Run Little Gnome Run!
I'm back in Portland after working in Seattle today. It was quite the workday, requiring three ounces of Ireland's finest and a pint of homebrew to decompress. I had to take a couple personal days to:
-get the DOD off my back (IRR B.S.)
-get the state off my back (Truck Tags and Insurance)
-get the Feds and states to pony up the dough they owe (Navy/Treasury/IRS snafu)
-turn in expense reports in order to stop floating my company a no interest loan.
On the way home I heard today's Fresh Air. It's an Al Gore interview on global warming. He makes a point about the Bush administration that has always chapped my ass. Bush's implicit/explicit statment prior to getting elected was basically 'hey, I'm an idiot, but I'll surround myself with my dad's cronies, who are bright dudes' (I paraphrase). Problem is they are all crooks and always have been. The case in point is Phillip Cooney. He is supposed to be telling the president what to think about 'Environmental Quality', but he is a PR man for Exxon, as well as Exxon's counsel for the Valdez affair. He isn't a scientist, he's a crooked lobbyist, as are the rest of the cabinet.
Lawyers and PR men are not scientists, and newspapers are not peer reviewed, but we treat their misinformation with undue legitimacy. This allows the general populace to walk around ignoring problems such as an overinflated economy, environmental devastation and energy shortfalls that make me cringe.
If you are not following the scientific method, and your studies are not peer reviewed then you have no business attempting to set public policy, as you are just an asshole in a suit who will F shit up in the long run.
This includes but is not limited to:
-Evolution
-Global Warming
-Energy Policy
-Economics
This last one is important. Economics as understood in modern academia is not really a science. It is a Socratic idealogical study based on the core idea that the economy can and will expand forever. I don't know about you, but I live on a finite sphere. The only answer to all three aforementioned problems is to stop breeding and stop breeding NOW! Way to go Chance, Missy, Sean, Christina G. et al. for leading the way to a future with less mouths to feed, burning fossil fuels and generally cluttering up the planet.
(CK's note- despite this rant we love all rugrats, including but not limited to: Dylan, Jaiden, Julian, Vanessa, Annalise, Solstyn, Tandem, Daniel, Christopher, Alex and any other rat bastards I may have missed.)