MEDIA FIX: Gulf Oil Leak Causing ‘Doomsday’—Just a Lot of Hot Air? MEDIA FIX: Gulf Oil Leak Causing ‘Doomsday’—Just a Lot of Hot Air?
(This post was written by Nation intern Melanie Breault, who is also contributing Daybook items and tweets all summer) How is the world going to end? This is a harrowing question that seems to be coming up more and more in casual conversations, especially after movies like 2012, The Road and Inception (to be released this Friday)—and now, the scary BP oil leak in the gulf. Helium’s article by Terrence Aym suggests that “251 million years ago a mammoth undersea methane bubble caused massive explosions, poisoned the atmosphere and destroyed more than 96 percent of all life on Earth.” Aym claims that another methane bubble formed 55 million years later. Several scientists say there are warning signs in the gulf of this happening for a third time. Time magazine’s NewsFeed picked up the story and went into panic mode saying, “This is news that goes beyond ‘spooky scary’ into ‘start-reevaluating-your-life scary.’” But NewsFeed then presented a counter argument. They cited an interview with Gary Byerly, a geoloist at Louisiana State University who says, “The idea that there could be a catastrophic cave in, or a methane gas explosion, that’s not a reasonable worry.… The rock formations on top of this oil deposit have enough strength that nothing like that is going to happen.” Now a key scientist cited by Aym denies he predicted doom for mankind. Discover magazine links to full debunking here. While we all relax a bit, who is the public supposed to believe? Remember Climategate? Leaked e-mails between scientists cast public doubt on the integrity of the global warming argument. A few months before the conference and the emails, 84 percent of scientists said the Earth was getting warmer because of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, while only 49 percent of the public agreed. Skeptics of global warming had a field day, or more appropriately, a bunch of snow days this winter as the inches started to build and the temperatures continued to drop. But this season, as Juliet Eilperin cites for the Washington Post’s Post Carbon, “Some environmental activists might be tempted to point to this summer's heat waves to bolster their case.” Maybe the tone will change as the public pants in front of their fans.
Jul 13, 2010 / Melanie Breault
Is the Financial Regulation Bill ‘Socialist’? Don’t Make the Socialists Laugh Is the Financial Regulation Bill ‘Socialist’? Don’t Make the Socialists Laugh
Senate Republicans keep griping that financial regulation is government gone too far. It's not. And it's certainly not "socialism."
Jul 12, 2010 / John Nichols
Help Protect Incarcerated Queer Youth Help Protect Incarcerated Queer Youth
Tell your state legislators that the horrific violence against queer youth in prison must be addressed.
Jul 12, 2010 / Rosamund Hunter
Help Save Bank Reform Bill Help Save Bank Reform Bill
Senate bank reform bill short one vote.
Jul 12, 2010 / Peter Rothberg
Centcom Commander Loves to Kill Centcom Commander Loves to Kill
Obama and Gates have appointed a Marine general to Centcom famous for saying that he loves to kill. Hopefully, there's more to the story.
Jul 12, 2010 / Bob Dreyfuss
This Week At TheNation.com: Reflections on Lebron, plus two new videos and an event in New York This Week At TheNation.com: Reflections on Lebron, plus two new videos and an event in New York
Reflections on Lebron. Plus: See me in New York on Tuesday.
Jul 10, 2010 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Nicole Hollander is a National Treasure: Thirty Years of Sylvia Nicole Hollander is a National Treasure: Thirty Years of Sylvia
It was a sad day last year when the Chicago Tribune ignored the pleas and protests of Nicole Hollander fans and cancelled her Sylvia cartoon strip. I guess it got to be too much for the Trib to run a regular feature in which women’s humor was based on something cleverer than Does this Make Me Look Fat? and Will I Every Get Married? Sylvia, who looks like a cross between a tough-talking telephone operator from a 1940s screwball comedy and a gypsy fortuneteller, is shrewd and cynical and drily, wittily, outrageously attitudinous; she writes in the bathtub, explains Rush Limbaugh to her extraterrestrial friend, talks back to her TV (and her cat talks back to her. Even her cat is smarter than the other cartoon cats out there.) The New Press has just brought out The Sylvia Chronicles: 30 Years of Graphic misbehavior from Reagan to Obama. I can’t figure out how to put up pictures here, so take a look at Audrey Bilger”s illustrated review from the Ms. Magazine blog. Buy, read, laugh! And while you're buying Sylvia for yourself, can you help make sure some middle schoolers in Louisiana can enjoy reading too? Read on... St. Bernard Parish, three miles from downtown New Orleans, was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. All its buildings were damaged, and all its schools were destroyed. Amazingly, little by little, the district is coming back, and on August 11, the last of its public schools, Andrew Jackson Middle School, will reopen with 350 students. Just in time for the BP oil disaster, you may be thinking. Yes. This is indeed a community that has been hit by catastrophe. And that’s where you come in. ReadThis is a volunteer organization of people who love books and want to spread the joy of reading. (Truth in advertising: I’m on the board.) We collect new and gently used books for public schools and other underbooked places; we’ve sent books to a pediatric AIDS center, a homeless shelter and to troops in Iraq. This summer, we’ve taken on a big task: gathering 1400 books for the Andrew Jackson Middle School’s library, which was ruined along with everything else. Imagine a school library with no books and no money to buy books! Can you chip in by buying a book or two from the excellent and varied wishlist prepared by the school librarian? It has lots of terrific choices, from Harry Potter to Walter Dean Myers. As a bonus good deed, you’ll be helping the Garden District Book Shop, an independent book store. Find out more about ReadThis here. If you’d like to get involved—collecting books and mailing them to the school, helping out at our table at the Brooklyn Flea on July 24 , or, if by some miracle you happen to be a publisher, donating a box or two shiny new age-appropriate books -- email us at [email protected]. For latest updates, join us on Facebook.
Jul 10, 2010 / Katha Pollitt
Obama and DOMA: Will the President Do the Right Thing? Obama and DOMA: Will the President Do the Right Thing?
A court ruling rejects the Defense of Marriage Act as an affront to the Constitution. Now the question is whether the president and his justice department will defend a bad law.
Jul 9, 2010 / John Nichols
Slacker Friday Slacker Friday
A recap of the week in politics and media, with Palin, Weigel and beetles.
Jul 9, 2010 / Eric Alterman
Helping in Kyrgyzstan Helping in Kyrgyzstan
Aid organizations are working furiously to respond to the desperate need for tents, food and other critical supplies in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Here's how you can help.
Jul 9, 2010 / Aaron Ross