R J Adams -Musings And Meanderings
It was my intention to utilize the 30th anniversary of the death of Ayn Rand to vent my opinion of her philosophy and its continuing impact on the modern world.
Today, reading George Monbiot’s column in the ‘Guardian’, I realized he had already done what I had intended, and much better.
I therefore refer you to the Sparrow Chat, ‘Latest Hot-Link’, in the right sidebar, wherein is a link to Monbiot’s excellent article.
The US media seizes its opportunity to wring the last vestiges of emotion out of every unfortunate happening, and the recent spate of tornadoes has proved no exception.
Close-up camera shots of survivors, who’ve lost everything except the clothes they’re wearing, linger as inane questions are forced on these unfortunate people, in funereal tones supposedly suggestive of deep sympathy and emotional oneness.
“And how did you feel as the tornado ripped your house from its foundations?” asked one predictable female interviewer on a news channel tonight, of a woman still understandably in deep shock.
How do you think she felt, you stupid cow!? Bloody petrified! She filled her pants – just like you or any one of us would do in that situation!
The woman searched for some answer. “I just prayed to God to spare us,” she eventually whispered, “…and He did. Our house is gone, and everything we had, but He spared our lives.”
Now, let me make it clear from the outset, I have no quarrel with anyone who, faced with near-certain death, prays earnestly for divine assistance. We were all dragged to Sunday School as little kids and taught that Jesus was our friend who spent His time watching over us and keeping us safe.
When a dirty great swirling tornado is bearing down there’s no bugger else going to help us, so we become as little children again, looking to our friend, Jesus, or His Dad, to perform some great miracle and whip us out of the path of doom.
No doubt the woman felt obliged to be grateful.
“Truly a miracle!” breathed the idiot with the microphone.
Here’s where I get very testy with the US news media. What bloody miracle? There was no miracle. For God’s sake, people were lying dead all around! Was this woman some special saint whom God, in His infinite wisdom, decided to save? Did He look down from Heaven at the tornado, see this woman, and think:
“Yes, I’ll save her. Fuck the rest!”
What kind of God are these news people trying to market?
A tornado is a natural event. That’s the truth of it. It’s not controlled by any God, whether Jehovah or Zeuss or bloody Peter Pan. This woman lived because she wasn’t ten feet further to the left, or twenty yards to the right, or in her kitchen rather than her bathroom.
The news media is supposed to give us the facts. It has a duty to be informative, not dish out heavenly propaganda on behalf of the Church of the Stupid and Uninformed.
How many times of late have I heard news anchors ask their ‘weather people’, “Why are we suffering so many tornadoes at this time of year?”
The answer they get is always a load of gobbledygook. “Oh, well, there’s an upper level disturbance creating problems with unusually low pressure over Canada and the jet stream’s not in the right place, and anyway, it’s all down to El Niño.”
No it’s not. It’s all down to global climate change – global warming. And they know it. They just can’t admit it.
The records show that from the start of this decade the numbers of tornadoes during the first three months of the year have increased every year, from 49 in 2002 to a staggering 359 in 2008 (the one exception being 2004 when the figure dropped by 2). Between 2009 and 2011, the figures fell slightly but were still around three times higher than those at the start of the decade. 2012 has seen a recombustion, with an alarming 274 tornadoes, and it’s still only the beginning of March.[1]
What these figures don’t show is the increase in ferocity. I’m sure it’s painfully obvious to any observer that tornadoes are becoming more ferocious, wider, and generally more deadly.
The painful truth is it is the slothfulness of governments in general, and the US Congress in particular, to tackle climate change that is resulting in more and more deaths from increasingly violent weather.
Not only has Congress failed to enact legislation, but in league with big business, it has demonstrably set out to hoodwink the American citizen into believing climate change isn’t happening.
The science is now unassailable. Climate change, global warming, is upon us. Our chance to avert it has past. The tornadoes and their resulting loss of life will continue to escalate, along with other violent storms and severe weather of the like never before seen.
Sadly, neither Jehovah, Zeuss, nor bloody Peter Pan, will be performing miracles to save us from these events, despite the efforts of the news media, and, no doubt, stupid cows with microphones will continue asking inane questions of the stunned and battered survivors.
[1] “Monthly and Annual U.S. Tornado Summaries” NOAA’s National Weather Service.
It seems Rush Limbaugh doesn’t believe in contraception. As a stooge of the far right political wing of the Republican Party that’s hardly surprising.
Perhaps, though, one of his four wives might disagree. Four wives and no children?[1] Surely, they weren’t all infertile? Or, maybe the problem didn’t lie with his wives. Well, now, let me see – who does that leave?
Is it possible that Rush Limbaugh doesn’t believe in contraception simply because he doesn’t need any?
When Limbaugh took up the cause of the Catholic Church – somewhat surprisingly, as he’s a Methodist – he vented his nastiness on Sandra Fluke, a law student from Georgetown University. Ms Fluke had previously served as president of the university’s ‘Students for Reproductive Justice’ group.
She had asked to testify at a Congressional hearing on the new rule that religious institutions, such as some hospitals and universities (including Georgetown), provide insurance plans to cover the cost of medicinal contraceptives. House Republicans had blocked her from testifying.
From the BBC:
Ms Fluke was invited to testify in front of a House committee convened by Democrats after she was blocked from the first panel…her testimony included the case of a fellow student who needed birth control to control ovarian cysts.
Georgetown, a Catholic university with a prestigious law school, does not cover birth control to prevent pregnancy in its student health plan, and the student, who is gay, could not convince the insurance company she was ill.
Ms Fluke also asserted that birth control prescriptions could cost as much as $3,000 (£1893) without insurance.”[2]
During his talk radio program, Limbaugh said of Ms Fluke:
“What does it say about the college coed … who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.”…
…”If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.””[3]
Such despicable attempts at character assassination are a trademark of the Limbaugh message to America. Sandra Fluke is not the first to suffer at the tongue of this disgusting apology for a human being.
Of course, it has to be remembered that Limbaugh is well paid for his services to the more extreme members of the Republican Party. You don’t own a $24 million, 36,500-square-foot oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, on the salary of an average radio-jock.
He’s just admitted (above) to lusting after pornography and dirty videos. Doesn’t the fact that he’s so well paid for his services make him eligible for the title: “Rent Boy Of The Far Right?”
[1] “The Marriages of Rush Limbaugh” About.com Guides
[2] “Limbaugh slut slur student Sandra Fluke gets Obama call” BBC, March 2nd 2012
[3] “Obama joins in assailing Limbaugh slur of student” CBS, March 2nd 2012