Sunday, January 29, 2006

Schizophrenic Mafia Boys : Grandeur and Decadence of the US Government

Ah, the world doesn't realize the treasure it enjoys with the current US Administration. I think dear W. must be the most grotesque excuse for a liar and a hypocrit we've ever had the joy to see. Oh, and his appointed "science advisors" are of course on par with him.

Let's see :

In today's Washington Post issue : Some scientists, including President Bush's chief science adviser, John H. Marburger III, emphasize there is still much uncertainty about when abrupt global warming might occur. And this nice piece : "There's no agreement on what it is that constitutes a dangerous climate change," said Marburger (...)

Of course not. And to add to the touching concern the White House is displaying toward this direst of perils, there's this little jewel: Marburger said that though everyone agrees carbon dioxide emissions should decline, the United States prefers to promote cleaner technology rather than impose mandatory greenhouse gas limits. "The U.S. is the world leader in doing something on climate change because of its actions on changing technology," he said.

Cleaner technology, my ass! Why are US car manufacturers still spewing out monsters that swallow gallons per hundred mile? Why are these manufacturers not making cars like the Japanese and Europeans do? Because the American Male ™ is a primitive oaf who needs to have his big fat car to emphasize his imaginary virility?

Why is the US Administration refusing to stamp down on greenhouse gas emissions? Because it candidly believes that the Holy Free Market ™ will of course take it to its generous and merciful (not to mention altruistic) heart to rein its activity in and stop worrying about short-term profit? Give me a break! This Administraiton is nothing but a dog lolling its tongue and wagging its tail at its corportate masters' bidding. It's nothing but a vile servant to lobbyists. Nothing more.

And now, to the best part, let's listen to what the official White Hous experts are saying in Davos, where the nice people of the G8 are meeting, and worrying about oil reserves for the future, and on the dependance upon "potentially unstable states".

Here, in Davos, the word becomes : "When we’ve been talking about climate change it’s with concern, but we’re talking about opportunity," George Newton, the chairman of the US Arctic Research Commission said. thanks to the increasingly rapid global warming, the ice will start melting in earnest, the more so with China and India's economies growing in chaotic proportions. Never mind that this will trigger disasters and destroy habitats, what matters is that it will make it so much easier to get the oil sleeping below the Arctic ice! It's such great news, don't you understand? It's fantastic! Long live global warming!

(Source: the Times Online )

And I will not mention the pressure and veiled threats made on US scientists who'd be crazy enough to try and denounce the danger of global warming. Those idiots are being dealt with:
"They're trying to control what's getting out to the public," Hansen (*) said, adding that many of his colleagues are afraid to talk about the issue. "They're not willing to say much, because they've been pressured and they're afraid they'll get into trouble."

(*) director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, who last week confirmed that 2005 was the warmest year on record, surpassing 1998.

See the nice, kind and so gentle answer of the authority in question :
But Mary L. Cleave, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Office of Earth Science, said the agency insists on monitoring interviews with scientists to ensure they are not misquoted.
"People could see it as a constraint," Cleave said. "As a manager, I might see it as protection."


A protection. Right. Is it me, or is the Bush government sounding more and more like cheap mafia bosses?

But of course, it's me. I must have been watching too much Sopranos lately.