In a letter titled “Daylight exacerbates warming” on the April 16 editorial page of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, a lady from Hot Springs noted March 2007 as the warmest on record. To “any reasonable person” this should come as no surprise, she says, because Daylight Saving Time was started almost a month early this year. Congress should have known what a warming effect an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate...or maybe our liberal Congress did know, and it’s part of a plot to make us believe that global warming is a genuine menace? Of course implicit in this rationale is the solution to global warming. Would it take a scientist to realize we only need to set our clocks back a few hours, and the decrease in daylight the planet receives will be our deliverance?
Though the letter was satiric, coming from deep in Bush country made it virtually impossible to tell. After all, the islamofascists hate us for our freedoms. Brownie did a heckuva job after hurricane Katrina. Our “decider” has an open line to God. The invasion and occupation of Iraq has nothing to do with oil—Saddam was in cahoots with Bin Laden, and now we must deliver freedom and democracy to the good people of Iraq. Mission Accomplished (or was that Accomplishmented?) No child left behind. Nineteen Arab boys with box cutters defeated the defenses of world’s mightiest nation (apparently because somebody didn’t do a heckuva job)—the leader’s passport was even found on the sidewalk near one of the twin towers, having flittered down a sacred white pigeon, supernaturally protected from the fires of hell. A Boeing airliner punched a hole in the Pentagon you couldn’t squeeze a Volkswagen Beetle through—without even mussing up the lawn.
And chocolate milk? Polls suggest the number of Americans believing it comes from chocolate cows is sobering. Bread comes from the store. Gas comes from the pump. Presidents are who most of the people voted for. Noah built an ark, then it rained like a son-of-a-bitch on this planet now over six thousand years old.... Sometimes humorous, sometimes pathetic, often mind-boggling, rarely boring—the profound ignorance plaguing America can get deadly serious when it comes to science.
Could a reasonable person with any grasp of physics watch the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center’s building number 7 (WTC7), and not understand that it was, in fact, a classic controlled demolition? [1] New WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein even said on Public television that they made the decision to “pull” number 7, then watched the building collapse.[2] A BBC reporter was scrambled off the air while describing the collapse of the Solomon Building, or WTC7, with the building still standing in clear view out the window behind her! [3] Twenty minutes early on the report. OOPS! Would it take a scientist to make the intuitive creep into wondering why WTC7 was wired for demolition before 9-11? Would a general population with any perspective beyond YIKES! TERRORISTS! accept FEMA’s official position that, after extensive and expensive scientific investigation they are...ahem...not really sure why WTC7 collapsed? Must’ve had something to do with a diesel tank in the building that had quite a bit of potential energy. Every bit as reasonable and scientific an explanation is: Seeing what happened to the Twin Towers terrified WTC7 into spontaneously collapsing into its own footprint at nearly free-fall speed....
A stalwart ally of the perpetrators of 9-11 remains the public’s ignorance of science, which nurtures belief that, on 9-11, there must have been some kind of science going on that even scientists don’t really understand. Shrug. But there is only one kind of science--that which has given us scientific “miracles” we adore. Unfortunately, it has, lately, been telling us things we don’t want to hear regarding the way we’ve been programmed to live.
Bush people hate science. Scientists employ the Scientific Method, presenting testable theories, evidence and proven facts. Their reality-based guff runs counter to that of Bushentists, who create their own realities, and consider political dogma, religion, special interests and public relations the cornerstones of science. For example, instead of trying to reconcile the design of the Twin Towers with their preposterous collapse explanations, Bushentists simply changed the designs to fit their reality. Never mind that the Towers were built around massive concrete cores reinforced with 3-inch steel rebar—cores massive enough to coat 3 square miles of Manhattan with 3 inches of concrete dust after demolitions converted the cores to roiling gray clouds reminiscent of another Mt. St. Helens eruption. How could measely, starving fires in the Towers (most of the jet fuel burned off in those Hollywood fireballs on impact) pulverize the cores (for which FEMA substituted Wal*Mart trusses) and run detonations up and down the Towers that spit out precision-cut steel beams before relaxing into pools of molten steel seething at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit a week later? [4] The Bushentists have already explained.
What is science? It has two parts, actually, one being, simply, the application of the scientific method: basically, the observation and description of things, followed by a hypothesis to explain them and make predictions, which are tested by experiments for truth. [5] Let’s say your observation is: My car won’t start. Applying the scientific method, you hypothesize explanations such as dead battery if it won’t crank, to no gas if the battery performs, to more detailed hypotheses if the engine cranks and the tank has gas...hypotheses that may lead to a mechanic finding a problem with the fuel pump relay. Application of the scientific method is very simple; most of us do it often. The other part of the definition of science: The body of knowledge acquired through application of the scientific method, and that’s where things can get incredibly complicated. However, basic understanding of the scientific method gives a person all that is needed to know what science is...and key to solving the problem of ignorance of science.
Regarding that complicated part, the body of knowledge, science has the simplest foundation: Truth. The scientific method reliably cleanses the body of anything but truth. Consider some of the great scientific achievements, such as the Voyager missions. Any fudging of anything at any time would’ve meant failure. Nature cannot be fooled. By adhering to truth at all times, the achievements were amazing. But, truth is based on the “reality thing”, and the Bush administration, in creating its own reality, is based on lies. Reports from the EPA, FDA and other federal agencies engaged in science are routinely suppressed, or altered to mesh with administration realities. Industry hacks with zero scientific training are appointed to positions formerly occupied by people with scientific backgrounds. The results continue to be very disturbing, even injecting into the American reality that there are different kinds of science. “Junk” science has become very popular as that which tells us things we don’t want to hear, such as about global warming. Bush said of our enemies, “They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” [6] One of the most insidious harms might be in making the people constantly fearful of being scammed by government, a fear polluting even our most crucial refuges of truth. Bush people use cherry-picked intelligence to invade other countries and steal their resources, just as they use cherry-picked science (take what you want, deny the rest) to fit things into their reality.
Once again, science is science, everything else is not science. Junk science is simply an oxymoron, as are all the other kinds of science invading our vernacular. We embrace marvels science has provided, but when science tells us that through our culture of consumption we are consuming ourselves and especially our descendants out of a home, we start throwing epithets at science. In making over-consumption of resources our descendants will need simply to survive the focus of our culture certainly strengthens the theory that consumerism causes stupidity. Americans have so little understanding of science, yet their opinions regarding things scientific are inexhaustible. We deny certain things science is telling us, while at the same time believing that science will somehow bail us out of the nightmare into which we are consuming ourselves. Those “mini-storage” compounds popping up everywhere, receptacles for all the stuff we are running out of places for, they represent one of the country’s fastest-growing industries. Another industry growing like mad is that of private prisons, which are becoming slave-labor installations to...you guessed it, make more stuff that we’re running out of places for.
We have one planet with finite resources. There is only one science, and when it tells us what damage consumerism has wrought, perhaps instead of calling it bad names, we should simply learn what science is, listen and think.
References
[1] Controlled demolition of WTC7
www.starchiefpress.com
Rand Clifford is a writer living in Spokane, Washington, with his wife Mary Ann, and their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Mink. His novels CASTLING, TIMING, and VOICES OF VIRES are published by StarChief Press.
Whatever it was that you just described should definitely be allowed to die in peace as quickly as it can.
This culture is in total collapse - intellectually (the citizens are as ignorant as Medieval peasants, the schools are producing laughably know-nothing graduates, media ideologically driven) and morally (moral dereliction and rank hypocrisy across the board almost without exception among movers and shakers in government and industry).
And what a great president to embody that colossal twin failure of American civilization! My Pet Duck, indeed.
This race is run regardless of whatever effort may be expended in vain trying to prevent that. This culture is like a terminally ill organism, and all of the American people's best efforts will fail to prevent the eventual implosion, the ensuing chaos, and ultimate emergence of a healthy, new government and populace born of the lessons of that struggle. That will be progress when it finally comes after that difficult period of self-destruction.
Trying to rehabilitate this totaled wreck of a nation will prove impossible; that's what is meant by terminally ill - unsalvageable whatever you do. But most people will not know that until America is gone, and of course, they will chastise those of us who don't share their unfounded optimism, saying even that we are forsaking or abandoning our country for thinking so. Such fools are quick to point fingers and shout "Treason!" as we have recently seen. They are not my compatriots any more, and their futures, let alone their opinions, don't figure into my thought processes any longer. Mission accomplished, Mr. "I'm-a-uniter-not-a-divider" president!
Newsflash: *my* country is already gone, and this piece of crap government and citizenry that is in play today has long ago abandoned me and the values that we all grew up with. My country doesn't torture. This country doesn't work, and it doesn't speak for me any more. Nor is it working in my behalf or even being honest with me. I don't trust it. No, worse, I have reason to distrust it. All lies, all the time. You grieve its demise. My America is already dead, and I can't find anything to like about the corpse or any reason to grieve its death again.
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Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 175 comments)
on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 5:08:05 AM
Yabob - Your comment speaks eloquently for many millions of us. I rode along with your words with complete agreement until I came to your last few sentences. I don't think we have a way not to grieve our culture's self-destruction: this culture is our heritage (yeah, really), it it is us, it is our children, it is our creation and it is our karma.
I lived outside the US for almost two decades, but in 1995 I returned. Sure, life was easier, safer, cleaner and more decent in Australia. Nature was fresher and the government tries to help its individual citizens in ways America cannot even comprehend - or dare to acknowledge. But still, at some point, I believe that we all need to come back home to face all that our country is becoming - and where it is headed.
I grieve, you grieve, we all grieve for what has been destroyed and the inculcation of pig-ignorance that has supported this destruction... but THERE IS NO WAY OUT! The fire is out of control, but there is really nowhere to run: we have to turn around and face it and put it out. Do I feel helpless? Almost completely! But where there is that little bit of empowerment left, we have to spend it up doing whatever we can. Even in your obvious despair, what you write is helping. Thanks for caring and doing your part.
- jai daemion
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Jai Daemion (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments)
on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 2:20:02 PM
Thank you for a thoughtful and constructive comment. I apologize for the delay in answering, and I hope that you read this.
We're not in disagreement. This is a problem in nomenclature. I've completed my grieving process - reached Kubler-Ross's final stage of grief: acceptance. That's the difference between identifying with America the spirit, which is only a memory now, and America the political entity, which is dying a slow death from its senile, demented state.
I won't confuse this belligerent, demented remnant with the lady that I once knew. I miss her. I am revulsed by this.
by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 175 comments)
on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at 8:41:46 AM
