Bogus headlines, talk radio blather, and mass extinction

[civildisoBDence]

I keep seeing headlines proclaiming the wonderful news: "Summer of 2006 not as hot as 1936," or "This summer fails to break heat record of 1936."

Drudge made this his lead headline, it ran at WorldNetDaily, and the talk radio blowhards are using it as evidence that global warming is a left wing hoax.

The truth is that 1936 was a Dust Bowl year. Should we really be celebrating the fact that this summer was a tad less hot than the year farmland blew away with the wind and people were scattered across the country with little hope and less sustenance?

If anything, this summer's near-record heat should remind us vividly of the potentially catastrophic effects of such heat. We're talking about the future of the planet, not a damn horse race.

These are the facts without the spin according to the nonpartisan LiveScience.com:

The first eight months of 2006 was the warmest in the continental United States since record-keeping began in 1895, NOAA officials said today.

The period of June through August was the second warmest on record.

snip

Eight of the past 10 summers have been warmer than the U.S. average for the same period going back to 1895.

Last year is thought to have been the warmest on record for the entire planet.

Considering the stakes, how long can we afford to drag our feet on this issue? How long can we let denial and demagoguery put future generations at risk?

I don't pretend to know that global warming is caused by human activity, or that it will lead to catastrophes that will dwarf the Dust Bowl. But the evidence is pointing more and more to both conclusions.

Those who pretend to know that global warming isn't caused by human activity, or that it won't have dire consequences--or worse yet, who believe both but deny them in order to maximize ratings or advertising dollars, or to prop up a destructive ideology--deserve to be treated like accessories to the worst violent criminals.

Their violence, our violence, while subtle and indirect, may well amount to mass murder, or genocide...or in the worst case scenario, extinction.

Mass extinction.

[blue cat]

1. One day

they will be forced to see reality. I do believe that GW is caused by human activity. Reality marches on whether they chose to believe.

[ThomWV]

2. Dustbowl=Dry-Kartina, Slow Acting Version