NPR Radio: Helluva morning
Pardon me for sharing this on this 'series of tubes' ... but it was a shocking exercise to listen to Senator Ted Stevens demonstrate his complete cognitive dissonance. This, when the Alaska Senator was asked to explain both his support for Arctic Wildlife Refuge oil-drilling and his support of improved gas mileage for the nation's automobiles with the Senator's acknowledgment of climate change's effects on his state.
Actually, at the risk of sounding ageist, I can't help wondering about the Senator's mental faculties...especially the combination of angry retort and inability to string together rational argument with clear word choices. I'm sure his constituents accept this as a style, but one has to wonder.
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Taking a step back from this particular focussed interview, it actually presents a fascinating example of the sort of cultural adaptation that climate change is going to force. Alaskans pride themselves for their resourcefulness, their Republican independence, to pull themselves up by their bootstraps out of a given challenge [nevermind that it's a complete erroneous view as modern Alaska is the product of, and sustained by, continuous subsidy] ... they are the sort to drill up a resource to sell for profit over filing a lawsuit and demanding recompense. Ultimately though, the latter is their only option, if they want to continue to exist as a state. They do not even have the low-impact economic value of population-depleted North Dakota.
Actually, at the risk of sounding ageist, I can't help wondering about the Senator's mental faculties...especially the combination of angry retort and inability to string together rational argument with clear word choices. I'm sure his constituents accept this as a style, but one has to wonder.
---
Taking a step back from this particular focussed interview, it actually presents a fascinating example of the sort of cultural adaptation that climate change is going to force. Alaskans pride themselves for their resourcefulness, their Republican independence, to pull themselves up by their bootstraps out of a given challenge [nevermind that it's a complete erroneous view as modern Alaska is the product of, and sustained by, continuous subsidy] ... they are the sort to drill up a resource to sell for profit over filing a lawsuit and demanding recompense. Ultimately though, the latter is their only option, if they want to continue to exist as a state. They do not even have the low-impact economic value of population-depleted North Dakota.