Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Climate Change too Serious to Leave to the Parties


Ever since  Al Gore introduced the world to his self congratulatory book "An Inconvenient Truth" the two parties have  gone round and round over the Climate Change issue.   The far right believes it's a conspiracy.  The far left believes our planet will be dead in 100 years.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle where it usually dwells.   I understand the need for political debate regarding the role of government and the distribution of wealth  but this has nothing to do with the philosophy of governing.   This is about our posterity and the planet we leave them.   Earth is neither left 'nor right leaning.  It tilts on its axis at the ideal angle to support us and the plants and the animals-  blissfully unaware of any potential harm we may be bringing to its inhabitants.   

 Suppose there was a meteorite streaking towards earth  that will arrive somewhere at the end of the century and it will hit the earth with such force as to leave only the roaches alive at the end of it all.   However, there's a 90% chance it will miss us altogether.   Wouldn't there still be a great urgency to do all we could to solve the problem even if there's only a 10% chance of calamity?  What would such a scenario have to do with the Democrats or Republicans?  Nothing.  The same should go for Climate Change.    

My opinion is that if the people most studied in that field say it's a problem then I need to trust their veracity and listen to their points.   It's hardly wise to have experts and proceed to ignore their advice.   Would you hire an electrician to rewire your house and tell him he's wrong once he found the problem?   I do understand the skepticism that comes from many people.  The facts and explanations coming from the scientific world are vague and not well presented.  Scientists are not sales people.   I think we must all consider that even if there is a 10% chance our activity will affect the earth for future generations then we have an obligation to discuss solutions and not debate whether the "meteorite" even exists.   Let's not leave such a mess to our kids and our kids' kids because we aren't 100% sure there is anything wrong to begin with.  We can't leave this one for the parties to debate into oblivion.   The stakes have never been so high.  


Friday, June 6, 2014

70th Anniversary of D Day





70 Years tomorrow since D-Day; You gotta read what our men read and heard before they stormed the beaches of France. Great words from General Eisenhower; 

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."

And succeed they did ! For about 5000 men, this was the last thing they had on their mind before they were killed. God Bless them all for such a great sacrifice-- I don't think many people realize how close our world came to a very different and dark trajectory. These American 20 year olds along with their English, Australian and Canadian brothers literally saved the world.