Sunday, September 18, 2005

From the E-Mailbag...

This is from Joseph Abbot. The beginning part of his message, which I'll not quote, is a long discourse about how much he enjoys this website. As I read it, I could almost hear the "however..." coming, and it did. So I'll start quoting there...

However, I don't understand your comment that no one is accusing Bush of having caused the hurricane. Have you not read the many articles that blame the fury and intensity of Katrina on Global Warming and hold Bush responsible for Global Warming? I don't know what you think about Global Warming, and would be interested in reading your views. However, there's a simple logic at work in these articles. Bush caused Global Warming. Global Warming caused Katrina. Therefore, Bush caused Katrina. How do you reconcile this with your claim that no one is charging Bush with causing Hurricane Katrina?

I reconcile it by pointing out that "Bush caused Global Warming" is also a boneheaded statement that no one with any credibility is making. And I'll bet that if you look closer at the articles you think are saying that, you'll find that they're claiming that Global Warming is a huge problem that existed long before George W. Bush took office and that he is among many parties who is guilty of not paying enough (or even any) attention to the problem. I don't think that's the same thing as saying "Bush caused the hurricane," especially since everyone knows — and it goes without saying — that hurricanes existed before anyone had heard of Bush or even of Global Warming. Moreover, in the articles I've seen, the closest I've seen anyone come to saying "Global Warming caused Katrina" was the assertion that there's a possibility that Global Warming just might have made a bad hurricane worse. Again, not the same thing as saying someone or something caused the hurricane.

As for what I think about Global Warming: I've mulled it over for a long time and read up on both views and you know what I think? I think I don't know enough to know how real the threat of Global Warming might be. What's more, I think I could read a lot more and still not know, just as no amount of the kind of study available to me is going to make me qualified to perform a heart transplant. At some point, about some things, you have to trust in experts — and I don't mean the political types who have been tossing this topic around in the public discourse for years. I mean, like meteorologists and scientists and people who can take it out of the realm of Talk Radio debates.

I receive a lot of messages that demand I declare Global Warming as either a proven menace or a definite myth and I don't think either is my view. I think my view is more like: "I don't know...but I think the threat is too important to be dismissed without a helluva lot of proof." And I don't think there's been a helluva lot of proof because there hasn't been a helluva lot of study. So for whatever it may be worth, I'm in favor of doing those studies, joining international conferences and accords and, in general, proceeding as if it could actually be a legitimate threat. If it turns out it isn't, that would be the best possible news...and finding that out certainly wouldn't be the dumbest thing this country had ever spent its money on.

In any case, my point was that there are legitimate complaints being raised about the response and preparedness that we expected from FEMA and the executive branch. I would like to see those investigated and answered. Rebutting the charge that George W. Bush is some evil force of nature that can cause hurricanes to spring up in the Atlantic Ocean is a red herring. Especially since we all know the Atlantic is where Cheney controls the weather.

• Posted at 4:57 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Here's a link to this weekend's New York Times column by Frank Rich. It's pretty brutal with its assessment of George W. Bush's new disaster relief stylings but like a majority of Americans, I think those efforts deserve a lot of condemnation. In fact, one might suspect that very little of what is being done for the victims would be done if not for the massive outcry that the Bush administration had dropped the ball on dealing with the disaster.

For some reason, I keep getting e-mails from some pro-Bush group that act like the charge against the administration is that George W. Bush somehow caused the hurricane. That's so boneheaded stupid that I have to believe they know that no one's charging that. It's an old and pretty lame debate trick: Instead of responding to what the other side said, when you can't, rebut something they didn't say, which you can. Maybe you can confuse enough people into confusing the two.

Starting tomorrow, the Times erects its subscription wall for some areas and starts charging to read its op-ed columnists like Frank Rich. I have a hunch this will fail and that the columns will be readily available for free on other websites. But we shall see, we shall see.

• Posted at 11:55 AM · LINK

Hokey Smokes! It's June Foray Day!

Just in case she stops celebrating her birthday today and figures out some way to finally use that computer of hers to get on the Internet, let's all send good thoughts out to The First Lady of Cartoon Voicing and my favorite actress, June Foray. There may be someone else who's as nice and talented in this business but I sure haven't found such a person.

• Posted at 3:18 AM · LINK