Boehner Tweets Hysteria over ISIL, Ignores Threats Closer to Home

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John Boehner is in a panic over a UN report warning of the growing threat of ISIL in Syria and Iraq. He has absolutely no worries about global warming’s terrible effects on a drought in California. Or the lasting effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster five years later, including the erosion of valuable marshlands.

On Friday morning, Boehner tweeted,

Notably, he did not tweet about the drought in California or climate change or what oil companies are doing to our environment.

(Credit: Daniel Swain, Stanford)

As The Washington Post explains California’s drought,

Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases act like a performance-enhancing steroid when it comes to warm weather extremes. They substantially increase the likelihood new records for hot weather are set. Like steroids are suspected for inflating homerun totals in Major League Baseball in the 1990s, the atmosphere’s version of steroids is a prime suspect for exploding hot weather records in California.

However, Boehner did claim that partisan politics play no role in his betrayal of his country:

Completing his meetings in the Middle East, where he is further working against his own president and against the interests of the United States of America and for the benefit of Israel, Boehner said,

“The spread of radical Islam and Iran’s rising influence were the focus of the delegation’s discussions.”

Nothing, obviously, about the rising threat of the Religious Right’s influence here at home.

What Boehner won’t admit, because he won’t admit to anthropogenic global warming’s reality, is that climate change is driving the unrest in the Middle East today, just as it did in 1200 BCE, when climate change helped destroy the civilizations of the late Bronze Age.

Ignoring history and science both as unhelpful to his pocketbook, the House Speaker went on to claim that,

“The United States is fortunate to have allies that recognize the importance of our partnerships and the gravity of the threats we face. We owe it to our allies, and our people, to articulate a real, overarching strategy to defeat this enemy. This problem is growing faster than we can solve it, and American leadership is vital to closing the gap. For now, on behalf of our delegation and our constituents, let me thank all those who took the time to warmly welcome us.”

We actually have allies all over the place, allies whom the Republicans are seeking to suborn for their interests and that of their corporate masters, and against those of the United States and the rest of the world, by telling them the GOP will undermine Obama’s climate change deals in the same way they will undermine his foreign policy deals.

Such a betrayal is unprecedented in American history. But it’s not partisan politics, he claims.

It would be great if he could have a discussion with somebody about the rising influence of global warming on its disastrous effects on climate in the United States. But Boehner doesn’t care about things that really matter to Americans.

Like drought and severe, erratic weather as consequences of climate change. Climate change can actually kill Americans. ISIL? So far, ISIL (like Ebola) has killed fewer Americans than the right wing terrorists here at home he also carefully does not mention.

And even the Pentagon, which loves to fight wars as much as anybody, recognizes the threat of climate change to national security. Not that this means much to a party that wanted to defund Homeland Security, of course.

Boehner is more concerned about his right-wing friends in Israel than the family down the street. Well, maybe a few streets down the street. He lives in an exclusive neighborhood, after all, and doesn’t mingle with the hoi polloi.

Around lunchtime Friday, Boehner followed up his other tweets with this warning:

You’d think he’d recognize that we owe it to our people to articulate an overarching strategy to defeat global warming.

I understand the threat of ISIL. I’m not sure how bombing Iran will help in that regard, however, unless somehow bombing Iran will defeat ISIL like bombing Iraq defeated al Qaeda.

Oh wait…

I’m just waiting now for the increasingly hysterical Boehner to join Lindsey Graham in hiding from ISIL under the senator’s South Carolina bed. He can’t be less useful there.

Credits:

Boehner-Netanyahu photo from @SpeakerBoehner
Map from The Washington Post

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.