"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."It is the morning of the Super Bowl in America. Snow falls in Detroit; in New England, heavy rains and amazing warmth prompt some to wonder about global warming. Indeed, it does feel like winter has yet to make an appearance in many parts of the eastern United States; it does feel strange, even worrisome.
Today is a good one for wondering. I wonder why oil prices jump in America's northeast on news of a massive cold snap or winter storm, but they do not tumble during perhaps the warmest January on record. I understand markets--most of the time. But this has me stumped.
And I wonder about the news, the news all around, that seems so dire, tragic, sad. A tragic attack of homosexuals in a New Bedford, MA bar ends even more tragically in Arkansas, where the gun-toting, hatchet-wielding, swastika-tattooed 18-year-old perpetrator was shot twice in the head by police after he killed a woman and a police officer in that state. TV interviews of his friends about his hate-filled website and vicious behavior right after the initial attack prove that we do not really love our neighbors as we should, for to a person all gave the young man glowing reviews about his "tolerance," though a few admitted that he had a "temper." Contratimes' flag flies half-staff today in New Bedford, and Arkansas.
In a fury of religious reaction a few European embassies are ransacked and burned in the Middle East. It seems a couple of political cartoons incited mobs to wreak havoc on Western symbols, making it clear that the West's tenuous relationship with the Islamic world has little to do with America's ambitions for Iraq. We weep for peace. Most likely we weep in vain. Read this from the AP:
In the West Bank town of Hebron, about 50 Palestinians marched to the headquarters of the international observer mission there, burned a Danish flag and demanded a boycott of Danish goods.
We will redeem our prophet Muhammad with our blood!" they chanted. Mahmoud Zahar, leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, told the Italian daily Il Giornale the cartoonists should be punished by death. "We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet and here we are, protesting peacefully," he said....
A South African court banned the country's Sunday newspapers from reprinting the cartoons.
You know it's bad when the West and its friends refuse printing political cartoons. Just think of how terrifying the Taliban, I mean, the American Christian Right is, storming buildings and smashing cars and threatening death everywhere. President George Bush is the real terrorist. Islam is all about peace.
In Egypt thousands mourn over the drowning of perhaps thousands. We mourn with those who mourn.
At least there are going to be good commercials debuted during tonight's Super Bowl. At least.
As for global warming, I have little to say. I did have an interesting conversation not long ago with an atmospheric chemist from MIT. He and I met at an inn where our families had gathered for a quick ski vacation. At some point during our conversation he stated that if there is indeed a legitimate warming trend contingent on increased atmospheric gases, science has no way of ascertaining whether the trend was due to emissions from the distant past or the last 10 years. "For all we know we might be experiencing a brief warm-up due to the Industrial Revolution, or from something even earlier."
I am still picking up here and there references connecting global warming with hurricanes. Unfortunately, NOAA seems to have a different take on the volatility of the ATLANTIC hurricane season (tropical storm numbers globally are actually down, I believe, skewing the predictions of alarmists). But what does Noah know?
But it is ridiculously warm outside; it is a horrid time to own a ski area in New England. However, I picked up an interesting tidbit only yesterday while watching a program on the history of downhill skiing. During a segment on the 1940s construction of Vermont's Mad River Glen, one founding member recalled that the mountain received so much snow its second year it couldn't open. The following year, however, the mountain did not open till February for lack of snow; and the following four or five years were so snowlessly bad that businesses and inns around the mountain went bankrupt or shut themselves down.
The science of global warming is not rocket science. Rocket science is easy by comparison.
Go Patriots!
©Bill Gnade 2006/Contratimes - All Rights Reserved.
[Photo: Early spring, Harrisville, NH, 2005.]
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