Plot Summary for Highlander II: The Quickening

...or is it? This is the latest strategy to cool the earth, if Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) gets his way on global warming:

If the sun warms the Earth too dangerously, the time may come to draw the shade. The "shade" would be a layer of pollution deliberately spewed into the atmosphere to help cool the planet.

Compare to a plot summary of Highlander II*:

The ozone has finally been destroyed by billions of deodorized armpits, and people are dying like flies, until a corporation headed by ["Connor MacLeod", aka Christopher] Lambert devises a shield to save the planet. This shield, known as the Shield, involves using all of the energy on the planet, concentrated into a laser beam which is shot up to a satellite, whereupon the Earth is saved from excess solar radiation...

--Only a slight, barely perceptible embellishment on the theme of the consequences of global warming. The parallels to this latest proposed 'solution' to global warming clearly outweigh the creative license employed by The Quickening's screenwriters.

The "shade" is the New Shield.

But don't worry, the climatologist who came up with this idea is "not enthusiastic about it" as it causes acid rain. Besides, we do have one other option if we continue to do nothing:

Climate change could devastate the global economy on a scale of the two world wars and the depression of the 1930s if left unchecked....

...Which is why I continue to be encouraged when I read things like this:

Three Democratic senators poised to head committees grappling with global warming pressed President Bush on Wednesday for mandatory U.S. limits on greenhouse gases.

In short, we now - at the very least - have hope.





 = our new democratic Congress


(*Thanks, Roger!)