The Dangers We Face as the Planet Warms

The latest danger seeping forth from a warming planet is methane gas. It's in Siberia the report came from, and a Russian scientist slogging through softening ice and snow to check on seepages, bubbling up. What is seeping out, from beneath the thinning ice and snow? Methane gas.

Melting permafrost may release massive quantities of the gas, which is far more a hazard in warming than CO2. Yet it is barely mentioned in most reports of global warming.

Why? I think because it's an unpopular cause. People would rather crusade against SUV's and other man made sources of CO2 than discuss methane.

Why?

I think because it'd be a relatively easy fix to the global warming disaster. How? We'd all have to become vegetarians, that's how. Ruminates expel methane. Not just out the butt end, but they breath it out also.

There are more ruminants on the planet now than ever. Cows. Sheep. Goats.

Maybe it's an easy fix but to our carnivorous world, not an easy shift to make. It's a far easier change than any of the other changes, to reduce CO2 emissions, however.

We can't have it all and maintain.

In other news, N. Korea is at it again, saber rattling, posturing, hissing and yowling on a fence top. (give peace a chance--neuter all world leaders!)

Be hard to be South Korea. I bet it's hard to be a commoner in N. Korea. They are one completely controlled and hopeless population. So it seems to me. That nation sure underscores the glory of freedom.

Our nation is in trouble economically. We have to do what we need to do to come out of it, hold onto freedom, not become vulnerable to radicals, here in our country and beyond, who would lead us down a path to dictatorship or theocracy. We do not want to become a N. Korea or an Afghanistan or an Iran.

I watched Amazing Race last Sunday night. The teams were in Bangledesh. They all commented on the garbage everywhere, the filthy water, the stench in the air, the poverty. We don't want to become a Bangledesh either.

A lot of what happens to a country depends on its leaders.

My nephew is in Haiti working for his church. My brother told me something about the history of Haiti and how at one point, a leader became a Voodoo practioner and at one point, fearing his rival had turned himself into a black dog, he ordered all black dogs killed. He also feared educated people and many were killed, but most fled the country. This meant the future of Haiti was left in the hands of the illiterate. This has had long lasting implications for that country.

There are lessons to be learned from history and from what goes on in other countries. Many lessons.

Sarah Palin's rise is interesting to me. I understand why she is liked by so many people who are made to feel inferior by the lofty privileged elites who have ruled our country and our universities. People want to feel justified in their lifestyles and Sarah Palin appeals to the rough edged--the rednecks, the barely educated and uneducated, the working wage people, the cussers and rowdy bar drinkers, those who go to church on Sunday but are far from perfect, those fed up with the media, those who love guns, and anyone who thinks PC speech is a pile of bull.

I admire her guts, her ability to keep going despite the ferocious criticisms. She is just as quick with her attacks on others, maybe quicker. Those who cross her or even disagree, can expect retaliation of some sort. The fact she messes up words and misses facts does not bother her following. I have a curiosity about what she would do and how she would do, if elected President.

However, her own attributes scare me, if they remain as now if she did get the highest job. Her religious beliefs make me wonder if she wouldn't see this as a chance, to become a dictator of sorts, and declare our nation a theocracy, with her at its head. I get this feeling she might do that to our country.

John McCain drew her out of the shadows into the public arena and just as quickly, abandoned her. His own daughter paints a grim picture of her father's former running mate. Is that jealousy speaking or truth, I wonder.

Palin has made a fortune from the limelight and politics. She would be self-destructive to leave such a golden egg behind. Fame and fortune are often short lived for a celebrity.

How ethical is a person who leaves office half through a term? I imagine, no matter what she or anybody says to the contrary, she left because the golden egg was calling and there was nothing in it by comparison if she'd stayed out her term as governor.

I think she'll run. I think if elected she will break every rule and squirm out of any consequences. I don't know why I think that. I do, though. I still have a giant curiosity about what America would become if she were elected. Her own Republican party seems uncomfortable with the concept. Barbara Bush recently said about Palin, "I think she's beautiful. She seems so happy in Alaska. I wish she'd stay in Alaska."

Sarah Palin isn't going to stay in Alaska. She's smarter than that. There are golden eggs to be collected at every turn. And America yearns for outspoken politicians to whom they can relate and who seem to relate to their everyday lives and mirror their outrages loudly, in a commoners language. Get it, Democrats?