Absolutely Outrageous and Patently Untrue Statements

[Jeffery]

On Friday I had a water spill on my desk chair. I had to get up and change the covering on the chair, but my pants were still wet from the water. Then I remembered an old hair dryer that had been used for similar purposes before, so I went to get it, and proceeded to dry my pants.
While I was doing that, Rush was on the air. I could not believe my ears due to the pseudoconservative outrageousness of what he was saying about ecological issues! It almost sounded like a satire of someone who didn't believe in environmentalism. I hardly ever listen to him, so I had not realized just how radical Rush Limbaugh can be.
He was reading one of his diatribes, and this one was about so-called ecofreaks and how environmentalism was like a "pseudo-religion".

Outrageous statement #1: "Environmentalism has , Gaia, the earth... they are godless, in the traditional sense."

Common sense responds: Some environmentalists, to be sure, are neopagan in their spiritual and religious inclinations. Some indeed make references to Gaia or the "Earth goddess". However, proponants of environmental stewardship come from many religious viewpoints. Indeed, there are Christian environmentalists, such as the organizers of the Creation Sunday campaign, or "Faith-based Sustainable Agriculture". These environmentalists want to take care of the environment because they believe in a Creator God, who made the universe with a balance and design.

Outrageous statement #2: "The pseudo-religion of environmentalism has an apocalypse...there was the DDT scare, and then acid rain was going to get us, and then the ozone hole. They got us all worried... None of them happened."

Common sense responds: They did not happen, because they said something about it, and action was taken to stop it from happening. If no one had taken action against DDT, then there would be a silent spring, thanks to chemicals including DDT. If no one had taken action against acid rain or CFC's, the predicted outcomes likely would indeed have occurred. What Mr. Limbaugh is saying in essence is, "Since the activism worked, that proves that it was unnecessary."

Outrageous statement #3: "Rachel Carson with her writing caused tens of millions of children to die of malaria"....

Common sense responds: How many children may have died from the direct or indirect effects of DDT, had it not been banned?
Besides, the mosquitos can be controlled much more effectively through ecologically sound methods. These include the use of solar mosquito repellers (the size of a watch), the planting of mosquito-deterring pelargonium near homes, and the stocking of lagoons with guppies. In fact, malaria has been cut to about one-quarter of its previous incidence in parts of India where guppies have been stocked into all the lagoons.

Outrageous statement #4: "Global warming is not science. It is religion."

Common sense responds: How can weather charts, ice samples, and mathematical calculations not be science? Are they no longer scientific as soon as they reveal something that you don't want to hear? Global warming may have some controversy around it, but that does not mean it isn't science.
A wise man once said, "Take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism." While this statement is generally true, human-caused global warming may be an exception. If we stop producing greenhouse gases and start planting trees in our sprawling concrete cities, the weather might start paying attention.
Furthermore, evidence for climate change is growing more and more solid as each sweltering summer and wimpy winter passes.

And as the Farmer's Almanac says...
The best way to PREDICT the future is to help CREATE it

[SharonAnn]

1. Response to No. 2.

Outrageous statement #2: "The pseudo-religion of environmentalism has an apocalypse...there was the DDT scare, and then acid rain was going to get us, and then the ozone hole. They got us all worried... None of them happened."

A. DDT damage was real and we are still suffering the effects of it. It's the reason that Bald Eagles were endangered and that Whooping Cranes, along with many other species, are nearly extinct.

B. Acid rain is a problem. It is the cause of the decline of many forests in the North and East and the cause of the declinein fish populations in lakes in those areas.

C. The ozone hole is real and it exists. Though its size varies from year to year, it is getting larger. If it gets too large, then it will endanger all life on earth.

It's not true that "none of them happened".

[hobbit709]

2. The only thing that hasn't happened

is that Oxyrush has gotten a working brain.
He is living proof of the statement.
"It is a scientific fact that man can live without
Air-for minutes
Water-for days
Food-for weeks
Brains-for years."

[IWantAChange]

3. Limpballs is now carrying water for Big Oil apparently.

[sarge43]

5. He's a whore (and my apologies to honest whores)

He'll shill and go down for whoever pays him the most.

[moggie]

4. They keep peddling the DDT lies

Rachel Carson did NOT cause "tens of millions of children to die of malaria". DDT has not been banned for anti-malarial use. But its use for that purpose declined, because mosquitoes developed resistance (you know, that evolution which the right gets so upset about). The ban was on its use as an agricultural insecticide, and ironically this probably prolonged its use for anti-malarial purposes, by slowing the development of resistance (less DDT in the environment means less evolutionary pressure on the mozzies).

[Jeffery]

6. Not That Kind...

It's not microevolution that the right gets so upset about, but macroevolution...one kind of organism into another.

[kestrel91316]

8. Evolution is, by and large a matter of baby steps, both in microbial

evolution and macroorganisms. We get to observe it firsthand in microbes because of their EXTREMELY rapid reproduction and life cycles.

Unless you have studied microbiology you probably wouldn't even know this.

That's why judgements about the existence of evolution are best left to SCIENTISTS and not mullahs.

[rock]

7. Loved your take on # 2

"Since the activism worked, that proves that it was unnecessary."
and welcome to DU!