Update, cave-in: In the heat of anger over the residue of rancid cigarette smoke that I discovered in my apartment when I returned last night from Toronto as well as typical jet-travel fatigue, I let slip with some analytical candor last night where concern and compassion were the only two things, according to common consensus, to express.
As Bill Maher discovered seven years ago, there are some situations in which you can’t be truthful because the viewers (or readers) simply won’t have it. I understand human nature; I get it. Obviously, drawing a corollary between the oil industry, global warming and the Hurricane Ike devastation in the Galveston area is a no-brainer. Any climatologist would note the same thing if he/she were among friends and felt the freedom to be honest. Anyone with a minimal understanding of the factors causing global warming would have quietly nodded if Al Gore had drawn this analogy, let’s say, on a radio talk show last night.
But I’m withdrawing the original post out of sensitivity for the poor battered Galvestonians (and out of concern for Joe Leydon, who has no power as we speak and has had to use dial-up to get online).