[Mt. Redoubt photo from Anchorage Daily News]Mount Redoubt's been blowing its top. No problem, though according to the Repugnican nogoodnik governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. I'm not sure if he even knows we have volcanoes in the United States.
You remember, in his "rebuttal" (Ha!) to Obama's address to Congress, nogoodnik Jindal "singled out '$140 million for something called "volcano monitoring"' as an example of out-of-control federal spending." He said, with that disgusting smirk, "Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."
Well, really. First of all, it's become commonplace for christianist wingnuts to lie through their teeth about anything or anyone Democratic, and especially about President Obama. And these are the religious clowns who claim you've got to believe in their god and their holy book in order to have any ethics or morals.
Not really! So Jindal, who if he didn't know better, should have, speaketh ill of Obama and the budget not knowing he's blowing hot air and looking like a fool? Maybe. But again, maybe he knew damn well we need volcano monitoring in this country and being a good Repugnican simply stuck to Repugnican talking points, truth and honesty be damned.
Here's the truth: The $140 million was for "repair and restoration of a variety of USGS science facilities and laboratories.
NPR.org notes that "Only a fraction of that money would be spent on monitoring volcanoes," maybe $15.6 million or so."
Marianne Guffanti with the U.S. Geological Survey says that monitoring volcanoes is extremely important (hear that, Jindal?) because "We are one of the most volcanically active countries in the world. We have nearly 170 volcanoes that are either active or capable of reawakening."
Erupting volcanoes are very dangerous, especially for airplanes. "In 1989, a full[y]-loaded Boeing 747 jumbo jet was flying over Alaska when an ash cloud suddenly appeared and all four engines suddenly stalled out, causing the plane to fall dangerously close to the mountains that surround Anchorage before the engines could be restarted. That ash came from Mount Redoubt."
Life repeats itself. Mount Redoubt has spewed all kinds of ash into the atmosphere and everyone who knows anything is thanking the gods that we had volcano monitoring. It was because of volcano monitoring that the U.S. Geological Survey at the Alaska Volcano Observatory was given due warning and was able to warn others.
Especially pilots. And every pilot that flies the Alaska skies is a big fan of volcano monitoring. In fact hundreds of flights in and out of Alaska have been canceled because the USGS was able to get word out in time - before they flew into danger!
I think, in order to teach the christianist wingnut from Louisiana a little lesson, we should no longer provide hurricane information to that state! Hah! Who needs the Weather Service anyway, right Jindal?
Nah, we could not and would not do that! Unlike the wingnut, we have ethics and morals. And to take away advance hurricane warning from Louisiana wouldn't hurt the wingnut anyway, 'cause he'd be ensconced in some underground bunker; it would only hurt the people of Louisiana.
Still...
2 comments:
Volcano monitoring has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, probably millions of lives, over the years.
Of course, this means nothing to the radical christian Rethuglicans, they're just people and people are expendable as long as it furthers their cause.
This ignorant smart boy genius is another slime ball. Winning at any cost does not help the rest of us. We need an overhaul as to the purpose of a two party system and what it means to serve the people. They get paid well now so they should do the job they sign on for. I am in favor of severe penalties for abusing the public trust by any governmental employee.
His comment re volcano research was not only wrong, it was stupid! He was also wrong re the high speed trains in the budget. It was or research into such things, not any specific destination. If he does not know the difference, he should not be in a position of making decision. In private enterprise, he would be fired if he ignored facts for personal gain.
Bob Poris
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