Galileo Is Rolling In His Grave

(Courtesy of/www.jantoo.com)

Centuries of conflict between scientists and priests:

Nature of the universe, if we evolved from beasts,

If God gave mankind dominion over all the Earth,

How it's even possible to have a virgin birth.

Now a new Encyclical gives scientists some hope

That they could be looking at a different kind of Pope.

This Pope studied chemistry before he joined the Church;

Francis is inclined to heed the climate change research.

Planet's getting warmer and a major cause is man.

Scientists don't speak the language of the Vatican;

This time, though, their evidence supports the Holy See

And - on man's poor stewardship of Earth - both sides agree.

Is imperative to change a moral one, or not?

In the end it doesn't matter to the Earth a lot.

If we all continue to befoul the place we live

Neither God nor nature's laws are likely to forgive.

Land of the Free? Home of the Brave?

 

New York and New Jersey, Illinois and, maybe, Maine

Are imposing quarantines because we've gone insane.

Fearful of the people most deserving of our praise...

I don't think the homeland's looking very brave these days.

This is not Liberia; with many dead or dying

And it only serves to keep the help they need from flying.

We stuck one nurse in a tent out in a parking lot

Without any proof Ebola's really what she's got.

Only one man treated in America has died;

Still, our politicians feel the need to pick a side.

Never mind what experts say; when everyone's afraid

Chickens roam the land where deer and antelope once played.

Hitching a Ride on 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko

Rosetta, the European Space Agency's probe, is preparing to hitch a ride on a comet.

Ten years after launching, the Rosetta's reached its goal.

In November it will give the dice another roll;

When they'll try to put a lander safely on the ground -

Ride the comet towards the sun and on its trip around.

Wasn't all that long ago a comet sighting meant

Kings were born or dying; wise men followed where they went.

Now, with thanks to science and some complicated math,

Someday wise men might attempt to shift a comet's path.

How is that for progress, people? Dinosaurs be damned...

Didn't have a chance back when a giant comet slammed

Into Earth from outer-space...  Perhaps we humans will.

And, if nothing else, the coming ride should be a thrill.

NASA Says We're Screwed

Doesn't matter if you doubt that man caused climate change,

If you aren't concerned by now or don't believe it's strange

That the weather's out of whack - the seasons are delayed -

NASA says Antarctica is melting...  Be afraid.

In about a hundred years its glaciers will be gone

Meaning that the land the ice accumulated on,

Without all that weight, will rise and so, too, will the seas;

Causing devastation almost everyone agrees.

Process cannot be reversed, the NASA spokesman said.

Warmer water seeped between the glaciers and sea bed;

Now they're melting from the bottom as well as the top.

We are screwed.  There's nothing we can do to make it stop.

If we don't take action now - prepare as oceans rise -

Because we're too busy arguing that science lies

It won't matter anyway since it will be too late.

Mother Nature isn't proving open to debate.

Student Loan Debt Reform - I Think I Have A Thought

 

If you ask a college student what's the biggest thing

They think that their higher education's gonna bring

I'd be more than willing now to offer you a bet;

10 to 1 their answer is a huge amount of debt.

(My 2 sons are fortunate 'cause we can help them out.

Lucky them, because with recent grades I sorta doubt

They'll be getting scholarships to any decent schools.)

Congress passed a compromise, but I don't think it fools

Students into thinking all their problems have been solved.

As the problem grows, my own position has evolved.

Had a driveway moment and I think I have a thought...

Let's expand Academies where Sciences are taught.

I was in the Navy and my father is a grad...

(Room-mate of McCain's - back in the days when he was bad.)

I am here to tell you that the brightest of our best

Choose to serve their country and give pocketbooks a rest.

Why don't we train scientists and doctors in this way?

Give them educations and use services to pay?

Industries are begging for some well trained engineers.

We are wasting talent.  We've been doing it for years.

Families who can't afford to pay the soaring cost

For a college education - don't... Their kid gets lost.

Think of all the minds that languish in the talent pool.

Time that we recruit them to a U.S. Service School.