My video @ Repower America

While waiting in line for the Al Gore book signing in Cambridge 2 weeks ago, I got the chance to record a short video for RePower America.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyS2vTBVRU

Michael Graham = Coward

This week WTKK radio personality Michael Graham had another fit of climate change denial. Not surprisingly, Graham (along with fellow WTKK personality Jay Severin) have latched onto the non-scandal stemming from the hacking of the servers at Brittan's Climate Research Unit (CRU). This criminal act of breaking into secured computers at a government research facility resulted in the release of about 3,000 private emails without the consent of the researchers who wrote them. Also released was a file full of computer code (some of it proprietary) used to analyze data. A few dozen e-mails raise eyebrows with phrases like "trick", "MAGIC math" and "Hide" as well as a umber of references to fighting efforts to force the release of raw data used by some researchers. These e-mails were presented without context and were private communications. People see what they want to see in them; denialists and Glenn Beck style whack-jobs see "lies" conspiracies and "proof" that global warming is a hoax while others see collaboration, debate, efforts to present data that give an accurate representation of the truth as well as efforts to keep proprietary work confidential.

One thing that is clear is that there is no smoking gun and no hoax. Two excellent discussions of the CRU hack are found here and here. Despite this, Michael Graham continues to make people dumber. His latest posting is partially a rehash of earlier bad arguments that I've dealt with non-specific references to the CRU hack and some news stories about the recent (relative) cooling being "proof" that Greenhouse Gases don't warm the planet. My beef with Michael Graham isn't that he's making people stupid (he is) but that he is such a coward about it. When I tried to engage Graham in an on-air conversation about Hybrid cars and carbon footprints he mocked me, cut me off and hung up. When I tried to respond to comments on his most recent blog I found the following message:
"The site has blocked you from posting new comments.". Apparently I have been "banned" from posting to Graham's blog

Now, Michael Graham is free to moderate his blog in any way he pleases; nobody is entitled to post anything they want on anothers blog but he is a public figure, one who has access to the public airwaves, whose blog is very popular and apparently wants people to take him seriously when he comments on political and social issues. I think it's telling that anyone who offers a strong argument or challenges the mindless bullshit Graham is pushing gets mocked, cut off and prevented from presenting opposing views.

Keith

My nephew Keith died yesterday. He was 26 years old. When Keith was young he suffered from a bacterial infection that damaged his heart. A few weeks ago, that damage caught up with him. Stricken with cardiomyopathy, Keith was facing a life changing illness. I know the limitations that this placed in him were hard to deal with but Keith was young and otherwise healthy and strong. There was always hope; treatment, transplant, some new therapy. We all still believed Keith had a long life ahead of him. Despite the heroic efforts of Keith's parents and EMTs, that life was cut short. Keith was much too young.

My nephew was one of those people who enjoyed life. He was gregarious, friendly, full of energy. He was liked by everyone who met him and loved by everyone who knew him. Ever since I chaperoned a field trip for Keith's class at the General Donovan school to the Museum of Science, Keith had a very special place in my heart. I don't know how his parents Sandy and Al are coping with this loss, but Michelle and I know in a much smaller way, the grief they feel. For my children, who literally grew up with Keith and his sisters, this is like loosing an older brother.

Keith grew into a wonderful young man. He was the type of man you liked being around. Like all of us, Keith had known heartache and loss, like all of us, he had been wronged by others yet in the 22 years I've known him, I never saw Keith lash out or speak an unkind word about anyone, even when he perhaps should have. He had grown into a good, decent, kind person who I will miss deeply. Worst of all, I will never get to know the good man, the loving husband and attentive father I know Keith would have become.

Life is hard, sometimes cruel. Bad things happen to good people and the most devastating news arrives without warning over your cell phone at 5:04 on a Friday afternoon. There is no sense to be found in this loss. Nothing but time will stop the tears, fill the empty space in our hearts, or ease the pain. If there is a lesson in this, it is that we should all live our lives more thoughtfully, be kind to each other, and never let the people we care about doubt how we feel about them.

Rest in peace Keith.