In Passing
I don’t comment much on the passing of public figures, but I chanced upon the passing of Joe Barr this morning. While I didn’t know the more playful side of Barr that is written about, I did read his column from time to time.
This morning we also hear that Tony Snow has died. Snow was a staunch Fox News Republican defender who worked for the White House as well before he resigned to concentrate on fighting his cancer. The link also mentions that he subbed on the Rush Limbaugh show which is no major surprise.
If we are going to remember Snow, we must also remember Tim Russert. A quiet persevering host who never let his guests off easy.
And let’s not forget George Carlin. In the days after his death he was remembered on NPR, NBC (playing early Saturday Night Live episodes) and Limpbaugh’s show. Unfortunately, although Limpbaugh claims that George was behind Limpbaugh on environmental issues (quoting from rushlimbaugh.com)
CARLIN: Let me tell you about endangered species, all right? Saving endangered species is just one more arrogant attempt by humans to control nature. It’s arrogant meddling. It’s what got us in trouble in the first place. Doesn’t anybody understand that? Interfering with nature. Over 90%, way over 90% of all the species that have ever lived on this planet, ever lived, are gone. They’re extinct. We didn’t kill them all. They just disappeared. That’s what nature does. We’re so self-important, so self-important. Everybody is going to save something now. Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails. And the greatest arrogance of all, save the planet. What?
RUSH: This is great stuff. And of course these are the things the left ignores about George Carlin. But listen to this next one.
Listen to this next one indeed. I found the skit funny. But I can see it for what it is: a routine. Limpbaugh, unfortunately for him, cannot. Instead he sees this as support for tearing up the planet.
CARLIN: I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths, people trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. There is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The people are (bleep) — difference, difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. It’s been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little more than 200 years.
RUSH: Yes. Does this not sound like things you have heard on this program?
CARLIN: Two hundred years versus four and a half billion, and we have the conceit to think that somehow we’re a threat, that somehow we’re going to put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun? The planet has been through a lot worse than us, been through all kinds of things worse than us, been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sunspots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages, and we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. We are! We’re going away.
And did you notice? He says, “Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. It’s been here four and a half billion years”
Well Limpbaugh, if you don’t understand it’s a skit now, you’re just dumb. I mean, the evangelical born agains think the earth is only 6000 years old and that humans road around on dinosaurs. That makes extinctions scarier not less scary. But Limpbaugh sees this as supporting his ideas that we should essentially be “Earth first, we’ll mine the rest of the planets later.”
