U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont isn’t a member of one of the two major parties so he really belongs to a caucus of one. This gives him a degree of freedom to chart his own course, and sometimes his course is straight-up trolling. Most of the time, his trolling is intended to make a pretty good point. For example, in the latest go-round, Senator Sanders is simply asking for a vote on an amendment that says that climate change is occurring. All he wants is to make the “doubters” (all Republicans) go on the record in an official vote declaring that they don’t believe the science.
Why is this trolling?
Because he knows that with the possible exception of Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma (but probably not even him), there isn’t a single senator who genuinely and honestly disbelieves the science. But they pretend not to believe it.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday he will allow the Senate to vote on an amendment asking if they agree that climate change is impacting the planet.
At his weekly press briefing, McConnell said “nobody is blocking any amendments” to legislation that would approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The GOP leader had promised to allow an open amendment process on the Keystone bill.
But a measure proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had raised questions about whether he would stick to that commitment.The Sanders measure asks whether lawmakers agree with the overwhelming consensus of scientists who say climate change is impacting the planet and is worsened by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
Democrats believe the measure could be a tough vote for some Republicans, particularly GOP senators running for reelection in 2016 in states carred by President Obama in 2012.
McConnell shot back at reports he might block the Sanders amendment, exclaiming “yeah” when asked if his caucus is prepared to take a vote on climate change.
To really work this theme, though, we need other senators to follow up with similar amendments on similar issues.
It is the sense of the Senate that:
These amendments could be attached to pretty much any legislation.
You could attach copies of Amendments 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15 from the Constitution, and the GOP would vote against them.
Oh, plus some later ones, too.
That would be some fun trolling.
How fun. Hey, make the best of what you got. Great ideas.
The names of lawmakers who disbelieve science-on the full range of issues-should be carved in stone on grand government buildings- so that surviving future generations or explorers from other regions of the Universe will know the humans who, in their willful ignorance & malevolent stupidity, committed genocide on the Earth.
I can’t decide if this is utterly hilarious or tragically sad. Both probably.
I talked with my 89 year-old mom over the phone yesterday. She just wishes that Obama would stop busing those Hispanic children into the US. I told her Obama is not busing Hispanic children into the US. “Well, you believe what you want to believe.” So if you want to believe that angels are up there near the space station, go right ahead. In 2015 we can believe in anything.
Ironically, I think our technology has something to do with this. We usually imagine virtual reality as this kind of totally immersive experience, but I would say that another kind of virtual reality is already here. It’s becoming easier and easier to believe things that are totally without foundation.
Never forget Indiana’s legislature tried to pass a law dictating Pi = 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill