How God Really Feels About Same-Sex Marriage

The image from Queerty sums things up well.   The far right - including the always crazy Cardinal Burke - are lambasting Ireland for approving same sex marriage, yet it is anti-gay Texas that is getting pummeled by natural disasters - something the Christian fundamentalists claim the guy upstairs controls. 

Congressional Climate Deniers - Virginia Ranks in La La Land

As the last post noted, the Republican Party has become a religious organization that rejects modernity and anything that suggests that the beliefs of the Christofascists party base might be wrong.  The dignity and normalcy of gays - particularly gay marriage - threatens the ability of the simpleminded (and their pastors in the pulpit) to blindly cling to a few selective Bible passages.  Evolution, naturally causes conniptions since it clearly debunks a literal approach to the Bible.  So too does climate change because it goes against the same closed minded, ignorant by choice mindset that prefers to hang onto the writings of uneducated, wandering goat herders from 2,500 years ago rather than engage in meaningful though and moral deliberations.  With the Virginia GOP firmly in the grips of the Christofascists, as Think Progress reports, Virginia's congressional delegation ranks among the most insane in the country when it comes to climate change denial.  Yep, right up there with Oklahoma. Here are excerpts:

Climate change is happening, humans are the cause, and a shocking number — more than 65 percent — of congressional Republicans refuse to accept it.

155 elected representatives from the 113th Congress have taken over $51 million from the fossil fuel industry that is the driving force behind the carbon emissions that cause climate change. They deny what over 97 percent of climate scientists say is happening — current human activity creates the greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat within the atmosphere and cause climate change. And their constituents are paying the price, with Americans across the nation suffering 368 climate-related national disaster declarations since 2011.

Almost 70 percent — 125 members — of the current Republican caucus in the House of Representatives deny the basic tenets of climate science. 65 percent (30 members) of the Senate Republican caucus also deny climate change. What this means is that they have made public statements indicating that they question or reject that climate change is real, is happening, and is caused by human consumption of fossil fuels.

This refusal to accept overwhelming scientific evidence is not just a symptom of the rank-and-file backbenchers. Members of GOP leadership and the committees that make critical decisions on national energy policy and air pollution have even higher concentrations:

• 90 percent of the Republican leadership in both House and Senate deny climate change
• 17 out of 22 Republican members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, or 77 percent, are climate deniers
• 22 out of 30 Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, or 73 percent deny the reality of climate change
• 100 percent of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans have said climate change is not happening or that humans do not cause it

Some states are sorely suffering the effects of climate change in the form of climate-fueled natural disasters even as their elected representatives take in millions from fossil fuel contributions and reject the reality of climate science:

• 18 members of the Texas congressional delegation deny the reality of climate change. Over their careers, these members have raked in over $10.8 million from oil, gas, and coal interests. Texas has suffered 58 climate-fueled disaster declarations since 2011.
• More than half of the Oklahoma delegation denies climate change, and together they have received nearly $2.5 million in fossil fuel money. Since 2011, Oklahomans have borne dozens of disasters worsened by climate change.
• 7 members of the Virginia congressional delegation — more than half — deny climate change and together they pulled in more than $1.25 million from fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal interests. And Virginians have 8 disaster declarations to show for it.

Being clinically insane or having undergone a lobotomy are increasingly prerequisites to membership in today's GOP.   Meanwhile, here on the Virginia coast, sea levels continue to rise and flooding problems increase. 

Did People Fail to Take Hurricane Sandy Seriously Enough?

Watching television and viewing other media coverage of the devastation in New York and New Jersey I continue to be horrified.  And I am no stranger to the ravages that hurricanes can inflict.  I lived through the direct hit of Hurricane Frederic back in 1979 when I lived in Mobile and now three hurricane storm surges since 2009 in our home in Hampton (2009 caused major flooding to the house and the boyfriend and I lived in basically two rooms for the better part of the next six months as the entire first floor was ripped up and repaired in a manner that made it water resistant).  But I keep wondering why more people seem to have not evacuated both in New York and New Jersey.  With the hype of Sandy as the "Frankenstorm" and the dire predictions of the level of the storm surge, it is not as if there wasn't warning.  It is a question that needs to be asked and investigated because too many lives seem to have been lost needlessly.

The New York Times profiles some of the harsh aftermath of Sandy.  As for the speed of relief services arriving, I know that it can seem like an eternity before power is restored and debris is removed, etc.  And sadly, in New York and New Jersey the amount of debris is staggering.  And the numbers of people needing relief are staggering as well.  One can only hope that (1) future storms - of which scientists say will will like see more - will be taken far more seriously and (2) as rebuilding begins new construction standards and flooding criteria will be imposed. This is something that will not be popular with many - people in Alabama screamed when Gulf Shores and Dauphin Island had to be rebuilt to much more exacting standards - but simply ignoring the new climate and sea level reality will only court future disasters and the needless loss of lives.

One can only hope that on Tuesday we do not see climate change deniers elected to offices where acceptance of the new reality is impeded or totally rejected.  There will be more Hurricane Sandy's and all of us need to accept that and plan accordingly.  Hurricanes are no longer just a southern or southeastern danger to be dealt with.  We cannot undo what has happened, but we can be much more ready for the next monster storm.

Evacuation zones in red

Hurricane Sandy - October 29, 2012

UPDATED:  This is a photo of the house taken by a neighbor from across the street:

People may laugh at our homemade flood doors, but, guess what - they work and keep the bulk of the water out.

We definitely dodged a bullet this morning.  Peak high tide has passed and the highest the water got was within about 4-5 inches of coming up over the deck in the back yard.  The water did start leaking into the garage under the flood door to a small extent and happily the new industrial sump pump has kept the water from accumulating in any significant way.  

Perhaps the most maddening thing has been the cretins joy riding up and down the flooded street that cause waves to go out and crash against the houses surrounded by water.  Did the Hampton police do anything to close off the street?  Of course not.  That might involve a shred of common sense.  

The top image is of the backyard looking across the tidal creek.  The first image below is of the side front yard (note the neighbors 3+ foot fence at their driveway is nearly covered).  The bottom image is a scene from the Ghent area of Norfolk a few blocks from my office.  Needless to say, the office is closed today.