Liberal College Kid

I learned two things this morning. The first is that the name of one of the hosts on NPR’s “Morning Edition” is Steve Inskeep and not, as I had always thought Steve Inskee- who knows, maybe the “P” is silent but I swear I’ve never heard it before. The other thing I learned is that, while there is “no doubt that a trend of global warming exists” we don’t need to worry about it. Well hooray for us, that’s a load off of my mind! It sure is good to know that NASA’s top official doesn’t think that global warming is a problem, even though he acknowledges it is occurring. On the aforementioned Morning Edition, Griffin said about global warming “I am not sure that it is fair to say this is a problem we must wrestle with” and went on to say that “to assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn’t change”. Right… so I guess intact polar ice caps and a lack of pollution (including, interestingly enough, coke and pot) in the atmosphere aren’t part of our “optimal client”.

I haven’t done a lot of research on Michael Griffin but I’m assuming (and I realize that with the Bush administration this is taking a HUGE leap of faith) that his previous position wasn’t one which included judging horse shows. The man holds six degrees (okay so I’ve done a little research on the guy), how can anyone with six degrees not think that global worming should be stopped? Is it possible that after you get degree number four any further education dumbs you down? That appears to me to be the only possible explanation because to admit global warming exists and then to say that it’s not a problem feels like a contradiction in terms to me.

At this point I think it’s safe to say that the Bush administration has completely given up on trying to be either A) coherent or B) an asset to the Republican Party in the 2008 elections. Bush has now decided he will save Darfur on his own (something I’m pretty sure Republican’s are against) and he’s also decided to overhaul his environmental policy, and is now floating a few test balloons to see what the country would think if he decided that September is a little too soon to decide if the “surge” is working (probably because he realizes that the “surge” will never work so he figures he can just keep stalling until he’s out of office). I swear I half expect him to call a news conference and emerge with nothing on but and American flag thong to announce his new initiative to declare Crawford, Texas the new capital of the United States. Seriously, I half expect that to happen, that’s how much he’s given up on trying to appear like he knows what he’s doing. It’s almost like Karl Rove fills out policy mad libs every day and then tells Bush what to do based on that alone. I’m pretty sure next week Bush is going to: Buy Canada while wearing a tunic and listening to Peter Frampton’s Greatest Hits. He will then appoint Michael Emerson as Ambassador to Your Mom and watch Silver Spoons for three hours.

In the end though, I guess after the Democrats bent over and grabbed their ankles with the Iraq spending bill last week the Bush administration (and consequently anyone connected to it) realized that they can pretty much do whatever they want and get away with it. Great, good thing everyone went out and voted for a change in 2006, looks like it’s really paying off.