Monday, June 11, 2012

Right-wing pols won't say the sea also rises

WEEKEND'S YUCKY LEFTOVERS:

If you need  more evidence of Republican madness, we offer this bit of loopy censorship from Virginia's  legislative ranks. A study of the shoreline commissioned by the House of Delegates included references to the recent "rise of sea levels," which were excised by right-wing pols, one of whom described them as  "liberal code words".  ThinkProgess reports that State Del. Chris Stolle, an apparent student of Orwellian Newspeak,  preferred to describe  rising sea levels as the consequence of "recurrent flooding".

 The word from down there is that  Norfolk and Virginia Beach are spending $6 million annually  to "elevate roads, improve drainage and help homeowners raise their houses" while the U.S. Naval base at Norfolk is spending "hundreds of millions to replace piers to withstand rising water."

Oh, the term  "climate change" also is tabu in the once-proud  land of Thomas Jefferson.   My liberal response : "What don't you understand about the words "Glub, glub...?".  


(Psst!  These are the paleopoliticians who keep assuring us that they  are the ones who will make things better!)


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When Mitt Romney begins advising us on educational matters, I have a greater appreciation for my days  at tiny Third Ward School in Mt. Pleasant, Pa.   The classes were small and one-to-one help from some fearsome teachers was not uncommon.  A teacher didn't have to leave her seat in the front of the room to stare you down. Looking back, I can say it was a first class education, thank you, even when I shudder at the thought of  having to memorize great portions of Hamlet in English class.

But along comes Mitt to tell us that class size isn't important, and we don't need more teachers.   The Tea Party cheering section rose on cue with each of his empty utterances. But should any of us be surprised by  a fellow who sent all of his kids to exclusive private schools and attended a preppy one himself. Hearing Mittspeak, I hear a very wealthy man who has long been comfortably removed from  the rest of us.  So should he now be considered an expert on a subject with which he has no experience?

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says there will be no more legislation in the current  session. With a presidential election down the road, his search-and-destroy team will need the time to kick out President Obama.  Jobs bills will have to wait for the House Republican caucus, all of whom already have well-paid jobs, to carry out its scheme.   They may even shut down the government.   Cantor won't say what he has in mind to fill in the days between now and the election.  It may take a proctologist to  find out.




1 comment:

David Hess said...

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Virginia's knuckle-headed legislators will be fiddling when waist-deep in the coastal tidal bore up the James River. A further example of the triumph of lame-brained ideology over science. When the empirical evidence disagrees with their bias, the Tea Party delegates simply censor the text.