Good vs. Evil

Polarization. It's the remaining essence of any argument, after all the nuance has been boiled out. Good and Evil. Black and White. Cowboys and Indians. Most often, Liberals accuse the right of having a such a World view. Unless it involves something close to their hearts. Like Global Warming.




The talking points are, that all the noble Scientists, (who are good hearted, open minded, and intelligent) believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming. On the other side are the incredible scientists, whom the evil corporations have paid off, to construct lies and obfuscation.

There's no nuance when the fate of the world is at stake. Either you agree with the Consensus, or you are a Denier. You're either an Intellectual, or a Patsy for the Oil Corporations. Academic or Propagandist. Enlightened or Bought Off. Intellectual or Whore.

One of the most honorable men to the Left is Dr. James Hansen, chief climate scientist over at NASA. Dr. Hansen has been boldly standing up to the Bush Administration, who repeatedly tries to censor this whistle-blower. The order for the President to tone down Dr. Hansen's rhetoric comes straight from the oil corporations, according to Liberal dogma.

It is believed Hansen is above reproach, and no sum would be sufficient for him to alter his opinion. But it turns out, he CAN be bought off. In Monday's Investors Business Daily comes this juicy tidbit: The George Soros funded Open Society Institute, has given $720 000 to Dr. Hansen. Apparently, not all the science whores are in the pockets of oil companies.

Of course, supporters of Hansen would attest that the good Dr. has ALWAYS been a proponent of Global Warming, and the payoff from Soros was an Honorarium rather than a bribe.

But it turns out, that wasn't the case. Thirty six years ago, when the Global Temperatures were falling, Dr. Hansen didn't believe in Global Warming. Back then, his famous computer models were churning out numbers 180 degrees from todays prognostications.

And What about CO2 you ask? Well back in 1971, Hansen and his partner in crime didn't think it was relevant. "They found no need to worry about the carbon dioxide that fuel-burning puts in the atmosphere," the Washington Post report said.

Furthermore it was recently discovered that the stalwart Dr. Hansen had made an error in his calculations, and the oft repeated statistic that 1998 was the warmest year in US history was wrong. Once the numbers were corrected, it turns out that 1934 was the warmest.

Is it possible that George Soros, with all his money could convince Dr. Hansen to fudge numbers? Why that would be an Indecent Proposal wouldn't it?

The Deadly Duo

Those who have been here for some time now are probably familiar with a recent argument I got into with Orac over at Respectful Insolence on the dangers of Second Hand Smoke. I mentioned that recent science indicates that spending eight hours in a smoky bar is no worse for your heart, than drinking a can of pop every day.

Well it looks like pop isn’t the only thing that’s worse than working in a smoky bar. Turns out that a couple bags of microwave popcorn is even worse! Wayne Watson, a Colorado man, who consumed two bags of microwave popcorn every day for the past ten years has been diagnosed with Bronchiolitis Obliterans or Popcorn Lung, an often fatal lung disease. Apparently the chemical diacetyl, which occurs naturally in butter, and gives it that delicious flavor we all love, can be deadly when vaporized and inhaled. So if you can smell butter, you are being exposed to toxins.

But where is the legislation? Where are the lobbyists? Where is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation? How come this threat to humanity is still allowed to be sold in grocery stores all over America, even to little children!

I know that the risk can be avoided simply by customers selecting the butter free variety (or not eating popcorn). But what about the children that work in movie theaters? What about the workers that are exposed? According to research the risk to popcorn workers of contracting Popcorn Lung, is roughly the same as coal miners contracting Black Lung (3%) which means working around buttery popcorn, is thousands of times more dangerous that working in a smoky bar.

During our heated and extended debate, the Great Orac once said “There's nothing inherent in the work required in bars or restaurants that demands exposure to SHS, other than tradition.”

By the same token, there is no reason to put butter on popcorn, outside of tradition. When will we start caring for the victims of popcorn? Certainly those who wish to eat buttered popcorn, can step outside the theater to indulge in their deadly habit. I SHOULD be able to enjoy a movie without exposing myself to second hand butter.