Brrr… it’s cold outside here in LA – currently 34 degrees f. Every year around this time we all look at each other and say, “I can’t remember it ever being this cold.” But it has been, of course. I don’t even think today is a record of any sort. Meanwhile, there’s snow on the ground in Vegas. What does this mean? Not a helluva lot, unless you’re trying to ski down the ramp from the Wynn into the luxe shopping mall on the way to the Venetian, which might not be a bad idea at the moment, considering there should be a lot of sales on items like high-priced Siberian furs from down on their luck Russian mafiosi.
Still the global warming dispute goes on. If there’s ever been an argument with (excuse the metaphor) more heat than light, this is it. Sometimes the whole thing reminds me of Galileo’s travails insisting the Earth revolved around the Sun, which I admit I largely know about from Brecht’s play, not a particularly accurate source, I know. But what we often seem to have here is the AWG skeptics ironically in the role of Galileo with the liberal intelligentsia playing an ultra-conservative clergy led by Al Gore. Nevertheless, as I have said what feels like a zillion times, just because Al thinks something is so, doesn’t mean it isn’t. It’s just another irrelevant blowhard statement. So nobody really knows, though many say they do.
Which leads me to the auto bailout announced today. Nobody really knows about that either. Some say the inept companies should be sent to bankruptcy court; others (evidently including Bush) think to do so would create a ripple effect that could be catastrophic to our fragile economy. Well… many talking heads will (and have been) opining on various sides of this. Do any of them really know the answer this? Well, in retrospect some will claim to, but that of course will be subject to debate as well and largely unprovable. (Look at all the pro-and-con discussions of FDR and the Depression going on now.)
The only way to know the truth of matters like this then is to clone ourselves and try opposite solutions. The good news is that, scientifically at least, we are almost ready to do that. [You mean we should clone Nancy Pelosi?-ed. Only if we keep her on a collective farm.]
UPDATE: Excellent and apropos piece on PJM Saturday morning.
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