The shoes of a fisherman, the mouth of a sailor

Replace "simple farmers" with "billionaire buffoons" and he's talking about the Koch brothers.

As an ex-altar boy and sacramental wine nipper, I am of course interested in what the Pope has been tipping his huge hat at in this country of ours ("Once a catholic, always a catholic," as The Boss said). I mean, the Pope rules everyone in the universe, even Thetans, so when the Pope pops something out of his host hole, people to tend to sit up and pretend to pay attention. While conservatives tend to view the Dalai Lama as some kind of mystical liberal fairy, the Pope is awarded a ton of gravitas even if they don't believe in him, to them he's one serious dude; that he has more money than God doesn't hurt with that crew, either. So, it's not surprising that the Pope's words on climate change would get some conservatives to mumble a specious retort while looking as though they'd just been caught taking a leak in the confessional.

"The Pope shouldn't talk about climate change because he's not a scientist," is rather like saying that we can't talk about flying because we're not aeronautical engineers. 

One of the features I look for in a potential emlpoyer is a commitment to not continuing screwing up the planet. Real commitment, not a few recycle bins, low-flow toilets and a gift card for taking the bus on Earth Day, but serious skin and investment. A company that not only acknowledges global warming is "a thing" and that, as Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us," but actively embraces policies intended to reverse the direction climate is heading. Having said that, it should be apparent that I passed on applying for an instructional designer position with Koch Industries.

Really, opposition to anthropogenic climate change is looking like some fringe, tin-foil hat idea indigenous to the US. As I write this, Chinese president Xi Jinping is preparing to take the mic from the Pope (man, you would have thought Francis would be the headliner) and announce that his country will be implementing cap-and-trade. Hell, even Saudi Arabia has agreed that a global initiative for reducing carbon emissions is essential - a country that, without oil, would be reduced to exporting algebra and sand.

What the Pope said yesterday to congress was that not doing anything to mitigate climate change is unethical and immoral. He stated the obvious except he got to do it from his big, fancy pope chair so that he'd have the world's attention. Really, most of the world has been agreeing for some time with what the Pope has said. It's time the US got over its inane slap fight over the climate change conversation and started doing its part.

Done for the day, time to start spewing out my own greenhouse gasses as I drive for Uber and Lyft. With my mind on my money and my money on my mind, I'll still be groovin' on fall...