Watering Hole; Tuesday February 11, 2014 Open Thread- Food and Environmental Politics.

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It appears that global warming is having just the effect that climate deniers and their exploitation pals want, in of all places Greenland. My suggestion? Trademark the name Brownland. Here they come.

Even though wind power is doing well during this cold snap, put your money on more fracking. Natural gas supplies are down, meaning stocks prices are up. Forget environmental health  …follow the money.

And now for some good news (of sorts). When we lived back in Pennsylvania, there was a place about 45 minutes away called Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. It was established in the 1930’s when a rich socialite found out that hunters were indiscriminately killing hawks and other birds of prey that used this flyway just north of Hamburg, PA. She bought the mountain and chased away the hunters.

This year’s Rachel Carson award goes to a National Geographic writer who exposed senseless killing of migratory waterfowl through Albania. Proves one thing
-the dumbfucks are everywhere.

So our colder than normal (the new normal that is) winter in the Northeast and Midwest has climate deniers tisk, tisking at enviros. So, let’s see what the explanations is for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Oh, I know, they mis-named it. Pass the tanning lotion please.

Carry on…

110 thoughts on “Watering Hole; Tuesday February 11, 2014 Open Thread- Food and Environmental Politics.”

  1. -the dumbfucks are everywhere

    That’s the truth. Those who hunter for sport are cruel…those who on a migratory flyway are sadistic.

    This particularly made me angry at the dolts with guns and sad for the migrating birds whose journey/life was cut short:

    People pull over at the side of the road and leap out with guns and fire at some bird they’d seen on a wire. These are totally unsustainable levels of shooting.

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  2. We got snow! I get to drive home in it 3 hours from now. Looks like an inch or so, but its sticking, so I hope traffic is light.

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    • Be very careful, House. Driving in snowy conditions is something that takes practice. One time while I was stationed at Andrews AFB in Maryland, it was snowing when the shift change van came along. I knew the guy driving was from Southern California and he was very nervous. I said, “Jeff, have you ever even seen snow before?” He said, “No.” I said, “Fine, let’s switch places. I’ll drive.” He was grateful.

      You can be as careful as anything, House, but the real danger is those assholes who are not. Especially the ones who think having four-wheel drive means having four-wheel stop. The less traffic out there when you are, the better for you. But, please, do be careful.

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    • Our current prediction is for 14 inches. This means we will have a government shutdown that is not caused by Republicans. I can drive in snow, but I scream the entire time.

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    • Believe me on this one thing: there are ALWAYS too many idiots out. Even if there’s only one, it’s one too many.

      Actually, I’m wondering what would happen if all those stupid “George Zimmerman” Stand-Your-Ground laws also apply to armed bicyclists who encounter pickups out there on the road. Might be reason enough to carry an AK-47 on my Trek Roadie . . . If I could figure out how to carry an AK-47 whilst riding my Trek Roadie.

      I should look into that, maybe.

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  4. Well, I made it OK. It wasn’t snow, it was solid ice/packed snow. I turned sideways a couple of times just going in a straight line. I made sure I was well away from other cars as much as I could.

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    • I went down to the dollar store and the market a bit ago. The streets are clear around here already.
      My day shift counterpart didn’t come in, and the second shift guy lives in the mountains in northeast Alabama. I may come in to the same place as when I left tonight.
      Management wanted me to stay awhile this morning, but I was really tired, and knew the longer I waited, the more people would try to travel. There were too many cars out there at 7:30. It was going to get worse before it got better.

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    • Why New Mexico? I mean hey, there’s a really BIG desert salt bed in Utah, probably big enough to accommodate every last gram of nuke waste till humans extinct themselves. Of course, Salt Lake City and probably Provo too (maybe all of Utah, actually) would have to be relocated. But that shouldn’t be a biggie. I mean, the Romneys moved to Mexico way back when, after polygamy was officially snorted at by Uncle Sugar.

      It could happen again, maybe??!!!!!

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      • could you send that idea on over to the Department of Energy?

        undoubtedly our local economy has flourished with the WIPP mission, but at what yet unknown expense?

        the biggest negative is obviously the transport problem, how do we get the waste here from wherever it is now?….i do get a kick out of the scientists who claim that the salt beds are impermeable and therefore safe, but at the same time they say that oil/gas could seep in from leaky wells around the site. apparently the impermeability is only one direction…eh!

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        • That’s what’s so great about Utah! I mean, like who gives a shit whether it’s “safe” or not??!! Transport thereto is another issue, of course. Planes, trains, trucks . . . not a good idea. But maybe a Keystone Atomic Waste Pipeline?? Think of the JOBS! ////

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        • This little nugget shown brightly when I read it

          His group has bought a patch of desert and is now exploring whether the land could be used for interim storage of highly radioactive waste.

          Do they truly expect to move it again?
          I highly doubt it — salt encrusted nuclear waste….delightfully delicious///

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      • Isn’t there a tabernacle in Salt Lake City? They could stuff it full of radioactive crud, and the world would be a better place for it.

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  7. I’ve spent an hour or two this morning streaming in a bunch of last night’s MSNBC stuff, and couldn’t quite figure out why, with every click of the Roku remote, there came yet one more segment on the “story” that some football dude I’d never heard of, apparently a future NFLer who has said he’s gay, has fueled a media shitstorm. Why is that? Who the hell cares, and WHY would anyone anywhere even be remotely interested in such tripe?

    I dunno. One more reason for me to ‘splain why I don’t give a crap about foosball at any level . . . a reason I didn’t need, but what the hell.

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          • Yep. And then, right after I got it and saw the ads, I remembered when all you needed to watch TV was to (a) buy a TV set, (b) hook up the antenna, and (c) turn it on.

            But, since “Corporations are people, my friend,” it’s apparently OK for . . . well, you know. [signed] Ben Dover

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        • I’m about to take that step. I have the Roku, and love it. I’ll have to keep Cable as the internet provider (would love to sever all ties with them). Should end up saving over $100/month by doing this.

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          • Find the means to internet-connect sans a cable TV subscription, and yep, that’ll work. But understand that Cable TV execs don’t like that, and they may send a hired gun to hunt for you. No worries though . . . their aims are really bad, so far . . . as bad as is the shit they want you to pay good money to never watch, in fact.

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    • As one attorney I worked for used to say about blithering idiot clients he was preparing to testify, “He/she presents well.” That must be the reason why anyone allows this intellectual fraud to offer his opinions in print or on the TV.

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      • I think he only wrote that because he knows that Robert Reich and Paul Krugman would each tear him a new arsehole if he tried that on a panel.

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  12. Republicans Have Completed The Cave On The Debt Ceiling

    House Republicans are forgoing a plan to tie a debt-ceiling increase to a restoration of military pension benefits and will instead try to pass a “clean” increase without policy strings attached on Wednesday, a source confirmed to Business Insider.

    All this means is Boehner is going to bring it to the floor for a vote. Problem is, the Democrats have to win over 17 Republicans to pass it. Then it still has to get through the Senate.

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    • R: 28 Yea, 199 Nay
      D: 193 Yea, 2 Nay

      199 Republicans essentially voted in FAVOR of destroying the US economy, maybe the world’s as well. And somehow “they” hold the majority in the House. Man, there must be more dumb shit voters out there than anyone could ever even imagine! Probably a number on par with the number of turds in a sewage plant. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

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  13. Darrell Issa’s Witchhunt Caused 150 IRS Employees to Work 70,000 Hours

    Democrats are on the offensive after discovering that Darrell Issa’s committee withheld vital information in order to perpetrate the IRS scandal that held the press captive over the 2013 summer until it fell apart when the full evidence was demanded and finally produced. For example, they’ve demanded a reconciliation of the costs of the IRS witch hunt. They’ve filed charges.

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    • Sigh… The fundies still won’t be convinced.

      I recall an article in Scientific American, many years ago, about the damage that was done by early fossil hunters. They were almost completely devoted to finding and preserving big dinosaur fossils and, in their rush, destroyed all the smaller fossils that were preserved with the bigger and more impressive ones. This bias is still being seen today.

      Have you ever noticed that almost any discussion of fossil finds is almost wholly devoted to relatively large animals? What about the small animals? What about effing plants? The fossil chain for plants is vastly more complete than for animals but the poor plants never even seem to enter the discussion outside of botanical paleontology.

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  15. Camels Had No Business in Genesis

    There are too many camels in the Bible, out of time and out of place.

    Camels probably had little or no role in the lives of such early Jewish patriarchs as Abraham, Jacob and Joseph, who lived in the first half of the second millennium B.C., and yet stories about them mention these domesticated pack animals more than 20 times. Genesis 24, for example, tells of Abraham’s servant going by camel on a mission to find a wife for Isaac.

    These anachronisms are telling evidence that the Bible was written or edited long after the events it narrates and is not always reliable as verifiable history. These camel stories “do not encapsulate memories from the second millennium,” said Noam Mizrahi, an Israeli biblical scholar, “but should be viewed as back-projections from a much later period.”

    Dr. Mizrahi likened the practice to a historical account of medieval events that veers off to a description of “how people in the Middle Ages used semitrailers in order to transport goods from one European kingdom to another.”

    I’d like to hear John Fugelsang elaborate on this further. 😉

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    • Could have been Camel cigarettes, maybe? They’ve been around forever, far as I know. Could explain, too, Fox’s outrage over the CVS decision to quit selling tobacco stuff. Anti-god, anti-bible, etc.

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    • Jesus H Christ, God! Couldn’t you get it right when you divinely inspired the writers of that so-called Holy Bible thing?

      That’s fookin’ embarrassing for an omnipotent deity if you ask me……

      Oh dear…..

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    • Dammit – that Unicorn Song is going to have to change now……

      “You’re never gonna see no unicorns…. and no camels yet either. But we have green alligators and long-necked geese…”

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  16. Everyone who already knew Missouri football player Michael Sam was gay, take one step forward. Whoa….not so fast there, Michael Sam Sr.

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    • I know that this is supposed to be a big deal, because it hasn’t happened before, but I just find myself asking “who cares”? The only thing I can come up with is locker room etiquette. And that don’t make sense.

      It’s been decades since I was in a locker room but I recall the experience. It seemed to me that pretty much everyone covered themselves enough to maintain their comfort level and I was always so nervous about keeping my naughty bits covered that I never even dreamed of checking out those who were less modest than me.

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      • Amen amen. Of all the crap out there in the world this day, why the hell would ANYONE ever pay a moment’s heed to the sexual preferences of . . . well, of anyone at all, actually, much less a freakin’ foosball player? Wouldn’t allathat time be better spent by working to stop the KXL pipeline, for example? Or maybe gun control? 😯 😯

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  17. I had not caught this one before. I think the most ironic and frightening part is where the FAUX”News” bimbo claims that the children of atheists are being “used” and have “their beliefs inflicted on them”. WTF? When was the last time an atheist told their child they should go out and kill believers?

    BTW. I have an update on the kitty situation. I went to the shelter on Sunday, found a cat I liked and who seemed to like me, began the paperwork and discovered that I had lost my drivers license. So? No ID, no kitty.

    My first thought was that I had forgotten it at the pharmacy when I handed it over to get a list of my prescriptions. They didn’t have it. I then looked through every pocket of every piece of clothing I own and went through every pile of paperwork in my house and didn’t find it. I have visited every establishment I had visited between the last time I saw it and the first time I noticed it was missing and no joy. I have absolutely no idea where it could have ended up and I’m not looking forward to the hassle of getting a replacement but the worst part was that it will take a few weeks to get the new ID and I’m going through major kitty withdrawal and don’t want to wait. Well?

    I got a call from a friend who lives out in the country and he discovered two abandoned cats today. He even noticed that there were human footprints leading to where he found the cats and no cat footprints going either in or out. It’s pretty obvious that they were dumped. He brought them into his house and they have been using the litter box and are companionable and jump up on his lap for cuddling so; I’ll go and meet them tomorrow and then I’ll have to decide whether I want to pick one or bring them both home in order to reduce the trauma. They have been cut off from their human companions and it sounds like separating them might be a bit much. Also, not knowing whether they are fixed or not, I looked into how much it would cost for reproductive care and discovered that there’s a local service for vetting and “fixing” cats that, as a senior, I am eligible for. They will actually take care of the vetting for less than I would have gladly paid the Humane Society! Ain’t it wonderful the way that life turns out; occasionally?

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    • I have 3 kids – 2 are baptised, whatever that means:

      #1: Thinks there may be a God, is not sure but thinks about it. She had her dose when a ‘friend’ of hers told here she ‘was going to Hell’ – she may be willing to think about God but the Fundies have stood on their dicks already with her. I am confident in my Big Girl’s ability to sniff out the BS but at the same time does not appreciate militant Dawkins Atheism.

      #2: Atheist. Straight up. He is far too logical to have any time for any of that. A Dawkins Atheist.

      #3: Believes in God (and Santa). Has had numerous chances and expressed interest in going to church, I have offered to take him to the church where he is a cub (I get on just fine with the Lutheran pastor who is way cool and couldn’t wait to offer a home to a bunch of cubs who were thrown out of their Fundie School because Teh Gay). Anyhow, Shorty is a bright kid, he asks a lot of questions – he will be fine.

      Again fook you Foxbyotch actually I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole.

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      • I don’t have kids so my impressions come from my upbringing and my interactions with “kids” who worked for me. I was about 11 or 12 when I started getting some grief from classmates about not going to church. Since Mom had died a couple years earlier I went to Dad and asked; “why don’t we go to church?” Well? His answer was; “because your mom and I decided we would never lie to our children”. This was not limited to the Jesus myth but included all myths including Santa.

        I think the first really deep discussion of my life occurred when Christmas came around during the year I was in kindergarten. My parents did a very good job of explaining that I shouldn’t tell other kids there “is no Santa” because believing in Santa made them happy and didn’t do any harm. I have come to believe that there might have been a little harm in telling kids that Santa is real but I think I got the right message about letting other people believe whatever the fuck they want to believe.

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        • I have afflicted my child with my beliefs. This is likely to turn out pretty strangely as my child takes everything literally and asks a lot of questions. He believes in God, but also knows that sometimes the tornado gets you no matter what you believe. As best I can tell, the only things he is sure of are that love is eternal and that evil people cease to exist in any form and their evil dies with them.

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    • Exciting news about the felines! (are the kittens or adults?)

      Bummer about the license – do hope you find it before someone with evil deeds does…that would be an even grater hassle.

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      • Thanks, Ebb. I don’t really know much about the kitties. I keep telling myself that I should not let my overwhelming want for a new kitty make me choose the wrong kitty but, I also realize that jumping up on my lap will deconstruct any barriers I construct!

        I’m not very pleased about the whole thing with the license. I just have to figure out a way to drink enough to keep the anxiety at bay without ending up in the hospital.

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        • Pete — what it all comes down to is that YOU don’t get to choose. The kitty does. I know how it works; I queried Shadow on the matter, and she explained it all to me. True story. When you meet the kitties, sit back, relax, and they’ll do the hard part. 😉

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    • I almost (With the emphasis on the “almost”.) feel sorry for Boner. I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I don’t think he’s stupid. But? He has found himself thrust into being the defacto head of a party that has been consumed by a movement that, pretty much, desires a return to feudalism.

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        • I don’t know and I guess I don’t care. I do, however, recognize the plight that Boner finds himself in. Democrats have made jokes about “herding cats” for decades but it’s a far less enviable situation than the one Boner faces. He is leading a group of people who have no scruples, understanding, or even a basic understanding of the human condition much less American Democracy, but they travel in a pack. It doesn’t even matter whether he is an extremist or not. The extremists in his party will convict him simply because he’s the link to the “Evil Administration”.

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    • Great pic. It crossed my mind that you could take one of those orange peelers on that thing but I’m afraid the inside might be rotten.

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  20. Wow! Richard Dawkins runs up against the “human talking point”; who has absolutely no knowledge of any of the questions she raises. And that’s because she refuses to see anything that she doesn’t consider “evidence” that contradicts her own delusions.

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  21. The Founders had it correct: Separation of Church and State!

    Whenever I’m confronted by LDSers and JWs my goal will be to ‘convert’ them to atheism!

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