As IF Times

link Climate change: vulnerable countries consider occupying Durban talks | Environment | The Guardian.

Again for amusement, note the new moniker now widely used in place of the Global Warming label when the hysteria was first fabricated.  Climate Change is officially version 2.0.  This was of course necessary in the face of historically cold conditions afflicting the planet over the past 5 years.  As a protester, it was somewhat problematic to be holding a global warming sign while wearing mittens and a toque selling the notion that the world was minutes away from a perma heat wave.  A branding company was hired, and voila, Climate Change was adopted.  That way, everything was covered.  Freak snow in July?  AHA! Climate Change!  Rain in the Sahara? The end must be near.  Fewer bees in the backyard? Again, climate change.  They began claiming links between people’s mood swings and soaring crime rates to the effects of climate change; the opportunities  for expensive academic studies in this field  are endless.  One thing could be tracked for sure, the correlation of stupidity and the cacophony of Climate Change bleaters.

Now the gang are adopting a tactic from the Occupy crowd and apparently diplomats are going to stage sit-ins at this year’s conference site of choice, Durban.  As I’ve wondered before, why don’t they ever hold these conferences in less expensive places, Siberia for instance? This kind of event would do wonders for the local economy.   Of course having diplomats doing sit-ins rather than the rag tag hippies that usually populate these things may not sell as well since they’ll likely have assistants bringing them canapes and mixed drinks.

Numerous spokesmen have earnestly decried the lack of ‘tangible’ solutions.  This guy, Jorge Arguello who is the august chair of the powerful “G77 coalition of 131 countries and China” (is there anyone left out?) states the following:

“…[We] trust to see in Durban a fair and equal treatment of all issues that are important to all parties. A serious imbalance in the progress of issues can clearly not be conducive to a successful, comprehensive and balanced outcome…”

The only thing clear is that he does not have a command of English.  This statement is the usual political gibberish which in itself is a contributor to noxious hot air.

Of course, the usual warnings are pushed out again, since they seemed to arouse so much passion before.  The expected ‘imminent and catastrophic’ warnings are used again.  That kind of stuff didn’t work for the crazed Preacher Harold Camping this past May, see http://asiftimes.com/2011/05/22/mass-delusion/ when he was predicting the end of the world this year.  Actually, wouldn’t that be more urgent than a bit of extra sunshine?

And finally, the conclusive proof that a humanitarian disaster is just around the corner; according to a credible person quoted for this article,

“…Sheik Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, said: “Climate change caused over 300,000 additional deaths last year. We the vulnerable countries suffer the most for our limited coping capacities. Bangladesh and other vulnerable countries cannot wait for international response to climate causes … we are implementing 134 climate change adaptation and mitigation action plans…”

How this is determined is very interesting.  So they are telling the public that in a part of the world where non dirt floors would put you in the middle class, where water has to be sourced by buckets and where washroom facilities are wherever you can find an empty hole, that climate change has been a contributor to deaths.  Is there a tick box on the death certificates under a list of possible causes such as cholera, infection, dysentery, crushed by an ox, which specifically categorizes Climate Change as a cause?  Holy cow!  Is it contagious?  If so, I wonder if you catch it from standing around in an Occupy protest?  Up to now, you could only catch ringworm or herpes from them.

So as usual, the hysteria and hyperbole machines are in high gear again, trying to convince people to fund laughable schemes of ‘sustainability’ but which actually means money transfers from the U.S. to the rest of the world…much like the financing model for the U.N.  The cause would be aided greatly if these earnest charlatans  got from place to place in rowboats and bicycles instead of planes, trains and automobiles.  Until then, it’s like Occupiers texting on iPhones to find the next protest site.

link Marc Lamont Hill: NBA impasse: Owners & the help – Philly.com.

Hill’s right.   Maybe it’s about time that legions of “black and brown” skinned men he refers to, those that have been taken advantage of from very early ages, should revolt.  It’s long overdue for  the slaves to push back against generations of oppressive treatment.  How this kind of blatant discrimination and selective servitude can exist in this modern time is a disgrace.

As we all know, from a very early age,  games such as basketball  and football are introduced to young blacks much as drugs are offered to teenagers.  By doing so, young minorities are lured away from the easier path of academic study or the more exciting life of a technical education.  They can only look wistfully at their non minority friends as they pursue the glamorous fields of accounting, finance and motorcycle mechanics.

The oppression usually continues right through the college years as they are regularly bombarded with big ticket professional contracts, preferential treatment, cars, lucrative ad deals and of course the never ending adulation of fans and the media.  Their luckier academic counterparts meanwhile are living cushy lives, studying in anonymity and working at menial jobs.

Once the athletes are roped into the life of professional sports, their lives really take a turn for the worse.  They are forced to sign long term playing contracts guaranteeing them wheelbarrows of money stretching into infinity without being allowed to assume any risk for starting a team, building a stadium, marketing or any other organizational risk available only to the white slave masters.  As of the last proposal offered by these rapacious NBA owners, the players were offered only a measly 50% of revenues.  Why Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the ACLU, PETA, Michael Moore etc aren’t expressing more outrage about this is a mystery.   Of course, most of us assuage our guilt by paying hundreds and in some cases, thousands of dollars for tickets just to help out these poor athletes.  If only Jerry Lewis wasn’t so old, he’d be spearheading an annual telethon for them.

To put some perspective on the compensation paid to professional slaves, er athletes, the average salary paid to an NBA player is just over $5 million dollars per year.  Of course averages are misleading since an outstanding star can be paid many times that amount.  This of course excludes endorsements and sponsorships.  For a more thorough view of sports salaries, see http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/steve_aschburner/08/19/average-salary/index.html

From this website, here are some numbers for player salaries:

NBA: $5.15 million (2010-11)

MLB: $3.34 million (2010)

NHL: $2.4 million (2010-11)

NFL: $1.9 million (2010)

As we can see, the NBA is definitely the most oppressive.

Surely in this inclusive, modern era, we should be able to make professional sports less about oppressing visible minorities.  There should be avenues for young minorities to escape the prison  that is professional sports.  At the very least,  they should be paid more than the scraps that are offered to them today.  If not, one day, someone will get the bright idea of starting their own league.  That’ll teach the owners.   After all, the reservoir of talented ball players is limited.  It’s not as if there are hundreds of thousands of people vying for spots on the plantation.