1211 Everyone Talks About the Weather

1211 Everyone Talks About the Weather

No, this is not about climate change.  But it’s not a bad starting point for talking about the middle east. (1)

Scientists point out that weather and climate are not the same.  Climate is a description of general conditions.  It’s mostly hot in the tropics; mostly cold at the poles.  Weather is what’s happening now and what’s expected in the near future.

Climate change deniers point out that we’ve had a lot of cold weather and that turns global warming into a lie.  It doesn’t. And they say that overall change in atmospheric and water temperatures are measurable only in fractions of degrees.

Fractions count.

Now, let’s put this on the ground in places like Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya and Algeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Throw in Israel and that adds wind to the hurricane/Sandstorm/drought/flood.

A pretty big storm is raging over the region right now.  But when the clouds clear, what’s the climate like? Well, it’s not exactly a vacation paradise.  And that’s unlikely to change.  It’s been a hotbed of hot head conflict for millennia.

These countries can hold a century long fight about whether to use a toothbrush and then in which hand to hold it and which quadrant of the mouth to start.  And they can take a conflict like that into the streets where people who don’t care about quadrants or hands die in large numbers.

This is a very bad attempt at population control and it doesn’t work.  Because when the lights are out and there’s no job and little food, the only thing left to do is make more babies.

It’s like everyone gets up every morning and first thing comes to mind is “which neighbor do I hate most today?”

This is generally followed by the morning checklist.

Gun?  Check.

Ammo?  Check.

Target? Ummm... I’ll guess we’ll just exit the tent or what’s left of the house and fire at random.

Israel will moon the “palestinians” by building settlements.  Muslim Brotherhooders and army troops will get out the guns and go after one another.  Syrian rebels and the government troops will haul out the weapons and take target practice.  Saudi Arabia will send the Wahhabi message coursing through the arteries of the region.

Iran will continue to build its nuke force.

This-all ain’t weather, it’s climate.

Shrapnel (fighting fire with public relations edition):

--Hospitals with bad rankings in the Consumer Reports Magazine surgical and post-surgical screwup ratings are striking back with campaigns to kill the messenger.  And while you’re at it, kill the statistical methodology.  The louder the ads, the less believable.

--Car companies with bad ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests are eager to tell you that they meet or exceed Federal crash standards. This from a bunch of people, foreign and domestic, who ordinarily don’t have any use for government other than for bailouts.  Same bunch that doesn’t want any regulation at all.

--The New York Times is out with a strong statement.  Essentially, it says in plain English the paper is not for sale.  That’s what they all say just before they sell.

1. Convention says Middle East is capitalized. Wes-Says doesn't.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2013