Republicans Measure Reality Their Way

There’s no nice way to say it; they’re idiots, pure and simple.

There is virtually universal agreement among scientists that the sea will probably rise a good meter or more before the end of the century, wreaking havoc in low-lying coastal counties. So the members of the developers’ lobbying group NC-20 say the sea will rise only 8 inches, because … because … well, SHUT UP, that’s because why.

That is, the meter or so of sea level rise predicted for the NC Coastal Resources Commission by a state-appointed board of scientists is extremely inconvenient for counties along the coast. So the NC-20 types have decided that we can escape sea level rise – in North Carolina, anyhow – by making it against the law. Or making MEASURING it against the law, anyhow.

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North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow’s weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don’t use radar and barometers; use the Farmer’s Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

Watching Republican legislators do their thing these days is like watching a parody being performed by the SNL crew on late night television. Except that what Republicans are doing, especially to reason, science, logic and truth, is not a parody – these people are serious…and it’s not in the least bit funny. The right has literally redefined truth to now be anything which supports their agenda and any ‘facts’ or ‘data’ which runs counter to this agenda is ignored for being, in their twisted minds, left-wing propaganda and lies.

A few hundred thousand climatologists and scientists? Lying, conniving, bastards doing the dirty work of Al Gore.

A few hundred right-wing politicians? Purveyors of truth and wisdom, of course. The part about the fossil fuel industries filling Republican coffers every election cycle? Fuggedaboutit. Not important. Irrelevant.

North Carolina legislators are now tossing around bills that not only protect themselves from concepts that make them uncomfortable, they’re DETERMINING HOW WE MEASURE REALITY.

I’m not sure if the opposing principles in a presidential election have ever been more stark and divergent – a battle between reality and delusion, truth and lies, compassion and greed…the rich and the not-so-rich. There’s a lot riding on November’s outcome…for Americans and for an entire world which sits on the sidelines watching and thinking, they’re out of their fucking minds!

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