Speechless! May 26, 2007
Posted by Dwight Furrow in Current Events.trackback
I have become accustomed to the stupidity and mendaciousness of our current administration, but I have no words to describe this.
One would think if you were going to enable the immiseration of most the planet, you owe its inhabitants a reason.
Update: Should anyone be swayed by our dear leader’s “plan”, announced Thursday, to confront global climate change, perhaps skepticism is in order.
Our administration?! Isn’t this a democracy? Only kidding!
When I’m feeling low about the state of life on this planet, I think of the Flynn Effect. One has to suspend disbelief about IQ tests, but if he or she can, the Flynn Effect is like a beacon of hope. Of course, the APA has big plans to add trick questions to the IQ test in hopes of “renormalizing” grades (God forbid the kids easily pick up something their elders struggled with), but that doesn’t change reality. Hmm. Or, does it?
http://www.psychologymatters.org/iqtesting.html
I’ve yet to become accustomed to the incessant barrage of outrageous policies pursued by the Bush administration. It still astounds me that in the face of their wholesale rejection - and even outright contempt - for democracy, the constitution, human rights, international law, the environment, the poor, our allies, etc, they still maintain popularity among ~30% of the US population, which represents close to 100 million people.
That our leaders continue to reject any responsibility for their actions or the consequences for the rest of the world is to be expected at this point, but in the face of such universal consensus both at home and abroad, you’d think they might at least acknowledge it. Even our last two meaningful allies in the Iraq war, Britain’s Tony Blair and Australia’s John Howard - who are both right-wing neocon warmongers and Bush lapdogs - are highly supportive of environmental regulations in the face of global warming.
Climate change is a huge political issue in Europe, and Australia has been facing the worst drought in about 100 years, which has forced Howard to acknowledge the issue as well. That pretty much puts us close to last in the world now on climate change - but we remain first in emissions, of course. How typical. Sad, frustrating, and unfortunate for the rest of the world, but very typical.