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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The game industry was no match for the legislation that ultimately banned “Jarts,” the lawn game of the late 20th Century, a cross between horseshoes and darts, when a tragic accident took the life of a child.

The gun industry, by contrast, has proven that it can withstand any and all pressure brought against it to limit the carnage associated with civilians, some of them mentally ill, in possession of weapons of war.

Americans are furious, but there isn’t a goddamned thing we can do about it.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

As we can see here, the root of bigotry is fear, at least according to Bertrand Russell.

Unfortunately, American politics has taken us to a place where fear abounds, one in which we’re worried about inflation, China, the “radical left,” and most of all the influx of illegal immigrants.

This “ferocity” toward others acts as an enormous impediment in our quest to come together as a civilization to take collective actions to stem the collapse of our environment.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

When my son was perhaps 11, I took him camping for a few days in the High Sierras with some friends.  We needed to buy permits at the regional ranger station, and I noticed that it was replete with cross-sections of a few of the great old trees that had fallen and had been examined by scientists. What can we learn from biologic history?

I noted that the display didn’t mince words about the fact that the age of the Earth was far greater than the 6000 years, as specified in the Bible.  Here was hard evidence that the oldest tree is about 80K years old, not to mention that we have carbon dating that sets the death of the most recent dinosaurs at about 65 million years ago.

I asked the ranger if, occasionally, there were patrons who vehemently disagreed with the evidence in the displays on the basis of their religious beliefs.

“Constantly,”  she replied, and when asked how she responded, “By immediately changing the subject.  My favorites are: ‘OK, take plenty of water,’ and ‘That’s very interesting.  The black bears are harmless, but stay away from the grizzlies.'”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

All the tragedy in American society: the erosion of the middle class, environmental degradation, gun violence, bigotry, educational collapse, authoritarianism, etc., makes one wonder if there are any areas of improvement over the last few decades.

As suggested in the meme here, the answer appears to be no.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I met a woman just now who believes that nature always repairs itself.  An example she offered was that our local lake (see left), after several years of severe drought, is now full due to the atmospheric river storms that brought record rainfall to the region. “I’m dry,” she said in a sad voice, imitating what the lake told Nature.  “Don’t worry,” Nature replied cheerfully.  “I’ll send you some rain.”

Not wanting to argue, I kept my thoughts to myself, which are as follows:

The biosphere most certainly does have qualities of resilience.  If we stop dumping poison into a river, fish will eventually return.  But there is no intelligent and beneficent spiritual entity that goes about repairing the damage that ignorant and greedy human beings have been inflicting on the Earth.

Further, the myth that such a being exists tends to offer justification for humankind’s criminally stupid behavior.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

These people certainly made the prosecution’s job easy.

Nailing Trump and the other top architects of the attempt to overthrow the U.S. government isn’t going to be quite as easy, because they’re not stupid enough to commit treason and then brag about it on Facebook.

That said, once these people start testifying under oath, the evidence will be overwhelming, if it isn’t already.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The author of the meme here certainly makes a good point, but I’m not too sure about the “beyond comprehension” part.

If the years since Trump took office have taught us anything, it’s that about one-third of American voters are as hateful as they are gullible.  They were taken in by a criminal conman who has them believing that he needs donations to deal with the onslaught of legal bills that he generates defending himself against the “woke, radical left,” which will enable him to get back to the mission of making America great again.

Pathetic? Absolutely.  Beyond comprehension?  Sadly, no.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu wrote: “An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.”

It certainly does appear that this is what we’re experiencing in the United States at this point–not that we’re alone in this movement in the direction of authoritarianism.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s almost as if the MAGA Republicans want to cultivate as much ruination as possible, so as to blame it on Biden.

In any case, these people don’t give a damn about you.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Democrats?

There are people all around the globe who are desperate to see Trump indicted, because of what it will mean if his crimes go unpunished, i.e., that the United States is no longer a functioning democracy based on rule of law.

 

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