You can have your own opinion, but you can't have your own science

This video is hilarious.  It is a comedy sketch, not a real newscast which it should be.

It's fairly easy to jump on the climate change bandwagon either pro or con when a major weather event shows up.  A couple of years ago when Washington, D.C. was hit by a huge winter snow storm, the deniers were out in force pointing out a winter blizzard could hardly occur when global warming is under way.  Of course those people were noticeably quiet during last summer's rash of heat records and drought.

Another silence so loud it screams pretty much ignored the issue during the campaign for president this year.  It didn't come up once during the debates and was largely ignored during the rest of the shouting despite melting in the north that left the smallest accumulation of ice around the North Pole in history.

Of course a lot of it is showing up today with  the approach of a massive storm onto the largest population center in the United States, a hurricane whose storm circle extends from the Carolinas into Maine with New York City right in the bull's eye.  Have to wonder how much would be said if that storm were approaching Seattle instead, or Alaska.

Even before the storm hit, the proponents of global warming were raising their flags.  And just as quickly the opposition was making accusations like "only a liberal would politicize a storm like this."  Of course that same group didn't politicize the big snowstorm a couple of winters ago.  Not at all.  Unless you count those Christians at the Westborough Baptist Church, who called the storm the wrath of god sent to punish a sinful world. Those are the same Christians who go to military funerals and carry signs saying those casualties of war died because America loves gay people.

Science holds the answer, but in an age of anti-intellectualism, science, at least in some circles is criticized and questioned as a vast liberal plot. It is kind of a sad state of affairs when ignorance actually gets a strong voice and intelligence is considered a weakness.

And while the Federal Emergency Management Agency mobilized ahead of the storm, everybody's favorite Republican reiterated his earlier call to eliminate FEMA.  Now, who is trying to politicize a growing disaster? You have to wonder what his former constituents in Massachusetts who are directly in the path of the storm think about that. It kind of recalls George Bush ignoring the Hurricane Katrina damage not so long ago.  What would the Romney plan be for an approaching storm?  We can all move to one of our other homes?

What shouldn't be argued, is that the earth is warming.  That is indisputable fact.  Arctic ice melted to its lowest level ever recorded this summer.  Water temperatures are up around the world. in fact, this storm grew stronger over an area that usually cools and weakens tropical storms because water temperature is higher.  What can be questioned is whether it is part of a natural cycle, caused by greenhouse gases created by men, or some combination of the two, which is most likely.  It is usually a sign of a distressed animal population when individuals are found in less habitable areas.  We are drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean.  Just sayin'.

It brings to mind one of the few original thoughts I have had in my lifetime.  I once came up with phrase "too many people are trying to fix the blame instead of the problem."  Who cares what the contributing factors are?  The fact is, mankind can do things to alleviate the problem.  But those things are why there is no mention of it in political campaigns, why people push the issue under the table, why governments manipulate terminology to bury the problem as they did in one of the Carolinas, calling the water rise along the outer coast there occasional flooding rather than admit ocean levels are rising.

A shark swims along a New Jersey street. Chances are this is
a fake. According  to people who know, most photos of 
sharks in flood waters are.

Why is America universally sticking its figurative head in the sand?  Because any solution is gong to cost money to the largest single economic force ever seen on Earth.  What is that?  Simply: the fossil fuel industry.  Oil, gas, coal wield such power with the United States government that it can even change the terminology, stop legislation, belittle science, ignore warnings all to generate the biggest profits ever recorded.  Case in point.  Mitt Romney endorsed the use of "clean coal" during one of the debates. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN COAL!  In 2008 in the period leading up to Christmas, the clean coal association broadcast commercials with animated lumps of coal dressed in Santa costumes singing about the attributes of clean coal to the tune of religious Christmas carols, even “Silent Night.” That is typical of energy industry solutions to environmental problems: Pour money into public relations and advertising to convince people they are doing the right thing. Apparently one person in the country believes them.

So, until our representatives stand up to the industry, we can watch ice melt, we can see stranded polar bears, we can watch flora and fauna from temperate climates creep north as permafrost melts and releases methane into the air, we can watch coastal areas disappear under water and islands submerge, we can see more drought, more wildfires, more and bigger storms, but nothing is going to change.  After all it is just a liberal plot to curtail oil and mine development, don't you know.  Or, maybe someone will sit up and notice when some of the effects hit at the centers of power.  As of this writing, about 4:30  pm Alaska Daylight Time (8:30 pm Eastern) Con Edison has shut off power to lower Manhattan as water has begun to flood into the streets there.  Hmm, what famous street crosses lower Manhattan?  With the power off and the trading floor subject to flooding how will we ever know how much our Exxon stock made today?

AFTERTHOUGHT: My apologies to the folks in the path of this storm who are going to be deeply affected for piling on a political argument.  Having weathered storms, I know it doesn't mean much to people getting battered what a bunch of people on dry land out of harm's way have to say.  What matters most is keeping your family and loved ones safe and alive and protecting your property where it is safe to do so. I am reasonably sure the rest of the country,with the exception of a few Christians, is pulling for those who are in hazard tonight.