SameOldSchmidt

So Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental activism. Good for him. Although ever since they gave a Nobel Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat, the award has been sort of a joke. In Gore’s case, the award comes on the heels of a British Judge declaring that An Inconvenient Truth should not be shown in schools without a disclaimer describing several serious problems with the arguments presented in the film.

I respect that lots of people are concerned about the environment in general and global warming specifically. That’s great, we all have our own set of things that we care about. The one thing that bothers me is that any time someone presents opposing arguments or questions their facts, the Gore fans seem to come back with some variation of: “Well, even if our facts are off and our premise is faulty, these policies are just the right thing to do .”

I dunno, I think it’s important to have the basics laid out first. I mean, just look at the Iraq war. We went in there for WMD and didn’t find any. Not even a single nuke strapped to a camel or anything. So how about the Iraq war proponents come out and say “Okay, our premise was wrong, our facts didn’t pan out, but it’s still cool beans because taking out a cruel dictator is just the right thing to do.” Would you buy that?

That’s the way the hardcore environmentalists seem to make their arguments, “It doesn’t matter if our facts are off because our intentions are so good, so we should just roll with it.”

Here’s some respected science dude (that’s not his official title ) who’s concerned about the way global warming is being presented…

ONE of the world’s foremost meteorologists has called the theory that helped Al Gore share the Nobel Peace Prize “ridiculous” and the product of “people who don’t understand how the atmosphere works”.

Dr William Gray, a pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts, told a packed lecture hall at the University of North Carolina that humans were not responsible for the warming of the earth.

His comments came on the same day that the Nobel committee honoured Mr Gore for his work in support of the link between humans and global warming.

“We’re brainwashing our children,” said Dr Gray, 78, a long-time professor at Colorado State University. “They’re going to the Gore movie [An Inconvenient Truth] and being fed all this. It’s ridiculous.”

At his first appearance since the award was announced in Oslo, Mr Gore said: “We have to quickly find a way to change the world’s consciousness about exactly what we’re facing.”

Mr Gore shared the Nobel prize with the United Nations climate panel for their work in helping to galvanise international action against global warming.

But Dr Gray, whose annual forecasts of the number of tropical storms and hurricanes are widely publicised, said a natural cycle of ocean water temperatures - related to the amount of salt in ocean water - was responsible for the global warming that he acknowledges has taken place.

However, he said, that same cycle meant a period of cooling would begin soon and last for several years.

“We’ll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realise how foolish it was,” Dr Gray said.

During his speech to a crowd of about 300 that included meteorology students and a host of professional meteorologists, Dr Gray also said those who had linked global warming to the increased number of hurricanes in recent years were in error.

He cited statistics showing there were 101 hurricanes from 1900 to 1949, in a period of cooler global temperatures, compared to 83 from 1957 to 2006 when the earth warmed.

“The human impact on the atmosphere is simply too small to have a major effect on global temperatures,” Dr Gray said.

He said his beliefs had made him an outsider in popular science.

“It bothers me that my fellow scientists are not speaking out against something they know is wrong,” he said. “But they also know that they’d never get any grants if they spoke out. I don’t care about grants.”

Now, again, I totally respect that some people care a lot about the environment. I have several friends who are very green-minded and I think it’s great for them to pursue something that interests them. I definitely don’t mean to belittle the things in which they believe, just like I don’t appreciate when people belittle the things that I believe, whether it’s something central to me, like religion, or something trivial like which movies I enjoy or what bands I’m into. Nobody likes being told they’re foolish, so I definitely aim for respectful discourse.

This is pretty badass, Rush Limbaugh is selling the infamous letter that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent to his corporate partners, donating the proceeds to charity. If you haven’t followed the story at all, you probably won’t find the auction all that interesting but for fans of talk radio it’s pretty fun. Here’s an mp3 file of the audio from the show: rushebay.mp3 (about 3 minutes) and here’s a link to the eBay auction.

When “Dingy Harry” Reid and the U.S. Senate turned away from the business of the nation to instead smear a private citizen, forty-one of them sent a letter demanding the “repudiation” of their inaccurate interpretation of Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Jesse Al-Zaid (a.k.a. Jesse MacBeth) and other “phony soldiers” who falsify their service. This letter was delivered to Mark Mays of Clear Channel Communications, Rush Limbaugh’s syndication partner, and widely quoted in the Drive-By Media.

Up for auction is the original letter signed by 41 Democrat senators. This historic document may well represent the first time in the history of America that this large a group of U.S. senators attempted to demonize a private citizen by lying about his views. As such, it is a priceless memento of the folly of Harry Reid and his 40 senatorial co-signers.

The entire proceeds of this auction.. the entire high bid… will be donated to The Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation, a registered charity which provides financial assistance to the children of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers. Rush Limbaugh serves on the Board of this organization and has been active on its behalf. All costs of this auction will be paid by the seller… every dollar of your winning bid will go to this charity, which has to date distributed over $29 million.

Rush first publicly displayed this letter on the night of October 11th during a speech in Philadelphia, having a security operative carry it on stage, with the letter itself safely encased in a Halliburton Attache case handcuffed to the agent’s right wrist. Included in this auction is that same Halliburton briefcase, as well as a personal letter from Rush Limbaugh, thanking the winning bidder for his donation.

I’m not really “plugged in” to Nebraska politics yet. My excuse is that I’ve only been back for about three months. I do agree that I need to check out who my representatives are and get informed on local issues and all that jazz.

So anyway, apparently one thing I’ve been missing by not following local politics is this guy named Ernie Chambers, a state senator from Omaha.  He’s been serving for many years and is quite the character. Some of my friends think he’s pretty cool. I myself don’t know enough about him to say what I think; my first impression is that he’s a bit of a whackjob.  I do like that he rocks a t-shirt and jeans to the Unicameral, that’s pretty funny.

His latest stunt is filing a lawsuit against God, ostensibly to make a point about frivilous lawsuits.

Chambers sues God in protest of another lawsuit
By NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press
Monday, Sep 17, 2007 - 06:41:04 pm CDT
Fed up with the threats, tired of natural disasters, the state’s longest-serving state senator is using his legal muscle against who he says is the culprit — God.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued the Almighty in Douglas County District Court last week.

Chambers, who skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians, said he filed the lawsuit to show that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody. That, he said, was recently illustrated by a federal lawsuit he said triggered his lawsuit against God.

I’m all for cutting down on frivilous lawsuits, so I’m with him on that, but I don’t think this stunt is the best way to make the point.

Of course, there have been responses…

“God” responds to lawsuit, saying court lacks jurisdiction
By NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press
Thursday, Sep 20, 2007 - 09:02:14 pm CDT
A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response.

One of two court filings from “God” came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.

“This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here — poof!” Friend said. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”

Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he’s trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody.

Not so, says “God.” His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.

It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.

“I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you,” according to the response, as read by Friend.

There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.

The whole thing’s a joke, on all sides.  I don’t know whether to just laugh, or be irritated that our leaders are piddling around with this type of thing.  I guess one positive way to look at it is that if they’re spending their time on meaningless stuff like this, then at least they’re not doing anything worse.