Although we covered a lot of news on the show today, we were earily consumed by one particularly engrossing story, that of Florida Congressman Joe Garcia who was earnestly engaged in the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the government’s surveillance programs.
This sad display was not the only reason we pulled out the Oy FloriDUH fanfare today. Oh no. And the other story isn’t nearly as amusing…
First, a bit of background. Earlier this week, a new report courtesy of NASA told us what most of us already suspected:
a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in an irreversible state of decline, with nothing to stop the glaciers in this area from melting into the sea.
A little more digging (no reference to the afore-mentioned Congressman from Florida) turned up computer models of what some parts of the world will look like after those ice sheets melt and the sea level rises around 10 feet.
South Florida would be completely submerged…
But what I want you to look closely at is the southernmost city on the mainland spelled out. See Homestead?
Now look at this map. It’s of the same part of South Florida today.. Look at the nuclear symbol just due east of Homestead. That’s where the Turkey Point nuclear power plant is located.
Leaving out the dire warnings at the top of that image about the 10-50 mile evacuation zone in the event of a catastrophic event now, compare the two images and understand that part of the tip of Florida will likely be submerged by the time my kid is a grandmother.
This is where the second part of today’s Oy FloriDUH two-fer comes in…
Just yesterday, Florida Power & Light got the go-ahead from Florida’s criminal Governor Rick Scott and three cabinet members (Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam) to construct two new nuclear reactors at that same Turkey Point location.
Unreal. (See Fukushima)
This morning on the show, as she does each Wednesday morning, Susie Madrak visited from Crooks & Liars. Unfortunately, she hadn’t yet heard about the Joe Garcia video. Needless to say, it made for an amusing segment and prompted her to put up this post: Florida Congressman Destroys His Career With One Quick Bite!
Susie and I also talked about a new Credo mobilize petition, asking Nancy Pelosi to appoint Florida’s awesome Congressman Alan Grayson to the Benghazi committee… It makes great sense, so please sign that petition now!
Joshua Holland joined me in the second hour of the show. In his role as senior digital producer at BillMoyers.com, one of his responsibilities is to put together the daily Morning Reads email blast. He had the good judgement to realize that Moyers’ place is too classy for scatological humor, especially when it involves a congressman snacking on his own ear wax.
We did, however, talk about these stories:
Another domino falls –> Idaho’s gay marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional on Tuesday, according to The Idaho Statesman.
Worse than insults –> At The Daily Beast, Michael Daley recalls the story of a woman who “was hastened to her grave by Donald Sterling’s effort to evict her from her home because she was black.” ALSO: According to a senior official with the NBA players’ union, megastar Lebron James will lead players in a boycott if Sterling remains the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers next season. Via: NBC Sports.
Dirty politics works –> In the wake of Karl Rove’s suggestion, quickly retracted, that Hillary Clinton suffers from brain damage, Peter Beinart writes at The Atlantic that Rove has never hesitated to sink into the mud because dirty campaigns have proven effective for him throughout his career in politics.
Left out –> Rep. John Conyers has held a House seat for almost 50 years, but his Democratic primary opponent challenged the signatures he’d collected to qualify for the ballot and got two-thirds of them disqualified on a technicality. Conyers is suing — if he loses in court, he’ll have to run as a write-in candidate. Cameron Joseph has the story for The Hill.
Sustainable –> Germany set a record on Sunday when it generated 74 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources, reports Kiley Kroh for ThinkProgress.
So far, so good –> At Vox, German Lopez points out that tax revenues are up, and both violent crime and property crimes are down in Denver since it legalized marijuana.
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I defended you Nicole over at C&L with people who would shoot the Progessive Voices and still BITCH
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