely go toe-to-toe with A number One dumb dumb idiot and Pour The Science whipping boy Sen. James Ihofe (R-OK). The NYTimes talks about Gore "revisiting the old stage" and manages to point out that Gore has basically said "fuck you" to politics.
Marlo Lewis of the Cabal of Corpulent Industrialists Competitive Enterprise Institute has an absurd op-ed in the Atlanta Constitution Journal which contains the gem:
Carbon dioxide, which Gore demagogically calls "global warming pollution" (it's plant food, after all), is the inescapable byproduct of most of the energy that fuels the world's economy.
The rest of the "piece" is about how he believes that madatory emissions caps are an elitist cockblock on third world development. It's funny how a representative of such a powerful industry group (see bottom) will play the "pity the poor people" card during a brief break from screwing the poor. Two problems here Marlo: yes, CO2 is plant food... but so is cow shit... nice attempt at nice-ifying CO2 like it could [puppy dog face] nevuh evuh be a puwoootant because da happy flowees need it to bwooom (red herring count: 1). Second, CO2 is not an inescapable byproduct- you could decide to, uh, use something else for energy by working together and changing things for the positive. Oh, yeah, that.
Actually, let's take a two second break from beating up on Marlo here (because Snoop might be round the corner), and just quickly debunk his entire organization. Ok, step one- watch their propaganda video:
A late 2005 paper about a decline in sea ice extent by SCIENTISTS at U. Colorado, NASA and U. Washington. The paper contains things like graphs and complex computer models that took years to build. The results were confirmed further in 2006. Marlo, on the other hand, has been published in "The Washington Times, Investors Business Daily, TechCentralStation, National Review, and Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy."
Einstein Escobar
I could go on for a long, long, long, long time, given the number of studies out there, which appear in Science and Nature (the premier peer-reviewed scientific journals in the world) almost every week. So let's just hope that Gore has his shit in line to be the point man for the people who dedicate their lives to researching these phenomena and fend off the people who dedicate their lives to attacking those who threaten industry. There's a lot at stake, and people are watching.
P.S. File FoxNews "science" writer Stephen Milloy in the same category as Lewis (Naysaying Dickface).
P.P.S. One of those responsible for absolutely infuriating the scientific community by doctoring and altering government scientific reports on climate change has copped to it in front of Congress. Phillip Cooney said "My objective was to align these communications with the administration’s stated policy." The administration's stated policy, of course, was to look the other way. Watch It!
Triple P.S. Big up to homebody Joey over at Straight Bangin', who sent some bols this-a-way earlier this week. Between SB, Just Sayin and this blog, it's like a full school day. Early!
