Book Review: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From The Front Lines, by Dr. Michael Mann, Ph.D

Book review By DarkSyde for Daily Kos

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From The Front Lines
By Dr. Michael Mann, Ph.D
Columbia University Press; Cost $10 to $30 (Available in paperback )

Imagine a place where you and your family are threatened, your employer pressured by the most powerful people on earth to fire you, your email hacked and posted by the usual suspects in accusatory snippets, and where a mysterious letter containing white powder mixed in with tons of traditional hate mail land in your inbox. A suspected communist sympathizer during the McCarthy era, or a Muslim in the wake of 9-11? Nope. All because you helped make one of the most important scientific discoveries in a generation. That’s life in the land of the free and the home of the brave for prominent climate scientists these days, which is why I’m personally thrilled to feature one today who not only didn’t shrink an inch, he is fighting back, hard. . . .

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Paul Krugman: Severe [Reactionary] Syndrome

How did American [reactionism] end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality? For it was not always thus. . . .

The point is that today’s dismal [White-Wing Party] field — is there anyone who doesn’t consider it dismal? — is no accident. Economic [reactionaries] played a cynical game, and now they’re facing the blowback, a party that suffers from “severe” [reactionism] in the worst way. . . .

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American Socialism

. . . [Reactionaries] would have everyone think that capitalism and socialism are diametrically opposed. That isn’t the case. American socialism is based on the idea that we all need a bit of help at times and our social programs were created to fill those needs. We have the aforementioned Medicare and Social Security: programs that are wildly popular on both sides of the aisle. There’s also Unemployment Insurance, which sure comes in handy when your job goes south. Means you get to continue eating and having a roof over your head. . .

[The White-wing] would have you believe that people who take advantage of social programs are forever a drain on our society. They paint a picture of lazy, ne’er-do-wells bereft of ambition, looking for nothing more than the next handout while picking the pockets of the hard-working members of society. . .

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Sojourner Truth / Abolitionist / “Ain’t I a Woman?” 1851 Speech / Read By Alfre Woodard

Alfre Woodard reads “Ain’t I a Woman?”, a speech delivered by abolitionist Sojourner Truth at the Women’s Convention in 1851. Part of a reading from Voices of a People’s History of the United States (Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove,) February 1, 2007 at All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA.