it's comical... it's farcical... it's... 8/29/2017 0 Comments   we should know how our elected representatives represent global warming and climate change... we desperately need to remove those who are too stupid to be ruling over us... and yet, we keep on re-electing 'stupid'... The real question is: "Just How Stupid Are We?" by E.L. Christianson Jr. Actually, it is tragically sad.  Several people have died and as with any natural disaster, the poorest people are the ones who suffer the most - those with nothing lose everything.   Looking at all of this from a certain perspective, it is laughably stupid.  "We are going to do the wrong thing regardless of the evidence" is the motto evoked repeatedly by the political leadership.  Effectively, this event was foretold in a Think Progress article from way back in December of 2014 by Jeff Spross "How Texas Politicians Are Ignoring The Climate Change That Could Hurt Their State’s Economy".  He pointed out ​that "the international shipping port in Houston — one of the busiest in the world — could suffer “hundreds of billions of dollars in damage” if a big enough storm hit at the right time. That, too, is a threat exacerbated by climate change." "...the state’s sprawl, its car culture, and its overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels has also made it far and away the country’s biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter." Also form December of 2014, Neena Satija reported in PRI's The World "The 'Texas miracle' is fueling huge economic growth — and the climate change that may end it".   There’s not much beautiful about the Houston Ship Channel, but it's awe-inspiring in its own way: It’s the largest international port in the US and one of the busiest in the world. ​The port is 52 miles long, hosts 7,000 ships a year, and is surrounded much of the way by warehouses, chemical and oil storage tanks, and construction cranes. It’s essentially one huge monument to the “Texas miracle,” the economic boom that’s delivered high profits and huge job growth even during the economic downturn. But it’s also a symbol of Texas’ growing catch-22:  Sites like the Ship Channel are fueling both the state’s economy and the effects of climate change — Texas is the nation’s top greenhouse gas polluter — bringing the state closer to a potential environmental and economic catastrophe. And Texas’s leaders are largely in denial about the problem, saying they remain unconvinced by the overwhelming scientific consensus that human pollution is changing the climate. The Houston Ship Channel stretches 52 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the city of Houston. Sea levels have risen 2.2 feet over the last century at Galveston, the main barrier island protecting the Ship Channel from a big storm. Credit: James Dillard/United States Coast Guard ​Both of Texas’ Senators and 16 of its 36 Representatives in the House are on record denying the science of climate change. Outgoing Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) has said the “so-called science” on global warming is “doctored” and a “contrived phony mess” that’s been “hijacked by the political left.” Texas current governor, ​Republican Greg Abbott, a climate denier, built his political career by opposing public health safety standards.  When Texas’ attorney general, he sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to weaken federal clean air and clean water standards. It seems to be a form of ironic justice as hurricane Harvey smashes Texas with catastrophic and unprecedented flooding.  ​Two to three feet of rain have fallen on southeastern Texas through Monday.  But it isn't over yet, Houston is bracing for another 2 feet of rain in the coming days. ​"This is a landmark event for Texas," Brock Long, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, said. "Texas has never seen an event like this." What better irony for for an event of this nature - right there at the epicenter of Texas' refining industry - at the source of the largest source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), the chemicals responsible with smog ground level ozone - home of a third of America's oil processing.  Combustion of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gasses and other pollutants such as heavy metals, Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and VOC. Viewed from certain perspectives, it is global warming and climate change 'coming home to roost'. Global warming and climate change have caused severe drought in Texas.   However, with all of this rain, Texas leadership will likely concluded that the severity of the drought is over.   They will deny that the state’s water supplies are dwindling and will claim that there is no threat to agriculture in the state.   Meanwhile, whole towns in Texas have run out of water.  Smart people would seem to elect smart people to office.  Stupid people would seem to elect stupid people to office.   To build a future on the destruction of the environment doesn't make any sense.  Who would intentionally do that?  Would smart people or stupid people do such a thing?  The use of fossil fuels is profitable today and a death sentence tomorrow.  Who voted for these people to lead us? For these politicians to deny global warming and climate change in the face of overwhelming evidence in the scientific community and in 'real life' experience only to secure campaign funds from major polluters is stupid to the highest degree.  These lying, shortsighted politicians are in fact the very definition of stupid, and that's the truth !!! Evacuees wade down a flooded section of Interstate 610 in Houston as floodwaters rise on Sunday. AP Photo/David J. Phillip A Rockport, Texas, firefighter went door-to-door on Saturday looking for people who may need help after Hurricane Harvey passed through.