I'm here to tell you you're being lied to
Welcome to another week in Bogworld. Its my hope that we will be back up to regular cartoon production this week. I know I know. Excuses excuses. Listen. Bogworld is not the only thing I do. I work full time for Apple and I work on the weekends for IMAX. I write novels and somewhere in between all that I try to maintain friendships and sanity. Its not easy. I certainly wish Bogworld was the main thing I did for a living, but you folks will have to check out the folks who sponsor this site more. Do your part and I will try to do mine!
Okay lets begin with Newt...
Newt Gingrich scored big points in South Carolina when he called the media despicable for asking him to respond to his ex wife’s interview on ABC this week. His ex says Newt pressured her to have an “open marriage” after discovering he had been in a long affair with another woman.
Whatever happened to the old saying “Don’t shoot the messenger?” Its not like the debate moderator asked him something out of the blue unfounded by facts. The facts are pretty clear in fact. Gingrich left his first wife during cancer treatment and now we learned he left his second wife after an MS diagnosis while having an affair with another women. And if we wanted to just keep the conversation to the business of Washington, we could easily bring up the multiple counts of ethics violations that got him kicked out of Congress. But wait, I think we all have a right to question Newt about his questionable relationship history because he was the biggest voice demanding President Clinton be impeached for his affair.
Sorry Newt. You kind of lose the right to be outraged when you are this big a hypocrite.
Seriously, these two candidates are the very best people the Republicans can muster? A morally corrupt pudtz whose only defense is “How dare the media disgrace this debate with stuff I actually did.” versus a modern day robber barren. Mitt Romney (and lots of right wing pundits) are trying to convince you that corporate piracy practiced by Mitt’s company Bain Capitol is just good old capitalism. As if capitalism could not be practiced with a sense of humanity for all the thousands of thousands of workers that were laid off and pensions that were raided in the process.
Yesterday I was minding my own business when a good friend of mine forwarded an chain email to me. Now I know this friend. I like the guy a lot and certainly respect his opinions. He’s a little right-leaning outdoors guy. Which made this email all the more puzzling to me. It was a chain email sent from some Conservative source meant to convince people in a viral email way to change minds over drilling for oil in the ANWR Nature Reserve in Alaska. Most of the email was written in all capitals so I suspect it came from someone who isn’t completely savvy in internet manners. But thats the least of the problems I have with this email.
The email tries to make the point that ANWR is a tiny space in the farthest northern part of Alaska that is “the most God forsaken place this side of Siberia.” An odd comparison when you consider Siberia is also famous for harsh winter conditions and has similar wildlife. Lots of it there too. The writer is trying to convince us that because its a harsh snow and ice covered place in the winter and a largely flat grassland during the summer there is not much there. And ANWR is only a tiny insignificant part of this massive barren place.
The writer than tries to make the point that if we drilled more in Alaska for oil the price we pay for gas in the United States would somehow go down. No doubt about it, I wish it would. I’ve made this point countless times but I’ll make it again here. Oil is an internationally traded commodity. It doesn’t matter where it is drilled, extracted or refined. It all goes on the world market where the oil companies negotiate with all oil consuming nations to set the price. It does not matter where it is drilled. Let me say it as clearly as possible...
Oil drilled in or near America is not necessarily what ends up in American gas stations. We do not get cheaper gas because the crude oil comes from derricks in or near north America.
While the site selected where oil companies hope to drill in ANWR might be relatively small compared to the map of all of Alaska, that’s not the reason environmentalists, or “Greenies” as the letter refers to them, are opposed to drilling there. The problem environmentalists have with oil drilling and production near protected wildernesses is that disasters happen near oil production operations and pipelines. If everything worked out perfectly 100% of the time no one would have any problem with oil drilling operations anywhere. But when things go wrong in oil production it leads to massive environmental disasters that have long lasting effects on more than just reindeer and arctic foxes.
The other thing the writer of this email fails to consider is that industrial equipment does not just magically appear on site. Roads have to be cut through the wilderness. Pipelines and harbor facilities have to be built to move the extracted oil out of the area. The actual site might be one tiny spot but the infrastructure to support a major oil mining operation is anything but small.
The writer has pictures that he says shows how content the local wildlife are with other oil operations in the area. He has one shot of herds of antelope feeding around some oil derricks and another shot of an Alaskan Grizzly Bear walking on top of a oil pipeline. The writer sees this as proof that animals dont even care if we develop these sites. Um, what choice do the local animals have but to adjust to the pipelines and buildings? I mean were not going to find photos of animals with protest signs. Animals dont have the ability to tell us what they think one way or another. And animals are going to do their best to adjust to whatever you introduce into their environment, whether they like it or not. Where I grew up in Minnesota, developers started to cut neighborhoods into the woods not too far away from my house. And almost immediately the folks who moved into those new neighborhood had to deal with black bears and raccoons raiding their garbage cans. So by this same logic I guess we could deduce the bears are better off because of these new neighborhoods being cut into the woods because they clearly enjoy eating all the garbage. Nonsense.
Then after trying to make the point that ANWR is a vacant desolate place, though they just showed us photos of all the animals enjoying the area, the writer shows us shots that “Democrats” use to show how rugged and beautiful the area is and how it needs to be protects, but those Democrats are lying (says the writer) because ANWR is really just barren tundra. Nothing majestic there. Just flat grasslands interlaced with melt ponds and waterways. The writer calls Democrats and Greenies liars for trying to tell us this is a beautiful place. Um, just a paragraph prior there were shots used in this same email to show how happy the animals really are and now the writer is trying to tell us those animals aren’t there at all. Which is it? And I could fly over marshlands with a helicopter and you might not see any life. But put on a pair of boots and get into those grasslands and guess what? Its teaming with life. But again, even if it were not. The reason this land should be protected is because it connects to the sea. And its the devastation of infrastructure and the danger of an accident that would cause far reaching problems beyond the tiny site up there in northern Alaska.
Lets think about the disaster that just occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. That was one oil rig. One tiny spot on the map in the massive Gulf of Mexico. And look at the problems it caused to the entire gulf region when something went wrong.
There is no “Greenie” conspiracy to keep gas prices high. If anything thats a plot hatched by Oil companies and oil commodities traders. If the “Democrats” and “Greenies” just want to make sure there are wild places left in this world. Is that so bad? Where are all the hunters and fishermen who used to speak up for wild places? Many of these people are Conservatives. How come they don’t see the bigger picture here. All your places to enjoy the great outdoors are threatened whenever industry wants to move into wild places. Where is that voice of Conservation?
The writer ends his note saying “Democrats are lying to you about this! Tell them you support drilling in ANWR!” Isn’t it interesting that I could debug just about every point the writer made with common sense and logic? Yet its the evil Democrats doing the lying here? Not so much.
Normally I would just move crap like this to my junk email filter. But when someone sends out something that calls people who care about the environment liars and then they use lies to make their points, well that needs to be called out and exposed.
Its happening a lot right now. The Republicans keep saying President Obama is raising taxes when in fact he has lowered taxes dramatically for most of us. They keep saying he cannot grow the economy but he has grown more jobs during his watch than anything developed during 8 years of Republican rule. They love to say he has been soft on terrorism when in fact more terrorist leaders and cells have been destroyed under Obama’s watch then during two very costly wars under Bush Jr.. in fact when you consider all the opposition Obama has faced from Congress, its quite a remarkable Presidency. Of course you would never know that if all you watch is FOX. But facts are facts. They are all out there to find for yourself. I know its hard to accept when someone you trust is caught lying to you. But geez. Time to turn the channel FOX viewers. Its just not a healthy relationship.
Okay lets begin with Newt...
Newt Gingrich scored big points in South Carolina when he called the media despicable for asking him to respond to his ex wife’s interview on ABC this week. His ex says Newt pressured her to have an “open marriage” after discovering he had been in a long affair with another woman.
Whatever happened to the old saying “Don’t shoot the messenger?” Its not like the debate moderator asked him something out of the blue unfounded by facts. The facts are pretty clear in fact. Gingrich left his first wife during cancer treatment and now we learned he left his second wife after an MS diagnosis while having an affair with another women. And if we wanted to just keep the conversation to the business of Washington, we could easily bring up the multiple counts of ethics violations that got him kicked out of Congress. But wait, I think we all have a right to question Newt about his questionable relationship history because he was the biggest voice demanding President Clinton be impeached for his affair.
Sorry Newt. You kind of lose the right to be outraged when you are this big a hypocrite.
Seriously, these two candidates are the very best people the Republicans can muster? A morally corrupt pudtz whose only defense is “How dare the media disgrace this debate with stuff I actually did.” versus a modern day robber barren. Mitt Romney (and lots of right wing pundits) are trying to convince you that corporate piracy practiced by Mitt’s company Bain Capitol is just good old capitalism. As if capitalism could not be practiced with a sense of humanity for all the thousands of thousands of workers that were laid off and pensions that were raided in the process.
Yesterday I was minding my own business when a good friend of mine forwarded an chain email to me. Now I know this friend. I like the guy a lot and certainly respect his opinions. He’s a little right-leaning outdoors guy. Which made this email all the more puzzling to me. It was a chain email sent from some Conservative source meant to convince people in a viral email way to change minds over drilling for oil in the ANWR Nature Reserve in Alaska. Most of the email was written in all capitals so I suspect it came from someone who isn’t completely savvy in internet manners. But thats the least of the problems I have with this email.
The email tries to make the point that ANWR is a tiny space in the farthest northern part of Alaska that is “the most God forsaken place this side of Siberia.” An odd comparison when you consider Siberia is also famous for harsh winter conditions and has similar wildlife. Lots of it there too. The writer is trying to convince us that because its a harsh snow and ice covered place in the winter and a largely flat grassland during the summer there is not much there. And ANWR is only a tiny insignificant part of this massive barren place.
The writer than tries to make the point that if we drilled more in Alaska for oil the price we pay for gas in the United States would somehow go down. No doubt about it, I wish it would. I’ve made this point countless times but I’ll make it again here. Oil is an internationally traded commodity. It doesn’t matter where it is drilled, extracted or refined. It all goes on the world market where the oil companies negotiate with all oil consuming nations to set the price. It does not matter where it is drilled. Let me say it as clearly as possible...
Oil drilled in or near America is not necessarily what ends up in American gas stations. We do not get cheaper gas because the crude oil comes from derricks in or near north America.
While the site selected where oil companies hope to drill in ANWR might be relatively small compared to the map of all of Alaska, that’s not the reason environmentalists, or “Greenies” as the letter refers to them, are opposed to drilling there. The problem environmentalists have with oil drilling and production near protected wildernesses is that disasters happen near oil production operations and pipelines. If everything worked out perfectly 100% of the time no one would have any problem with oil drilling operations anywhere. But when things go wrong in oil production it leads to massive environmental disasters that have long lasting effects on more than just reindeer and arctic foxes.
The other thing the writer of this email fails to consider is that industrial equipment does not just magically appear on site. Roads have to be cut through the wilderness. Pipelines and harbor facilities have to be built to move the extracted oil out of the area. The actual site might be one tiny spot but the infrastructure to support a major oil mining operation is anything but small.
The writer has pictures that he says shows how content the local wildlife are with other oil operations in the area. He has one shot of herds of antelope feeding around some oil derricks and another shot of an Alaskan Grizzly Bear walking on top of a oil pipeline. The writer sees this as proof that animals dont even care if we develop these sites. Um, what choice do the local animals have but to adjust to the pipelines and buildings? I mean were not going to find photos of animals with protest signs. Animals dont have the ability to tell us what they think one way or another. And animals are going to do their best to adjust to whatever you introduce into their environment, whether they like it or not. Where I grew up in Minnesota, developers started to cut neighborhoods into the woods not too far away from my house. And almost immediately the folks who moved into those new neighborhood had to deal with black bears and raccoons raiding their garbage cans. So by this same logic I guess we could deduce the bears are better off because of these new neighborhoods being cut into the woods because they clearly enjoy eating all the garbage. Nonsense.
Then after trying to make the point that ANWR is a vacant desolate place, though they just showed us photos of all the animals enjoying the area, the writer shows us shots that “Democrats” use to show how rugged and beautiful the area is and how it needs to be protects, but those Democrats are lying (says the writer) because ANWR is really just barren tundra. Nothing majestic there. Just flat grasslands interlaced with melt ponds and waterways. The writer calls Democrats and Greenies liars for trying to tell us this is a beautiful place. Um, just a paragraph prior there were shots used in this same email to show how happy the animals really are and now the writer is trying to tell us those animals aren’t there at all. Which is it? And I could fly over marshlands with a helicopter and you might not see any life. But put on a pair of boots and get into those grasslands and guess what? Its teaming with life. But again, even if it were not. The reason this land should be protected is because it connects to the sea. And its the devastation of infrastructure and the danger of an accident that would cause far reaching problems beyond the tiny site up there in northern Alaska.
Lets think about the disaster that just occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. That was one oil rig. One tiny spot on the map in the massive Gulf of Mexico. And look at the problems it caused to the entire gulf region when something went wrong.
There is no “Greenie” conspiracy to keep gas prices high. If anything thats a plot hatched by Oil companies and oil commodities traders. If the “Democrats” and “Greenies” just want to make sure there are wild places left in this world. Is that so bad? Where are all the hunters and fishermen who used to speak up for wild places? Many of these people are Conservatives. How come they don’t see the bigger picture here. All your places to enjoy the great outdoors are threatened whenever industry wants to move into wild places. Where is that voice of Conservation?
The writer ends his note saying “Democrats are lying to you about this! Tell them you support drilling in ANWR!” Isn’t it interesting that I could debug just about every point the writer made with common sense and logic? Yet its the evil Democrats doing the lying here? Not so much.
Normally I would just move crap like this to my junk email filter. But when someone sends out something that calls people who care about the environment liars and then they use lies to make their points, well that needs to be called out and exposed.
Its happening a lot right now. The Republicans keep saying President Obama is raising taxes when in fact he has lowered taxes dramatically for most of us. They keep saying he cannot grow the economy but he has grown more jobs during his watch than anything developed during 8 years of Republican rule. They love to say he has been soft on terrorism when in fact more terrorist leaders and cells have been destroyed under Obama’s watch then during two very costly wars under Bush Jr.. in fact when you consider all the opposition Obama has faced from Congress, its quite a remarkable Presidency. Of course you would never know that if all you watch is FOX. But facts are facts. They are all out there to find for yourself. I know its hard to accept when someone you trust is caught lying to you. But geez. Time to turn the channel FOX viewers. Its just not a healthy relationship.