Long Time

Wow, it's been almost 2 months since this blog published. I assume I've lost at least half my audience, but if that's so, I sincerely thank the 4 of you who are still with me. Don't worry, I haven't died or suffered from intense carpal tunnels syndrome, I've just been in year 1 of law school. What's happened since I last roamed the blog'o'sphere?
-Another gay-bashing Republican creeped on a man
-In a desperate power grab, the Big Ten Conference created a network that no one can watch (this atrocity deserves its own post, stay tuned)
-Stephen Colbert has announced he's running for President as both a Republican and a Democrat in South Carolina
-Some things are going up in flames in Southern California
-Some states are running out of water critically

Now before I start my rant, I will post the following disclaimer: it's tragic that people are dying and losing their homes in California, and I hope the water crisis is settled in the South before anything bad happens. That being said...

Is anyone really surprised? Those of us in the middle of the country in the Great Lakes region get disrespected all the time. They tell us that are towns are spread out and boring, our weather too cold, our streets full of Philistines. But you want to know something? No one in Michigan or Ohio or Minnesota is going to run out of water. No one is going to get hit by a hurricane, no one is going to get hit with a massive earthquake. Global warming is not going to flood our shores (yes, we do have shores in the Midwest, those of non-smelly freshwater variety). And all you people (and you know who you are) who moved out of the Midwest to warmer climates because you couldn't take the weather anymore, and those of you who are considering it, think about this: you can marry an ape, but don't complain when you smell like bananas.

I think it's pretty well documented that California and Florida are battered by natural disasters, that the Arizona/Nevada, etc area does not have the water to sustain so much human life naturally forever, and that it's hot as hell in the South, and it's only getting warmer. So don't act surprised when something like this happens. To look at it from an economic perspective, you are taking a risk with your life and your worldly possessions when you move to places like that, for the expected gain of living in a "tropical paradise" year-round. That's part of the deal. And if you're someone who drives a gas guzzler, and makes no individual effort to limit your impact on the planet at all, and our behavior exacerbates the natural disasters, do you really have any moral ground to stand on? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I'm happy stuff like this happens, or that when it does, I'm just going to turn my back and ignore it and not do anything to help. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying we need to be more cognizant as human beings that this march to move south and west and push nature past its limits is going to have consequences. Cities like Detroit and Cleveland and Pittsburgh can all support more population than currently resides there. Can you say the same thing about Las Vegas? Los Angeles? Phoenix? We got plenty of room, folks, and the people here are mighty kind.