What the GOP Taught Me About Martians
This morning my stomach did flip-flops as I waited for NASA’s noon announcement detailing what the Curiosity rover had discovered on Mars. Well, twelve o’clock came and went. And as far as I can figure, NASA’s this-will-go-down-in-the-history-books announcement suggested that a mis-communication between a NASA scientist and NPR reporter had given the public the false impression that something had been discovered on Mars. According to a statement issued by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: ”we have no definitive detection of Martian organics at this point, but we will keep looking in the diverse environments of Gale Crater.”
But that got me to thinking. NASA may be hyping the Mars rover in the hopes of generating high levels of public excitement as a means of keeping the taxpayer funds flowing. Maybe they even found microscopic evidence of organic compounds, fossils or microscopic organisms, and they’re doing further tests so as not to be embarrassed by a sensationalist story that turns out to be wrong. Or what if they found real evidence of Martians, well that’s where the GOP comes in to this scenario.
A month or two ago, I would have expressed outrage at the notion that the discovery of life on Mars or elsewhere in the Universe would have been suppressed by NASA and other government agencies. The notion that such information would spur panic and chaos and thus must be kept from the public struck me as exponentially arrogant. But that was before President Obama won a second term in office. If the fears generated by a black man in the White House, could so terrify thousands of Americans that they would sign petitions advocating secession from the Union, then the government would indeed be displaying good sense in suppressing knowledge of extraterrestrial life on Mars.
Could Lying, Cheating & Bullying be a Winning Strategy for Gaining the White House?
The buzz word for the past year or so in schools across America has been the war on ”bullying.” But if such behavior did not convey advantages to someone, our gene pool would have filtered it out eons ago. And this observation brings me to the presidential elections. President Obama’s supporters are missing the point. For instance they rail against Mitt Romney’s baldfaced lies, such as the claim that he supported the auto bailout when anyone who can read knows that he declared: ”Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” This was not in a private meeting of supporters, but rather on the op-ed page of the New York Times. The 47% to 50% of the American electorate who support Mitt Romney, know that he’s a pathological liar and bully. That’s precisely why they’re voting for him.
These folks are feeling scared and vulnerable. The privileges they’ve enjoyed are slipping away. This segment of the electorate does not want an honorable guy in the White House, preaching equity for all. They want a pit bull who will wrench back by any means necessary, the privileges they once enjoyed And Mitt Romney fits that bill.
For instance, a growing chorus of Republicans are preaching that Obama’s mistakes in Benghazi, where four Americans died, is an impeachable offense. However, George W. Bush’s contrived war in Iraq was not, even though it cost 3,990 American lives, 29,395 wounded, 2,100 suicides, and 75,000 veterans who are homeless on any given night.
In short, it’s a waste of time using fact-checking and logic against those who feel that their economic interests and feelings of emotional security can best be met by a bully in the White House.
Did Sandusky Cover-up Involve Murder? | Society, Science & Soul Wisdom http://ping.fm/25FlR
