Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 05, 2014
July 04, 2014
July 06, 2014
Transcript:
Duke: Take a cable, MacArthur! "To: The Secretary of the Interior, Washington D.C. Re: current situation in the tiny, tropical territory of American Samoa. Dear Mr. Secretary: In the past week the denizens of this island have endured a hurricane, a locust plague, a famine, a volcano eruption.. and... uh..." I'm a reasonable man, MacArthur, so I know this isn't snow. MacArthur: Pay it no mind, excellency-- it never sticks.
Not that it applies here, but there really WERE people fearing an incipient ice age back then and every weather fluke was taken as proof..Just a few years after this one, scientific advisors for President Carter predicted an extra cold winter and he used his power to order the refineries to produce more heating oil rather than gasoline. It was unexpectedly warm and the heating fuel demand was low and gasoline demand high, leading to gas lines around the country..This contributed to less trust of scientists and government, but at least they could blame the evil oil companies for following orders. It probably contributed to President Carter’s defeat in his bid for reelection.And everything which followed