Yup! There's ice up there. And as a political junkie I'm psyched!
Why? Why should this news make a political junkie happy? Why is this news for a political blog? Because science best describes reality, and as our esteemed colleague Mr. Colbert said, "Reality has a liberal bias."
And when reality has a problem, we liberals have a problem. A triumph for science is a triumph for liberals.
Let's get on the Reality Express and go for a jump!
Yup! Here it is. Or I should say, THERE it is. On Mars! It's still a bit preliminary, but it seems to be there!
Ice!
And again, why should we liberals care? Because a triumph of the scientific process is a triumph for us.
We here in the liberal blogosphere are in the fight for our lives against the army of Darkness, perfectly represented by Flat Earther James Inhofe.
To Inhofe et al, ignorance is a warm blanket. It makes them feel better and that's good enough. Ignorance allows them to live in a world of their own making, to construct beliefs that reinforce what they want the world to be.
This is no accident. They have purposefully walked away from science, not only because the information it brings us challenges them to change what they believe, but because the scientific process threatens the power structure that they have built their political world on.
For Inhofe, ignorance is power. It is their weapon of choice wielded not just against science, but against reason in the political world that is so near and dear to so many of our hearts.
Evolution threatens them not so much because of its conclusions, but because of what it tells children!
What does it tell the children you ask? Why it tells the children, "go out in the world, dig in the dirt, and if you can prove me wrong, DO IT!"
That my friends scares the shit out of Mr. Inhofe, and the resulting war on reason threatens everything.
And I'm not the only one who thinks so.
So anytime science discovers something, I regard it as a liberal victory. We believe it because we have shown it to be true, not because someone just told us to believe it (and shut up if you doubt it they might add). And just as importantly we stop believing it when it is proven to NOT be true. We don't just keep believing it because it makes us feel good.
Sex education?
Abstinence Only?
Global warming?
Water issues?
Peak oil?
The sustainability of unfettered capitalism?
We found ICE my friends! And for that, we should all be proud.