Tuesday 14 September 2004

Pic of the day: Another screenshot from the anime Windy Tales, fittingly enough.

Weather in America

After the latest thunderstorms here in Southern Norway, I have some problems with my DSL. It drops at random times, a couple times a day or more. Nothing I do or don't on my end seems to matter, I can reconnect again after a random number of minutes. Probably one of their centrals has become a bit shaky.

But that's just peanuts compared to what's happening in North America these days, on the Atlantic Coast. One hurricane after another is throwing itself against the coast, doing massive property damage and occasionally killing somebody, especially on the islands. With the latest and strongest hurricane, Ivan, hundreds of thousands of Americans are scurrying to safety. That's rather unusual for a people that rules the world in all but name, and I am sure there are many around the world who enjoys this immensely. I am not among them, if nothing else then because some of the scurrilous people are my friends, or the online equivalent thereof.

Parts of the scientific community think that the global warming will cause more and more devastating hurricanes as the years go by. These people are not happy with the conservative government of the USA, which is not conserving nature or fossil fuels, but is rather conserving what most Americans consider a God-given right: To spend energy wildly with no thought of the consequences. In all fairness, there have been some attempts by the government to encourage improvement in fuel-cell technologies; this could lead to less carbon dioxide emissions, as fuel cells tend to squeeze more energy out on the fuel. But right now, the only thing that holds down the American consumption of fossil fuels is the rapidly rising cost of oil. This price raise is not caused by a restriction in supply; the production is at a record high. It is the world's consumption of fuel that has risen, as newly industrialized countries are following in the footsteps of the world leader.

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Be that as it may, I would not be surprised if the "Christian Right" of the USA will once again blame the disaster on gays or other politically correct sinners, as they did with September 11. Now, I don't think God will need to dig that deep to find a reason to lash out at the USA, if he were so inclined. Back when Jesus Christ walked among us, he did not once bother to mention gays or lesbians. The problems that he was concerned about where such as greed, self-righteousness, corruption by power, ossified religious traditions, ignoring poverty, and -- above all things, as he said -- hypocrisy. Despite all that God has done for us since then, these things are hardly eradicated even in a country as steeped in Christianity as the USA.

If the fall of the Towers had been God's judgment for America's homosexuality, then there would not be stone left on stone when he started with the really popular sins. But luckily for America and for the rest of us sinners, God is the Father of Mercy, and "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous". So says the Lord Jesus Christ; and those who want to quibble about divine meteorology, should probably take the case to him personally.