Whee!

Seems like we had been having quite a bit of rain, about a week before hurricane Irene. Finally, the sun came out and so did a few box turtles, to celebrate the fair weather. I don't know if the second male had already celebrated or was waiting his turn.

Rick Perry: Lying Sack of Shit

Texas Governor Rick Perry today (17 August) accused climate scientists of engaging in fraud and in a vast conspiracy in making their claims that the Earth is warming due to human activities. It is well known that anthropogenic global warming is true, and there are multiple, independent lines of evidence supporting this conclusion. Yet Herr Professor Doktor Perry tells us that Earth's climate has always been changing, and human impact on climate now is merely an unproven theory. Yes, Ricky, climate has undergone natural changes during Earth's history, but it is currently undergoing much more rapid change, change that is attributable to the amount of greenhouse gas humans are spewing into the atmosphere. We're not talking about some theory (as in somebody's hunch), but a consistent conclusion drawn from a multitude of observations.

What next, Gov...will you tell us that Adam and Eve rode about on the backs of dinosaurs, and evolution is only a theory? Oh, that's right, you did.

UPDATE:  I was gratified to learn that rival GOP contender Jon Huntsman's campaign admonished Perry for being a denialist, "We're not going to win a national election if we become the anti-science party." Noted, with additional commentary, by Steve Benen at Political Animal.

Questions for Mitt Romney:

If, as you say, "corporations are people"--how many votes do corporations get?
If a corporation is naughty, can it be put in jail?
Can same-industry corporations marry?

GOP Collects Ransom; Hostage Released, Has Bleeding Anus

The two houses of Congress have come to what some satirists call a "compromise"--along the lines of "You give us all we want, and we'll say we want more." Our system has been broken by a gaggle of right-wing extremists behaving like a couple of teenagers who have broken into their parents' liquor cabinet. 

It looks as though Republicans might achieve their goal, stated by their own leaders: ensure Barak Obama is not re-elected. Not create jobs; not strengthen the U.S. economy, not ensure the U.S. can remain a leader in scientific innovation and technology; just block Obama because, not only is he a Democrat, but also because he's, you know, different.