This may come as a shock to many of you but there are people in our country that believe we are living on Fantasy Island. You know....a magical place where there are no repercussions for anything we do. A place where there is no responsibility....especially if you are a conservative.Take for example the issue of global warming. As I was driving to work the other day, I tuned in AM 1500 to listen to the morning musings of Bob Davis, their 9am-12n host. For the past couple of weeks, ol' Bob has got a bur up his ass about what he calls "The Global Warming Conspiracy." According to Bob, every scientist that says that Carbon Dioxide emissions are raising the temperature of the Earth is part of this conspiracy and they are willfully muzzling scientists who disagree with them in order to make money. It's money, not trying to save mankind, that is motivating these global warming maniacs. Former presidential candidate Al Gore is at the forefront of this conspiracy with his movie An Inconvenient Truth, which is now being shown in schools around the country as fact. Heresy! (according to Bob anyway).
Even our own President Bush has now been co-opted by these evil forces, daring to mention alternative fuels and environmental shepardism in his State of the Union address. In addition, Christian Conservatives have also lost the plot, so to speak, and have formed groups like the Evangelical Christian Initiative. Gads!
I used to have a lot of respect for Bob Davis. His old show came on right before Art Bell late at night and he always had many interesting things to say. I didn't always agree with him...he is a conservative after all....but I enjoyed his show. Listening to him spew his litany of half truths last week made me decide is was high time I wrote a column about global warming and what is really going on. To do that, I must first explain the definition of a scientific theory.Contrary to what many neocons will have you believe, all science begins with an idea or "theory" which is then advanced towards validation based on research. Empirical evidence is gathered and theories become more sound or less sound based on the data gathered. Remember, though, that no matter how much evidence is gathered, theories remain theories and they always will. This is unlike conservatives who take their religious "belief" and stick to it come hell or high water. It's a lot easier to change an idea but a belief...well you might as well try to get Brad Childress (current head coach of the Minnesota Vikings) to admit that his offensive scheme blows ass. It is not going to happen.
Take for example, the theory of evolution. Yes, that's right, folks evolution is a theory. You didn't read it wrong. It just so happens that evolution is a theory that has a lot of evidence behind it and is more than likely accurate in explaining how we evolved. One of the common misconceptions about evolution is that it explains the origin of life. It does not. It simply explains how homo sapiens evolved over time. Unlike the faith based explanations of life, science allows for future discoveries to lead to alternate theories. Global warming is a theory as well. Last week, major
scientists of the world agreed, with 90 percent certainty, that global warming is happening as a result of carbon dioxide emissions from mankind. Does that mean that it is happening unequivocally beyond a doubt? No. But it is highly probable. And what I got from the reports is that we need to do something about it. For sake of brevity, I am not going to list the full report and evidence but you can click here for that. The problem with the ever shrinking group of people that doesn't believe in global warming is that they don't really listen, they don't understand, and they let their own paranoia and sensationalism carry them away. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the people that stand to lose the most money from global warming initiatives are the same people that got President Bush elected (aka the same people that own KSTP). These are the same people who are waging a systemic effort to "play down" the threat of global warming and as well as a disinformation campaign (of which ol' Bob is a part of) that rivals the current "War on Terror" drivel.
Several media outlets have reported that more than 120 scientists across 7 federal agencies have been pressured by members of Bush Co. to remove references to "climate change" and "global warming" in reports, press releases, and even intra-office memos. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) scientists have basically been living in fear for the last six years and have seen much of the work buried if it had anything to do with global warming. It is because of these stories that I don't believe President Bush when he says that he now believes in global warming.So, all of you will have to excuse me when I get enraged to the point of insanity when I hear people like Bob Davis talk about scientists being muzzled who don't believe in global warming. IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND, FUCKO! I hear scientists all the time on Fox News, AM 1280, and AM 1500 talking about the myth of global warming. In fact, you had one on today! What the hell are you talking about, Bob?
I find it ironic that people like Bob Davis are eager to believe anything that has to do with "evil doers comin to gin us" and yet believe nothing about the very real dangers of global warming. It is in this irony that you can see the real agenda behind this tactic. The military industrial complex benefits from a frightened population all too willing to give up their freedoms to "fight terror" and is in danger from any referendum on global warming because the very building of these weapons is causing some of the problems with the environment.
So, Bob, there is a conspiracy and the ones that are after money (or in this case keeping their grubby hands on it) are the people YOU support....They are also know as THE PEOPLE THAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. This is what I meant in my column entitled "Origin of the Species" from two weeks ago. The people that talk about global warming being a danger...what is their goal? From what I can see, it is taking better care of our planet. The people that think that global warming is a hoax...what is their goal? To keep things the way they are? To do nothing?
Which one is part of the solution and which one is part of the problem?
