Pelosi's Pack of Nonsense (Butler Shaffer)

Butler Shaffer has some interesting insights on Nancy Pelosi's attempts to "save the planet":

While working at my computer yesterday, a 5.4 earthquake rattled the house. It was during this time that I was reading an online news report of Nancy Pelosi's unfocused babblings, wherein she dismissed questions by saying "I'm trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet." Saving it from what, she did not say, although I suspect it might have been from what environmentalists would regard as the "original sin" of human existence.

I have had an interest in geology that goes back to my childhood, and have long been impressed by the enormity of physical power contained in the plate tectonics that can move trillions of tons of the earth's outer crust. The thought of a frail Nancy standing up - like Don Quixote - to the San Andreas fault, or to hurricanes and tornadoes, or volcanic eruptions, in her brave efforts to "save the planet" from its very nature, was too humorous even for this absurd election climate. The late George Carlin's critique of those who wish "to save the planet" immediately came to mind as an antidote to the organized silliness that has come to define "liberal" politics.

On the other hand, setting forth such a planetary agenda is a convenient way of avoiding any kind of productive effort. Like the writer who never gets anything in print because he or she has the highest of standards that can never be met, endeavoring to "save the planet" can provide people with the warm feeling that they operated from the highest of motives. Stopping a war in Iraq - or effectively preventing one with Iran - is more reasonably within the reach of the Democratic party led by Nancy. But such an undertaking would only "save human lives," a purpose to which Republicans and Democrats alike share a bipartisan opposition. Saving the planet is vastly more empowering to the state and its corporate supporters, who can combine for decades of expanded governmental regulations and tax-supported corporate research and development funding, on behalf of a cause with an infinite longevity!

Persevere, Nancy, and perhaps ten thousand years from now the dolphins will erect a statue in your honor!