A Little Good News Never Hurts

I commented to Leslie last Wednesday that I was having a really good year healthwise and hadn’t missed a single Tai Chi class all year. I spoke too soon, as I’m about to miss class tonight as I came down with a nasty cold Monday night and spent nearly all day yesterday and most of the day today in bed trying to recuperate so that I can enjoy the sunshine we’re finally getting here in the Pacific Northwest.

If it wasn’t for this story about Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative I’d feel even worse than I do right now. In fact, it was precisely when I read this NY Times headline in my RSS reader that I suddenly started to feel better.

I’m hoping that this will finally force the Republican party to take the environment into consideration in making decisions rather than blindly trusting industry, particularly the oil industry, to do what’s best for America.

Strangely, I even found myself in agreement with Mr. Haggard, the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, one of the those who refused to sign but said:

that he did not sign because it would be interpreted as an endorsement by the entire National Association of Evangelicals. But he said that speaking just for himself, “There is no doubt about it in my mind that climate change is happening, and there is no doubt about it that it would be wise for us to stop doing the foolish things we’re doing that could potentially be causing this. In my mind there is no downside to being cautious.”

Even if it takes an important issue away from the Democratic Party, one they haven’t managed to fully take advantage of in the past, taking care of the environment is far more important than petty politics. Hopefully, Republicans who are concerned about the environment will now feel they can push their concerns in local and national elections.

5 thoughts on “A Little Good News Never Hurts”

  1. I understand that the Republican party consisted chiefly of Know Nothings and remnants of the defunct Whigs when Lincoln came along and transformed an anti-immigrant platform into a vehicle for abolitionists. Nearly half of the soldiers in the Union army were either immigrants or freed slaves. Streetfights and riots involving Know Nothings and organized immigrants, i.e. Turners, had been commonplace throughout the 1850s, yet these groups fought side-by-side against Johnny Reb only a decade later. Lincoln was very reluctant to make slavery a central issue in the war. German evangelicals demanded it. The evangelical base is much larger and more diverse than that portion of it Bush has used for his crusade in Iraq.

  2. I would like to thank you for providing me with light and insight and glorious visuals that enlighten me (literally make me feel lighter) when the news of the world has me on the edge in the dark. I’d say this better if I could.

  3. Anytime I can cheer anyone but myself up by writing I consider it “good news,? Jame.

    Thanks for the compliment.

    If I cheer you up, maybe you’d also be cheered up by Something Beautiful, which often manages to inspire me on one of those off days that seem to befall all of us.

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