Earth Day

Marty and Warren celebrating Earth Day, April 22.

     From The Copy Desk: The boys are busy today, digging and whatnot, so they asked The Copy Desk to offer a holiday message on their behalf.

     On Earth Day, one of the major holidays on the Groundhog Daze calendar, it's important to get out and interact with the soil. Actually, it's important to do that a lot more than most of us do . . . and not with a tiller or a tractor, but with hand tools. Go plant something, clear out a garden bed or just lie down in the grass in the sun. The boys are proponents of a quieter life .... walks without iPods in your ears, phones that are turned off and time to just be with your own thoughts. Digging is therapeutic, try it some time.

News to Me Too

     Some things, like a Ray Davies song or Count Basie's left hand, approach perfection. Others, well, not so much. - The Copy Desk



     It's spring. Warren was outside waiting for the first new grass to grow. Marty lounged about inside, doing some shopping at Mississippi.com for some new music. He had just finished making his predictions at his web-enabled prediction league. (This marmot, unlike the imprisoned Phil, is paid for his dedicated prediction league participation, in the form of a Mississippi.com gift card worth 250 clods - The Copy Desk)
     Warren popped his head inside, shouting, "I think the grass is about to grow. You should come outside and watch with me." Marty glanced at the outside temperature, 34 degrees, and knew Warren was once again delusional. "It can't be growing yet, science says it's too cold," Marty said.
     "So much for global warming, you just admitted it, finally," Warren said with glee. Warren went back outside, secure in his faith that the grass was about to sprout - that's what they told him on Faux News, and he believed everything they said ..... once they shouted it over and over enough.
      "Weather is not climate," Marty said loudly enough for Warren to hear, but not so loud as to be construed as a shout, a sign of the weakness of your argument.The news, the politicians - what if anything they say is the truth, Marty thought. Wrong on almost every subject, that's the Republic  Party, and nobody seems to care or call them out on it.
     "Grass doesn't grow at 34 degrees," Marty told Warren in the cold spring sunshine outside. "You should come in, without pants you'll freeze."
     "No. It's starting to grow now," Warren insisted. "Look it's greener than it was an hour ago."
     "It's not growing, the globe is warming, not all poor people are lazy, the rich are not job creators, corporations are not people, money is not speech, hedge funds and computerized trading are skimming money out of all our pockets, the Standard American Diet is bad for your health, no one should ever eat fast food, deficits are not the problem during a recession, budget cuts don't create economic growth, the rich can't keep getting richer indefinitely and groundhogs are no better at predicting things than any other species," Marty said.
    

Warren, bowled over by the truth.

      (But you'll notice there's a bit of green grass behind Warren - The Copy Desk)

News to me

           Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the world made sense. Political debates raged, passionate speeches were made and the facts were all generally accepted. No more. So in light of this change, The Boys take a look at modern political "discourse." - The Copy Desk



          "It says here that OsamaCare gives you herpes," Warren said, looking up from his Coke Mothers' Monthly magazine. "And it also makes you fat, impotent and after you get old and sick, they send you to the death star."
          Marty shrugged. He has been telling Warren for years now that the facts, for some, are flexible. It seems that just the mindless repetition of misinformation, and peoples' unwillingness to actually think, has created a nation of people willing to vote against their own interests. "I can't even listen to the news anymore," Marty said. "They debate things that were settled decades ago, block everyday normal actions out of spite  . . .  putting party above patriotism. It actually makes me feel sick at times."
          Putting on the hot water for tea, Marty contemplated the changes, ciphering in the changes in the media landscape, the demise of the gatekeepers, the rise of money and the fact that money seems to equal speech, and decided to shrug off his malaise and look for a way through this thicket of troubles.
          The tea, ginger and lemon, would help with the sickening feeling that the deliberate lies, distortions and willful ignorance causes in his stomach. "Why is it so many people believe this stuff?" he thought. "Are they really so incurious as to think that not thinking is the best way to make policy, to ignore facts will get you to the truth, that making stuff up will fool most of the people most of the time?"
         "The biggest issues," Marty said, "Are that most people have no sense of proportion and they totally lack any historical perspective."
         "Give me some examples," Warren said.
          "Oh where do I start. It could be light bulbs, immigration, climate change, the deficit or any of the recent fake scandals," Marty said.
           "Light bulbs? You're going back to the thing about lumens?" Warren said. "Please don't shout at me again."

Marty stays informed with one of his favorite magazines.

            "Not this time," Marty said. "But the whole "government wants to take away my incandescent light bulbs" distortion is epic. The law was passed 8 or 10 years ago and it requires that incandescent bulbs become more efficient. It doesn't ban them. But the people who actually sponsored and voted for the law took to jumping in front of cameras to shout about the arrogance of the administration. Prompting normal people to buy a lifetime supply of less efficient bulbs. When in fact it was their party and their president who passed the law."
         "How do you remember all this stuff," Warren asked.
         "Like you half-brother," Marty said, "It's a gift and a curse."