Bring Back Bob Beaver!

Back on December 10, 2009, the editorial board of the Newport Daily News decided to commemorate the 2009 Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen by inviting Robert A. Beaver, an amusingly-named right-wing conspiracy theorist, to pen a guest editorial explaining to their readers that there was no such thing as global warming, and that the whole thing was a hoax cooked up by a bunch of greedy climate scientists.

Well, you can imagine my astonishment when I opened up today's copy of the Daily Snooze to find an AP article titled "Coast Guard pushes to guard U.S. claims in remote Arctic sea" with the following opening graf:

The ice-choked reaches of the northern Arctic Ocean aren't widely perceived as an international shipping route. But global warming is bringing vast change, and Russia, for one, is making an aggressive push to establish top of the world sea lanes.

The gist of the article is that the Russians are taking advantage of receding Arctic sea ice to send cargo ships straight across the Arctic Ocean, and that the U.S. Coast Guard is gearing up to "secure U.S. claims and prepare for increased human activity." But what I want to know is, where is Bob Beaver?

I think that, in their quest for fairness and balance, and their desire to present all points of view, it is incumbent on the editors of the NDN to invite Bob Beaver back to their editorial page to explain to the paper's readers that, no, the Russians aren't really sending shipping across the Arctic Ocean, the Coast Guard isn't asking for more resources to deal with the increased activity, and that this is all just part of the hoax being perpetrated by those greedy scientists.

Bring back Bob Beaver!

Harassment: Life on the Street

I got off work at the hotel at 7:00 AM this morning. Since my house is only a quarter of a mile away, I frequently walk to and from work when the weather permits.

I was walking north on Broadway, and I had just passed Thompson Middle School, when I noticed a young woman with her hair in a ponytail on the other side of the street, walking south. A middle-aged man with a graying beard who was riding a motorcycle in the northbound lane also noticed the woman. He stopped, turning the motorcycle to point at the woman, and called out, "Hey, you want a ride?" I stopped walking and turned to watch.

The young woman said, "No thanks," and kept walking. (Subtext: "No thanks, I don't feel like being kidnapped and raped this morning.")

The guy on the motorcycle didn't feel like taking no for an answer. "Come on, I'll give you a ride."

The young woman said, "No thanks," and kept walking.

The guy on the motorcycle responded with, "Fuck you!" and turned to resume his journey.

I yelled "ASSHOLE!" at the guy on the motorcycle, but he ignored me and rode off.