We don't need no stinking ethics.

  It's certainly nice to be back  home after my travels over the holidays.

That old saying that "there is no place like home" is ringing true right about now.

I have enjoyed blogging over the holidays, though. You field hands kept my company and made me feel like I didn't miss a beat.

Anyway, I saw a couple of  stories today that made me think of what a horrific few years we have to look forward to with the GOP in total control of things in Washington.

First, they tried to slip one by on us by gutting the ethics office which acts as an independent watchdog whose job it is to oversee them.

They did it behind closed doors, which was kind of to be expected. Burglars and thieves usually strike when no one is watching. Donald is going to just love this bunch. The party has already started down in South Florida in anticipation of things to come, and Donald and his shady business partners are rubbing their little fingers together.

Jump in the swamp, fellows, the water is fine.

Speaking of water, four children lost their lives tragically in Texas when water in their home mixed with a  pesticide to form a deadly gas.

Folks, incidents like this will  become more frequent but with the same deadly consequences if the republicans had their way and do away with the EPA and other regulatory agencies so that their big business pals can do as they please with our safety and the environment.

"Davis told the Amarillo Globe-News he wasn't sure how long the residents had been exposed to the phosphine gas before a visitor arrived Monday and found everyone sick and called 911. Phosphine gas can cause respiratory failure and in severe cases can cause a pulmonary edema, which fills the lungs full of fluid, he said.[Source]

Update:

The GOP has backed off  their initial plans to gut the ethics watchdog committee. It's nice to see that they came to their senses. But I don't expect that this will last. As soon as the spotlight leaves they will be back to their old tricks.

*Pic from salon.com







 

The global warming "special effects".

I am no expert on global warming, but do I believe what most smart people have to say about the subject. That, coupled with the fact that the people who are on the right wing side of the debate believe that the world is four thousand years old, made it pretty easy for me to choose sides.

Anyway, regardless of where you choose to come down on this issue, you have to admit that something really screwy is going on with our weather.

I think that the folks on the right approach this debate with an economic agenda. To them, it's all about jobs and less regulation. I am down with cleaner renewable energy sources. Bring on the wind and solar age. I have no problem with saying goodbye to fossil fuels. Only a fool would believe that the EPA should not regulate greenhouse gasses and that they do not have a negative effect on our environment. Unfortunately, there are a lot of foolish people among us. (You don't have to drive a gas eating Chevy. Give it time and there might be some really nice electric cars on the market in the very near future.)

Take it away Bill McKibben:

"We can now admit it: global climate change is one big hoax. But let’s give credit to the special effects experts who have given us wildfires, downpour, and record heat this past month writes Bill McKibben.

Please don’t sweat the 2,132 new high temperature marks in June—remember, climate change is a hoax. The first to figure this out was Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who in fact called it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” apparently topping even the staged moon landing. But others have been catching on. Speaker of the House John Boehner pointed out that the idea that carbon dioxide is “harmful to the environment is almost comical.” The always cautious Mitt Romney scoffed at any damage too: “Scientists will figure that out ten, twenty, fifty years from now,” he said during the primaries.

Still, you have to admit: for a hoax, it’s got excellent production values.

Consider the last few weeks. Someone turned on the rain machine up in Duluth, Minnesota, where they broke all their old rainfall records (and in an excellent cinematic touch flooded the city zoo with so much water that the seal escaped and swam down the road. You can make this stuff up). And when that was over, the production team hastened to the Gulf of Mexico, turning on the giant fans to conjure up Tropical Storm Debby—the earliest fourth storm of the season ever recorded, which dumped “unthinkable amounts of rain” on central Florida. (Giveaway movie moment: the nine-foot gator that washed into a Tampa swimming pool).

The special effects guys were doing their best in Colorado: first they cranked up the heat, setting a new state record at 115 degrees. And then came the fire stunts! They looked real enough—one Waldo Canyon resident wrote a harrowing account of driving his SUV across soccer fields to escape the blaze, with “a vision of hell in his rearview mirror.”

But there were giveaways it was all faked: for one, the “flames” perfectly framed the famous chapel of the Air Force Academy, and on the very day the new cadets arrived.." [Source]

Great! Now I have to wonder if we really did land on the moon.