I just came upon an article in the N.Y. Times, via RCP, about the attempts by evil conservatives to use the courts to block government efforts to limit the production of "greenhouse" gases.  It caught my attention because the author, Coral Davenport, appeared on PBS's Washington Week some years ago.  She went on and on about how Florida would soon be submerged unless drastic measures were taken.  The moderator, the late Gwen Ifill, had to shut her up and move on to another topic.  Foam almost started dripping from her mouth.  And yet, she's still cranking out this screed.

This did seem rather unusual until I remembered a much earlier event.  Before climate change was the global emergency du jour, there was a rebellious movement within the Sierra Club to consider uncontrolled immigration across our southern border as a serious environmental problem.  This was immensely controversial, considering the political correctness typical of the club's rank and file.  The S.F. Chronicle then posted an op-ed by one of the club's directors, who just happened to have a Hispanic surname.  In the piece, he claimed that immigration is not a problem, environmental or otherwise.  The real problem, he stated, is personal freedom.  He went so far as to say the environment is put in peril because we get to live where we want to live, work where we want to work, eat what we want to eat, and go where we want to go.

Hmmm.  Davenport's article also stated that government needs to have more power over how we live.  And, going back to Washington Week, I had been a regular viewer for decades.  They had some real talent on the panel, such as David S. Broder, considered by many to be the dean of the Washington press corps.  Now they are moderated by Yamiche Alcindor, a total lightweight.  Once, when she was a panelist, she stated as fact that Republicans were opposed to the Affordable Care Act (AKA "Obamacare") for no other reason than that Obama is Black.  There was then a moment of stunned silence among the other panelists.  Gee, economics, consumer sovereignty, patient modality, and other realities of medical practice might be of more significance.  I could take only the first five minutes of Yamiche's stewardship of the show before changing my viewing habits.

There have been rumblings of civil war, considering the political polarization within our current place in time.  The polarization, however, has been here for quite a while, but the left seems to have gotten a lot more strident in its militancy.  I am inclined to think desperation may be the true reason.  Leftists have been accustomed to controlling the narrative, which they no longer do.  Rather than hit the books and do more research, they just shout louder and with greater histrionics.

Image: Adam Jones via Flickr (cropped).