A few follow-ups today on topics I’ve mentioned recently. Yesterday I commented on Secretary of State John Kerry’s insistence that global warming is settled science and that anyone who questions it belongs to the Flat Earth Society. Never mind, of course, that no one of learning ever really believed the earth was flat; to point that out would be inappropriate. I came across what I consider to be a fine rejoinder to Kerry’s rather smug assertion:
Our modern-day skeptics of global warming science find themselves in the same place as Galileo did five centuries ago. And they are subject to the same ridicule and threats from authority that he was.
Then there was my post a few days ago about the FCC studying how to monitor newsrooms, a clear violation of First Amendment free speech protection. This was an unprecedented attempt to stifle criticism of the administration. But it’s not that this administration hasn’t had practice doing some stifling:
Now, supposedly, all the uproar over this “study” has caused the FCC to back down. For that, we can be grateful. Yet we need to stay alert; sometimes a backdown like this can be just a feint, and they find a new way to accomplish the same goal. What’s that motto? Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty?
Another topic I refuse to let go of is the continuing abuse of conservative groups by the IRS. Even though there has been much publicity about the targeting of conservatives, IRS officials are unbowed, apparently. Despite new evidence revealing that only conservative groups were singled out, the IRS presses forward, seeking to limit further what tax-exempt organizations can do during election cycles. Where will this end?
No, I’m not paranoid; I’m simply paying attention to what’s actually happening.