Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Discrimination, Gay Marriage and Climate Change

Some days you just get a rash of events.

In Arizona, Governor Brewer didn't wait until Friday, she vetoed the discrimination bill SB 1062 but I'm sure it won't be the last really stupid thing Conservatives try.

In the meantime a federal court judge in San Antonio has struck down Texas' ban on gay marriage. Ok, this is getting really silly. We get it, the Supreme Court rejection of DOMA is being interpreted by federal judges all over as meaning that gay marriage bans violate the 14th Amendment.

Texas gets added to the list of Utah, Oklahoma and Kentucky. Let's just go to the envelope please and see what the Supreme Court has to say.

The handwriting is on the wall. It's only a matter of time before gay marriage is legal all over. All the current Supreme Court can do is delay the inevitable and put itself on the wrong side of history. Here's hoping the court is too smart to do that.

On the Global Warming front, the experts at the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society say that, despite the hiatus in raising global temperatures, they are more certain than ever that human activity is changing the global climate even though they don't fully understand every detail of the climate system.

The two scientific societies are hoping a new report called "Climate Change: Evidence and Causes" will move the debate into the arena of deciding how to limit the impacts on society.

Two chances, slim and none. Not unless the Rapture happens and we get rid of all the Evangelicals and Republicans. But trust me, it's not going to happen so I suspect we have a ways to go on this one.

As for the hiatus, the report addresses it in a 20 part Q&A section.

Question: "Does the recent slowdown of warming mean that climate change is no longer happening?" 

Answer:  "No, blame the slowdown on interactions between the ocean and atmosphere, quiet solar activity and an increase in sunlight reflecting particles."

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