Patrick’s Rants

Last Tuesday a memorial service was held for seven helicopter crash victims here in Flagstaff¹. This town is both big and small at the same time. While you might not recognize everyone that you see here everyone is connected to everyone else and there are many stories about the people involved and more untold about this event.

The crash occurred Sunday June 29 at around 3:45pm.² Investigators combed over the crash scene for almost a week. They collected pieces of the choppers to send to Phoenix to reconstruct the scene.

I have heard a few stories regarding the crash and some of the people involved. (all second hand of course) There’s Michael McDonald the firefighter who needed emergency treatment for an adverse antibiotic reaction, whose crew mates reportedly left the fire in the Grand Canyon upon hearing about the crash. One of the the pilots seemingly knew he was going down and had begun to unstrap and remove the fire extinguisher in his cockpit but was unable to use it. The flight nurse hung on for several days at the Flagstaff Medical Center in critical condition while hospital staff held very little hope that he would survive. On one of the helicopters a crew member got out at the Flagstaff airport due to weight limits unknowingly saving his own life and setting himself up for the condition known as survivor’s remorse. Although flights were grounded, the remaining employees and crew members insisted on being allowed to get back to work flying.

One commentator has said that we don’t say thanks enough to these heroes in the sky. We probably don’t. They fly in, grab someone who needs serious medical attention and fly off with them in the space of minutes. It is a dangerous job for which they receive a little extra pay that may or may not make up for the incredible amount of stress and levels of high adrenaline that tend to be maintained throughout the entire flight.

1. Memorial Service
2. Initial crash reporting

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.”

Yes my friends. Rush Limbaugh here again. I know what’s right for you. Don’t listen to those Democrats. They want you to use those toxic light bulbs - those curly fluorescent things. The ones that have as much mercury as a year’s worth of fish. The old light bulbs will be illegal my friends and you won’t be able to eat the fluorescent ones! That’s something you won’t hear from the gangstas in the drive by media.

Oops! I’m off track here. I really wanted to talk about that myth, “global warming”. Today on my web site I cite an isolated example where the ice is actually expanding in Northern California. My friends, if global warming were anything more than the Democrats way of controlling your life, there would not be this expansion of the ice sheets in California. And aside from that, my ice maker would stop working. Inside my freezer the temperature hovers around zero degrees celsius which proves that Al Gore is still bitter over the stolen legitimate election in 2000 and he’s making up global warming to try to blame on the Republicans. I mean, Jimmy Carter knew global warming wasn’t real. He told people to put on a sweater to conserve energy! You don’t put on a sweater unless it’s cold my friends; so Jimmy Carter single-handedly rebukes the global warming “theory”.

So now you know. Global warming isn’t real. And even if it were, the biggest “green house gas” is water vapor my friends and no one’s suggesting that we get rid of rain! Plants and trees need carbon dioxide so more is better! Let’s drill the hell out of the coast line and the Alaska wildlife preserve. Heck, I’m not going to be around for the consequences and frankly I don’t care.