Just being decent seems radical

Last Wednesday I wrote about a study showing that sexual minorities in high-prejudice areas had a life expectancy 12 years less than their straight counterparts. Now the same group has released a second study. Those pushing the high-prejudice environment -- the anti-gay bigots -- also tend to have a lower life expectancy, though in this case it is only 2.5 years. The reasons are similar. All that anger results in higher blood pressure and heart disease. Chronic stress is not good for health.



In response to the permission to discriminate law just passed by the Arizona legislature, Rocco's Little Chicago Pizza in Tucson put up a sign, "We reserve the right to refuse service to Arizona Legislators." The owner also has a few related Tweets. "Being a legislator is a choice." And… "Funny how just being decent is starting to seem radical these days."



Niraj Chokoshi of The Washington Post GovBeat notes that since June 2012 attorneys general from six states have announced they won't defend their state's ban on same-sex marriage. The six states are Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nevada, and now Oregon.



If one is losing the argument based on facts a common tactic is to switch to attacking the character of the opponent. This is something the GOP (and others protecting power) is very good at. That tactic is, naturally, playing out in the climate change debate.

And scientists are fighting back. Michael Mann of the Earth System Science Center is suing the National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute for libel. In particular Mann was accused of manipulating climate data and his employer had covered up the fraud.

Because it ain't libel if it is true, this case is a chance for both climate change scientists and deniers to present their facts in court. So, yeah, climate change is on trial.



Speaking of climate change… over the last week we've had snow, a bit of warming, followed by snow that was rained on, followed by more cold. Which means the streets around my house are lumpy sheets of ice. Not much sliding, but lots of bouncing. The temp is now 35F, warm enough to melt the ice on sidewalks (likely to refreeze, which was why my neighbor was out with his shop-vac sucking up the puddles on his front walk). I'm hearing a forecast of another bout of polar-vortex for next week, the last week of February.