Dumb And Dumber

Proof We Are Governed By Illogical Morons
Al Gore is in Australia with the feature documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth'. You know what it's about. In response, we find this article.

Mr Howard is sceptical about the more gloomy predictions of the effects of global warming, but Mr Gore said that stance was not winning the prime minister any allies.

"He's increasingly alone in that view among people who've looked at the science," he told ABC Television.

Mr Gore compared the prime minister's position with the centuries-old opinion that the earth was flat.

"There's no longer a debate over whether the earth is round or flat," he said.

"Though there are some few people who still think it's flat, we generally ignore that view because the evidence has mounted to the point where we understand that it shouldn't be taken seriously."

Mr Howard maintains that signing up to Kyoto would hurt local industry and send Australian jobs offshore.

He said he might watch the documentary at some point, but would not meet Mr Gore while he was in Australia.

That's nice Mr. Howard.
It's a probelm of this country that we haven't educated or trained our people to suit the changing times. If their jobs are likely to be lost simply by putting a cap on carbon emissions, then you sir have miserably failed your people in governing this nation.
What is even worse in the dumb-and-dumber-stakes is what the Australian Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane had to say:

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has dismissed the film as "just entertainment" and says he will not take advice from a failed presidential candidate.

Mr. Macfarlane, you sir are a complete and utter idiot unworthy of being a minister of anything if you think that the work Mr Gore has put into his presentation is "just entertainment"; you are an even bigger moron yet if you think that Mr Gore's arguments automatically carry no weight because he had lost an election, let alone had it stolen from him. The mere fact that that is all you have to say to discredit the man shows your paucity of thought, your inability to comprehend the most concrete facts, your lack of information and knowledge, your prejudice againsst gaining information and knowledge, and your total inability to participate in an informed discourse in a civilised state. Just how you managed to come to holding such a high office is an utter mystery. The best thing to have happen to Australia this week would have been for you to have been stung by the stingray that claimed Mr Irwin's life, instead of the good Mr. Irwin. I sincerely hope you find this entry when you narcissistically google your own name and that you take my good advice and leave politics for the good of the country.

*Ugh* The stupidity, the stupidity...

Proof That Our Elite Don't Fly That High
I caught the 'At The Movies' show with David and Margaret covering 'An Inconvenient Truth'. In it was this atrocious exchange:

MARGARET: David, it's done very lucidly, the graphics are great, you know, if this is fact, then it's pretty scary. But what I want to know is, you know, if there is doubt about what Gore is claiming...

DAVID: Well, some people have attacked the film.

MARGARET: Right, well, I mean surely it's possible to set up a body that doesn't have any vested interest in either outcome, you know, that just wants to know the truth and finding out what the truth is. I mean, it can't be a scientific stretch to discover whether we're losing the polar ice caps.

DAVID: Well, you certainly wouldn't think so. But, I mean, looking at a film like that, it's very well argued. Now, okay, it's attackers might say it's being too exaggerated etc, etc, but if there's any doubt, if there's any doubt, this is the earth we're talking about and future generations. Would you not...

MARGARET: Well, I actually think we owe it to our kids and our grandkids to find out the truth, and, you know, I mean a lot of money ought to be put into finding out the truth of this situation. I mean, it's very easy to get people's gander up with a documentary like this, and I think it's been very well done, but, the truth of the situation is significant, and that's what this documentary ought to do. It ought to galvanise people in power to discovering the truth.

It was a most awkward exchange because of the way Ms. Pomeranz just blurted out what sounded like an abjection to the horror of global warming. For heaven's sakes, what exactly could she mean when she says, "Right, well, I mean surely it's possible to set up a body that doesn't have any vested interest in either outcome, you know, that just wants to know the truth and finding out what the truth is. I mean, it can't be a scientific stretch to discover whether we're losing the polar ice caps"?
Excuse me? One wonders where Ms. Pomeranz has been in the last 25 years. Mr. Gore's presentation, while alarming, is the acrretion of the best scientific data that are available to us.
To be fair, the 'At The Movies' website has this addendum:

FROM MARGARET:
"The overwhelming response we have received from our viewers about our review of Al Gore's AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH has been fantastic. Many of you have written to me and pointed out that the kind of body that I had lamented about does in fact exist. I have been directed to many websites and books and I thank you for making all these suggestions. In this respect, the documentary has done its job in creating discussion and highlighting that fact that we all need to take this matter to heart - as one of our viewers said, "Our future is in our hands."

See below for the link to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)which many of you suggested.

http://www.ipcc.ch

The fact that confronting the facts is so uncomfortable does not in any way make it okay or acceptable or intellectually sound to be a global warning sceptic at this point in history. That moment passed 15 years ago. Gaaaaagh!!!!!
Not only is Australia a cultural backwater, clearly, it is an intellectual one too.

UPDATE:
I was trawling along BTF as I do everyday and I found this lovely quote:

pfft, anyone can use facts to prove points.

I laughed out loud.
It's gallows humour, but the same sarcasm applies to Mr. Gore somewhat. It's too easy arguing the facts. You need to argue somthing extraordinarily wrong to get noticed as a great arguer.

The fact is, you are dealing with obstinate idiots who think politics is all there is in this world, that the abstract is somehow representative of reality and therefore the suitable manipulation of abstraction gives rise to solving problems in the real world. The stupidity of this assumption is what lies at the foundation of our political leaders, left and right.