Monday, April 27, 2009
Crazy Crap / Hannan / Politics Phil Valentine: Earth Day Boogeymen Depantsing Nation's Schoolchildren
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Comments (23)
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Shoot, Caleb, if you're stuck with Wiccans in long flowing robes you're being cheated.
"And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men
And women also: this shall last until
The last of your oppressors shall be dead;"
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Ha, oh god, I just realized that I have become the pagan equivalent of those nutjobs who come on here quoting Scripture to you.
I can't decide if this guy really believes this or its some super sarcastic commentary on fundamentalists. I'm hoping the latter.
The editorial here strikes me as something written by a person who resents science and scientific findings. That would be you, Caleb. You are always welcome to believe what you will, however, belief will not stop these phenomena from affecting you, but hey, think whatever you like, even if you like the idea of a flat earth, by all means then.
But you have two glaring inconsistencies. To correct the first, it is about Earth Day's purpose. Earth Day is not merely about global warming and planetary flooding, but rather, it is meant to raise awareness of the environmental status of our planet, concerning such global effects of industrial pollution, the deforestation of the planet, extinction of species, overpopulation by people in critically exploited regions. They are just some of the other, equally important topics you might find at Earth Day celebrations, but along with them, you will find expositions on environmental products and practices that are practical and user-friendly, as well as public education presented from various health agencies and non-profit organizations about how various planetary phenomenon are occurring. And yes, the science you fear is there, as well.
The other misnomer you have stated, is that you attempt to lead the reader that Earth Day is the pet interest of one subculture, and you are entirely wrong. Those individuals, organizations, and businesses who do politically, socially, and financially, or otherwise, organize and present Earth Day celebrations in world communities are *not* in any way, neither solely nor as a single whole collective, a denomination of the Neopagan subculture, that is, Wicca/Neopaganism did not originally author Earth Day, neither does Wicca/Neopaganism wholly, unilaterally represent, organize, nor does Wicca/Neopaganism singly present Earth Day. In fact, you cannot, in any basis in fact, present the attitude, as any authority, that somehow *all* Neopagan peoples would necessarily be of any environmental point of view!
I am happy to report to you that many individuals of various walks of life and of countless professions are interested in organizing and presenting Earth Day.
It would have been more concise of you to simply leave the Neopagan community out of your dislike of the Sciences and Earth Day, as at least, you could safely state what are your opinions about Earth Day. Considering your loose journalism, I now wonder about how honest your editorial of Mr. Valentine's words precisely were, even though he clearly seems to back you up, and the whole of your article seems to read as some lengthy old-boy network back-patting between you both. Nevertheless, I now doubt your ability to report objectively, and find you to be a trash journalist. perhaps you would be better siuted to writing articles about biblical themes that 'prove' the earth was actually created in seven days, and that we have never "found" the "missing link".
"Maybe some of you think it's cool to celebrate a bunch of dirt and lava and tectonic plates. But last time we checked, false idols were still a smiteworthy offense."
I would just like to point out 3 things. Earth is not a false idol; it exists. Second. I've never eaten anything that grew out of Jesus' head, but I can look out my window, and see my grapes growing out of the Earth. And lastly. If you take a glass box, put it in the sun with a host of bugs, and pump it full of CO2, methane and chlorofluorocarbons, they may not die from heat stroke, but asphyxiation is inevitable.
Um, you guys, Caleb is being sarcastic. He thinks that Phil Valentine is full of shit.
Lighten up, folks! I do believe Caleb Hannan is being sarcastic. You should direct your negative comments towards Phil Valentine, the person who actually believes all of this.
Umm, maybe someone should check this out . . .
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sarcasm
...a new Opinion Research poll of America's preteens shows that one in three children fears an Earth apocalypse.
Yeah, that's what they get for reading all those Glenn Beck children's books....
"You hear that, scientists? All your "facts and figures" are so frightening"
Very cute.
Computer models, predictions and opinions aren't "facts and figures".
Show me a perfectly linear one for one correlation between variations in man-made so-called "greenhouse" gasses and variations in global temperatures that tracks consistently over every single second of the entire timespan of human existence on the earth.
Becuase that is the one and only thing that would actually prove the theory to be true.
Mega dittos for Mr. Phil Valentine. Phil is the Bo Jackson of political talk. Phil knows. He knows it all. He can even walk on water. All of these so called scientists, they've all been paid off by Al Gore to spread the lie that all of that black smoke you see coming from smoke stacks and the backs of cars is bad for the air. Nonsense. That stuff is actually cooling the earth and making the sky bluer. Polar bears aren't dying off, that's liberal propaganda. They are actually multiplying greatly and are growing to super enormous sizes. Phil, and Beck and Rush, are the only ones who know this and they are doing us all a great service by sharing this secret knowledge with the rest of us. So put that in your crack pipe and smoke it tree-hugging libs.
Read the "debunking of the petition" link in this article. The author of that article debunks the petition because in essence only 12% of the scientists who signed it are "relavent" experts, i.e. Earth scientists. Then pan down to the bottom and read about the author of this debunking. He is a PSYCHOLOGIST. What makes him qualified to judge anything about global warming? He might be qualified to evaluate the psychological effects on these children from all the fear mongering on this topic, but nothing else!
As an Earth Scientist I have reviewed the subject of AGW on both sides thoroughly and concluded that there is scant, if any evidence that man made CO2 is warming the planet. I believe that anyone with a scientific background can review AGW data and reports, and make an informed and relavent conclusion, one way or the other.
The propoents of AGW rely heavily on instilling FEAR in the general population, liable of "relavent" scientists who disagree with them, and computer models. They treat computers models as the answer. Anyone in any scientific field understands, or should understand, that computer models are a TOOL of scientific inquiry, not an answer from which definitive statements can be made.
Thanks for your viewpoint, Oscar. But I think you're missing the point.
The Skeptic guy wasn't trying to make a case for or against man-made global warming. He was just trying to point out that Dr. Robinson's methods were really, really shitty and likely to produce the self-serving results he himself supports. That's all.
I can't believe that anybody wastes cyberspace on Valentine. This guy was spinning records a few years ago.
Has PV contracted with the Scene to handle pr for him? He's loving this attention. He lives for attention. And you're making him a very happy moron.
Ok Shockawenow, I went to your website, and I don't see how you were right...and I'm shocked you would write this stuff here after all you've been through...
First, this is an article about global warming and a person's view on it. Write about it here!
Second, you're doing the exact same thing those people did to you to others. How does that make sense? Your upset they tried to stop you, and your beliefs, and how you don't judge people. Well, I think you just did! You have a right to your own opinion. No one can stop you...it's freedom of speech. But we also have freedom of religion. You believe in your religion, and I will believe in mine. Lets be civil and not judge each other on what we all believe, but who we are as a person, what do ya say?
Caleb,
Dr. Robinson is not doing a scientific survey. He is getting signatures for a petition. He is asking people with science backgrounds to sign the petition if they agree with his viewpoint. The insertion of material supporting his view is likely necessary. Where else are they going to get a contrarian perspective to the popular notion that all climate warming is anthropological? That's all that is out there in the general media and in many science periodicals. As Prof Lindzen from MIT has stated, the amount of "inbreeding" in the peer review process on AGW research and the dominance of this view point in professional journals should in itself give one pause befoer accepting the validity of AGW.
What is really "shitty" is the job the general media do in covering this debate. They are in bed with the politicians that are mascarading a politial/economic agenda as science. Whether you believe there are sufficient data to believe AGW is real or not, any scientist should be appauled at the undermining of the process of scientific inquiry being prolificated by these idiots.
You people need to have your right to free speech taken away. I mean, an opinion is one thing, but HATE SPEECH is another. Go to Hell, or whichever mythical plane of existence you belong in you fruity fucks.
> But last time we checked, false idols were
> still a smiteworthy offense.
In other words, you confirmed that violence was "still" the proper reaction to someone holding a different religious belief.
> And there's nothing "cool" about a slow
> indoctrination into the neopagan cult that
> is Wicca.
Deliberately not capitalizing a proper noun or adjective ("neopagan", which should be "Neopagan" or "Neo-Pagan") is usually, to my understanding, considered a sign of intentional disrespect. (Would you write of a "christian cult" or "jewish cult"?) And the word "cult" is a word with definite pejorative cultural associations, very unlike the word "religion", a word with neutral or positive associations.
I've never read your writing before. I never heard of you until a link to this showed up in my e-mail today. Other commenters, I see, say you're being satirical.
I've never had trouble seeing the satire of Mort Sahl or Tom Lehrer or MAD Magazine as satire. This, on the other hand, is different.
As an outside observer, to me, this reads as plain, old-fashioned, angry religious bigotry, abhorrent and unacceptable to decent people.
Have you no shame?
The writer of this article is more a piece of shit than a human being.
"Sure, 13% of the PhD's who signed the Global Warming Petition are doctors, psychologists or software engineers."
Because doctors, psychologists and software engineers know ANYTHING about climate change. All scientists are basically the same thing right?
Also, I seem to remember the bible telling us we were tenants of the Earth, not it's arch enemies.
Fuck off dipshits. Get some common sense.
Actually, the Bible tells us to "tame" the Earth, which is one of the main verses that religious types have used to justify the slow destruction of the Earth. Neopaganism is not actually a religion. Wicca is a religion. Neopaganism is a word that covers far more than just various religions. Neopaganism should still be capitalized, though.
Caleb defends the notions of Earth Day with his rather...humorless...sarcasm--no offense; I just don't like your style. His facts aren't well thought out. To be perfectly fair, there really is very little evidence that global warming is being caused humans, but that doesn't change the fact that global warming is happening. In spite of the lack of evidence, the fact that 6 billion people inhabit this planet and forcing the extinction of numerous other populations by our sheer numbers should raise a red flag for the reasoning person. There may not be much evidence that we are a significant contributing factor to global warming, but that probably only means nobody is really trying to find it.
