Or maybe not...according to a new study of the Greenland ice sheet just published, Global Warming Deniers are completely and utterly full of shit. Okay, the report doesn't actually put it quite that succinctly, but it is the inevitable conclusion one can draw from the report. In it they have found that since 1979, when studies of the ice sheet started in earnest, an additional 17,000 square kilometers per year has melted. That is the equivalent of an area the size of Great Britain vanishing every 5 years.
Now that the Intellectual Luddites have taken over control of the US House of Representatives I know that it has become fashionable again to thumb ones' nose at nerdy scientists armed with their nerd-charts and their scraggly nerd-beards, but one would hope that the time will soon be upon us when even the most highly paid whore in Congress can no longer squawk about global warming being a "myth" without realizing themselves just how fucking stupid they look. I mean, just look at the freaking pictures that are out there. If the data confuses you, or the pie chart reminds you of Ms Pacman fine, but don't look at those glacier before/after pictures and tell me GW is not happening.
"There are none so blind as those that refuse to see" so the saying goes, and that is no more ably demonstrated than when one looks at the case of the wilfully blind King Canutes that continue to say that there's no "proof" that global warming is real, even as the glaciers and ice sheets melt, and the sea-levels rise. They sit around and and bicker over whether it is 'real', or solely man-made, or whether it is a part of the greater cyclical nature of the planet. That has always struck me as being rather like the crew of the Titanic standing around arguing over whether the iceburg that just ripped a bloody great hole in the side of the ship came from the North Pole or Greenland. In the end it doesn't friggin matter, because we're all going in the drink. And if this survey is right, by the time the Greenland ice sheet has completely melted, the sea levels will have risen 21 feet around the globe.
Hope you brought your swimming suit.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The M$M silence another critic..or "liberal media" my arse...
In an abrupt, and highly surprising move MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have "agreed" to "part ways". Strange when you consider that Keith Olbermann still had two years left on his contract which was valued at $7 million per year, and yeah, this smells like week-old bullshit to me too.
It strikes me as no small coincidence however, that this happened in the same week that the takeover deal of MSNBC's parent company by Comcast finally gets approved. Comcast is a big-time supporter of the republican party and the last thing they needed right out of the gate was someone like Keith Olbermann running around in primetime pointing out how the republicans are all a bunch of hypocritical assholes.
The whole NBC/Comcast deal is rotten from top to bottom for a myriad of reasons, not least of which is that it means that we now have only five corporations owning 94% of all the television media in this country, but this evenings' news merely confirms the suspicions of many on the left, that their voices are being silenced by the major corporations as they gobble up each media company, one by one.
The "liberal media" is an age-old lie that has been spread around, very successfully, by the right-wing noise machine in this country for years. Despite the fact that it is completely, and demonstrably untrue, it is a lie that has been told so many times, by so many people, that it has now become the truth, even when faced with absolute proof that it is total horseshit. Say for instance today. Think about it. If the media is so liberal, where are all the liberals on the telly or the radio? If the "liberal media" really did exist, by definition, none of the right-wingers complaining about the "liberal media" would be heard, because "the liberal media" wouldn't let them. Right? Of course it's horseshit, but that doesn't stop the right-wing noise machine from perpetuating the lie, and using Keith Olbermann as a prime example of it.
In an era of corporate media ownership that has had a chilling effect on forthright and honest journalism, it is a tragedy when a voice like Keith's gets silenced. Keith Olbermann is a hero of mine. A man unafraid to stand up and say what needed to be said, no matter how unpopular or controversial it may have been, and regardless of the political affiliation of the offending party. His 'Special Comment' segments were something I eagerly looked forward to as a source of inspiration, understanding and catharsis. His eloquent anger over the injustices and hypocrises of the political operatives, both in front of and behind the camera's eye, gave me hope that there was still a chance that this republic can achieve it's greatest goals, as long as it's fiercest critics are allowed to speak. His genuine patriotism, his passionate love of country and democracy, and his deep understanding of what the Founding Fathers were trying to acheive with this grand experiment, was inspiring.
According to his many detractors on the right, he was a socialist idealogue, a liberal blow-hard and an all around pain in the ass. He was in fact the only man brave enough to go on a television network show, night after night, and call a spade a spade. He pointed out the fact that Fox is nothing more than the media arm of the republican party despite it's Goebbel-esque mantra of 'Fair and balanced". He regularly pointed out the rank hypocrisy of some of his fellow 'journalists' too, even on his own network, and did so knowing full well that a day like today might happen at any moment because of it.
And so, it finally happened. Apparently the new bosses don't like the idea of a real journalist, you know, one with ethics and the willingness to ask the tough questions, and will instead terminate their number one star, from the number one show, for something else.
I have resolved to do two things to protest this. The first is that I am going to dump Comcast as my cable company this week, and I will tell them specifically why when I do it, and the second is that the next person that complains to me about "the liberal media" will get a swift kick in the bollocks.
It strikes me as no small coincidence however, that this happened in the same week that the takeover deal of MSNBC's parent company by Comcast finally gets approved. Comcast is a big-time supporter of the republican party and the last thing they needed right out of the gate was someone like Keith Olbermann running around in primetime pointing out how the republicans are all a bunch of hypocritical assholes.
The whole NBC/Comcast deal is rotten from top to bottom for a myriad of reasons, not least of which is that it means that we now have only five corporations owning 94% of all the television media in this country, but this evenings' news merely confirms the suspicions of many on the left, that their voices are being silenced by the major corporations as they gobble up each media company, one by one.
The "liberal media" is an age-old lie that has been spread around, very successfully, by the right-wing noise machine in this country for years. Despite the fact that it is completely, and demonstrably untrue, it is a lie that has been told so many times, by so many people, that it has now become the truth, even when faced with absolute proof that it is total horseshit. Say for instance today. Think about it. If the media is so liberal, where are all the liberals on the telly or the radio? If the "liberal media" really did exist, by definition, none of the right-wingers complaining about the "liberal media" would be heard, because "the liberal media" wouldn't let them. Right? Of course it's horseshit, but that doesn't stop the right-wing noise machine from perpetuating the lie, and using Keith Olbermann as a prime example of it.
In an era of corporate media ownership that has had a chilling effect on forthright and honest journalism, it is a tragedy when a voice like Keith's gets silenced. Keith Olbermann is a hero of mine. A man unafraid to stand up and say what needed to be said, no matter how unpopular or controversial it may have been, and regardless of the political affiliation of the offending party. His 'Special Comment' segments were something I eagerly looked forward to as a source of inspiration, understanding and catharsis. His eloquent anger over the injustices and hypocrises of the political operatives, both in front of and behind the camera's eye, gave me hope that there was still a chance that this republic can achieve it's greatest goals, as long as it's fiercest critics are allowed to speak. His genuine patriotism, his passionate love of country and democracy, and his deep understanding of what the Founding Fathers were trying to acheive with this grand experiment, was inspiring.
According to his many detractors on the right, he was a socialist idealogue, a liberal blow-hard and an all around pain in the ass. He was in fact the only man brave enough to go on a television network show, night after night, and call a spade a spade. He pointed out the fact that Fox is nothing more than the media arm of the republican party despite it's Goebbel-esque mantra of 'Fair and balanced". He regularly pointed out the rank hypocrisy of some of his fellow 'journalists' too, even on his own network, and did so knowing full well that a day like today might happen at any moment because of it.
And so, it finally happened. Apparently the new bosses don't like the idea of a real journalist, you know, one with ethics and the willingness to ask the tough questions, and will instead terminate their number one star, from the number one show, for something else.
I have resolved to do two things to protest this. The first is that I am going to dump Comcast as my cable company this week, and I will tell them specifically why when I do it, and the second is that the next person that complains to me about "the liberal media" will get a swift kick in the bollocks.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Ricky Gervais - The Scourge of Hollywood?
The celebrity sections of the news media in the U.S. have been all abuzz this week after the hosting job done by British comedian Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes. Apparently our little Ricky cut a little too close to the truth and told some jokes that made more than a few of the precious darlings in attendance wince. Really? Tough shit I say. What did they expect when they hired him? Knock, knock jokes? Sycophantic arse-kissing? That's more up Jay Leno's alley. Look, I think that a great number of people like watching those awards ceremonies just in case someone actually does something unpredictable and memorable rather than thanking their lawyer or their pet-walker or their colon-cleanser.
Cary Grant once famously said of the Oscars "it's just a bunch of rich people sitting around applauding each other", and for the most part he's still right. Face it award shows can be very boring. No-one outside of that room actually gives a shit about any of the people that are usually so effusively feted, and no-one gives a shit about most of the categories either. Foreign film screenplay? Hello, no-one saw the bloody thing, who gives a shit who wrote it? We want best supporting actor and actress, best actor and actress and best film (trust me no-one gives a shit about 'best director' either, they can give some of the worst speeches ever, do you remember how awful James Cameron was after winning for Titanic? One word, Ugh). Anything other than that is boring bullshit that is simply there to fill in the time and make some of the "little people" feel special. (Best score? best make-up? Puh-leeze).
A much better idea is to trim the actual number of awards down as suggested above, and then have Ricky Gervais use the rest of the time for his stand up. Two things will happen. There will be a shitload more laughter, and a bunch of Americans will learn the proper use of several new words to impress their friends with.
Cary Grant once famously said of the Oscars "it's just a bunch of rich people sitting around applauding each other", and for the most part he's still right. Face it award shows can be very boring. No-one outside of that room actually gives a shit about any of the people that are usually so effusively feted, and no-one gives a shit about most of the categories either. Foreign film screenplay? Hello, no-one saw the bloody thing, who gives a shit who wrote it? We want best supporting actor and actress, best actor and actress and best film (trust me no-one gives a shit about 'best director' either, they can give some of the worst speeches ever, do you remember how awful James Cameron was after winning for Titanic? One word, Ugh). Anything other than that is boring bullshit that is simply there to fill in the time and make some of the "little people" feel special. (Best score? best make-up? Puh-leeze).
A much better idea is to trim the actual number of awards down as suggested above, and then have Ricky Gervais use the rest of the time for his stand up. Two things will happen. There will be a shitload more laughter, and a bunch of Americans will learn the proper use of several new words to impress their friends with.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Rep. Peter King thinks that Wikileaks are terrorists..but the IRA apparently aren't...
Rep Peter King (R- Complete Asshole) is a well-known tough-talking knowitall bullshit artist that likes to trash Democrats and other like-minded people that don't agree with his "kill them all - let God sort it out" type of rhetoric. He went completely around the bend after 9-11 and his sanity (if that's what you can call it) has never been seen since. He has said some of the most amazingly bigotted things about the Muslim community in the US, including suggesting that Muslim-Americans aren't "real" Americans at all. But now his new target is Wikileaks.
He has suggested that the New York Times be tried for treason for publishing some of the material, and that Julian Assange should be tried as a terrorist because Wikileaks amounted to support for terrorists. If that were the case Mr. Assange would be quite right to suggest that as far as going to jail for supporting terrorists is concerned, perhaps Rep. King should go first. You see, Peter King actually HAS supported terrorists, only they were white, and it was politically beneficial in his district to do so. Their official name is the IRA.
It has always rubbed me the wrong way that Americans felt that supporting the IRA was okay, but supporting another group, say Hamas, was not. They are BOTH terrorist organisations, and just because one comes from a land that is much mythologized and revered for it's dodgy food, it's fairly decent beer and it's sorrowful history, whilst the other exists in a desolate hole in the Middle East, doesn't excuse those that give support to either of them. And this goes doubly for someone that loudly shouts and accuses one, but not the other, of being sub-human animals that need to be exterminated. The fact that he knows that he has given material support to one group of terrorists (a violation of federal law) whilst villifying another group merely goes to show you that he is indeed, completely full of shit.
He has suggested that the New York Times be tried for treason for publishing some of the material, and that Julian Assange should be tried as a terrorist because Wikileaks amounted to support for terrorists. If that were the case Mr. Assange would be quite right to suggest that as far as going to jail for supporting terrorists is concerned, perhaps Rep. King should go first. You see, Peter King actually HAS supported terrorists, only they were white, and it was politically beneficial in his district to do so. Their official name is the IRA.
It has always rubbed me the wrong way that Americans felt that supporting the IRA was okay, but supporting another group, say Hamas, was not. They are BOTH terrorist organisations, and just because one comes from a land that is much mythologized and revered for it's dodgy food, it's fairly decent beer and it's sorrowful history, whilst the other exists in a desolate hole in the Middle East, doesn't excuse those that give support to either of them. And this goes doubly for someone that loudly shouts and accuses one, but not the other, of being sub-human animals that need to be exterminated. The fact that he knows that he has given material support to one group of terrorists (a violation of federal law) whilst villifying another group merely goes to show you that he is indeed, completely full of shit.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Another reason why President Obama's speech yesterday was just what the doctor ordered...
If you haven't seen it I urge you to find a video of it. It was absolutely one of the most eloquent, uplifting, tear-jerking and inspiring speeches I have ever heard him make. The tone was perfect, mixing respect, sorrow and optimism in equal parts. It left you feeling at the end as if you had awoken from a night of uneasy sleep, worrying about something not quite visible in your dreams, only to find out that the sun was shining, there was a light, warm breeze blowing through the window curtains and you felt incredibly refreshed and alive. You know, like those feminie hygiene products they always show on the telly.
Anyway, find it, watch it, and enjoy it. This will go down as one of the best speeches by any President. Ever. I am not joking.
Plus, it seems that it may have just about completely ended Caribou Barbie's political aspirations once and for all. That's quite a two-fer. You see, two things will be remembered about yesterday, the first is the President's eloquent and heartfelt appeal for the country to unify after a terrible tragedy and for all of us to try and live up to its' better aspirations with calmer and more respectful dialogue, the other is the bitter, self-centred, accusatory, combative, and stunningly anti-semitic pre-recorded bile spewed by someone that was once politically relevant for about a month and a half.
Sarah Palin couldn't possibly have looked less 'Presidential' (if indeed that was what her advisors were aiming for) if she tried. Standing in front of a background that looked like one of those fake ones used at a supermarket photography studio, she painstakingly picked her way through the words someone else had written for her, syllable by syllable. She looked for all the world like a contestant in a beauty pageant trying earnestly to communicate her desire for world peace whilst wearing a shimmering thong bikini and 5 inch heels. The ultimate irony about this of course was that you could see the reflection of the teleprompter in her "make me look smarter" designer glasses, something she has relentlessly criticised the President for doing.
Many pundits, on both the left and the right, have started to wonder aloud if she has done irreparable harm to her chances of winning the republican nomination, or indeed whether she has a viable political future at all. Personally I think she is done and dusted, and I think that deep down inside she knows it too. My bet is that she'll tease all the knuckle-draggers she calls her base for as long as she possibly can, and then when it comes time to make the decision, she'll make up some half-assed excuse not to enter the race, you know something like "the lame-stream media pundits will only use it as a chance to attack me or my family" and she'll stay on the sidelines snarking and sniping, making speeches and "writing" books as she has done since 2008.
Why do I think that? Well, consider for a moment how she first made her entrance onto the national political stage. She was plucked from obscurity by Grampa McLame, who thought that female Clinton supporters pissed off at Obama for having won the Democratic nomination would simply vote for whomever had a vagina on their ticket, so she has never had to run the gauntlet of having members of her own party tear her apart in a brutal primary contest. She's only had the "un-American liberal lame-stream media" to deal with, and even then only at arms-length in pre-scripted fluff sessions. Just wait 'til Mike Fuckabee, or Toad Gingrich or Mutt Romney start going after her shallow resume as a lightweight quitter with no real political bona fides and see just how quickly she begins to melt before your eyes like the wicked witch of the west...She can't afford to have that sort of damage inflicted on her marketable image, so rather than risk entering the race and being torn to shreds by her fellow republicans and then quitting (again), I don't think she'll even enter. She'll quit before it even starts.
Who says there's no such thing as miracles?
Anyway, find it, watch it, and enjoy it. This will go down as one of the best speeches by any President. Ever. I am not joking.
Plus, it seems that it may have just about completely ended Caribou Barbie's political aspirations once and for all. That's quite a two-fer. You see, two things will be remembered about yesterday, the first is the President's eloquent and heartfelt appeal for the country to unify after a terrible tragedy and for all of us to try and live up to its' better aspirations with calmer and more respectful dialogue, the other is the bitter, self-centred, accusatory, combative, and stunningly anti-semitic pre-recorded bile spewed by someone that was once politically relevant for about a month and a half.
Sarah Palin couldn't possibly have looked less 'Presidential' (if indeed that was what her advisors were aiming for) if she tried. Standing in front of a background that looked like one of those fake ones used at a supermarket photography studio, she painstakingly picked her way through the words someone else had written for her, syllable by syllable. She looked for all the world like a contestant in a beauty pageant trying earnestly to communicate her desire for world peace whilst wearing a shimmering thong bikini and 5 inch heels. The ultimate irony about this of course was that you could see the reflection of the teleprompter in her "make me look smarter" designer glasses, something she has relentlessly criticised the President for doing.
Many pundits, on both the left and the right, have started to wonder aloud if she has done irreparable harm to her chances of winning the republican nomination, or indeed whether she has a viable political future at all. Personally I think she is done and dusted, and I think that deep down inside she knows it too. My bet is that she'll tease all the knuckle-draggers she calls her base for as long as she possibly can, and then when it comes time to make the decision, she'll make up some half-assed excuse not to enter the race, you know something like "the lame-stream media pundits will only use it as a chance to attack me or my family" and she'll stay on the sidelines snarking and sniping, making speeches and "writing" books as she has done since 2008.
Why do I think that? Well, consider for a moment how she first made her entrance onto the national political stage. She was plucked from obscurity by Grampa McLame, who thought that female Clinton supporters pissed off at Obama for having won the Democratic nomination would simply vote for whomever had a vagina on their ticket, so she has never had to run the gauntlet of having members of her own party tear her apart in a brutal primary contest. She's only had the "un-American liberal lame-stream media" to deal with, and even then only at arms-length in pre-scripted fluff sessions. Just wait 'til Mike Fuckabee, or Toad Gingrich or Mutt Romney start going after her shallow resume as a lightweight quitter with no real political bona fides and see just how quickly she begins to melt before your eyes like the wicked witch of the west...She can't afford to have that sort of damage inflicted on her marketable image, so rather than risk entering the race and being torn to shreds by her fellow republicans and then quitting (again), I don't think she'll even enter. She'll quit before it even starts.
Who says there's no such thing as miracles?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)