Holding Out For A Hero

 Too Darn Hot.

Havin' A Heat Wave. 

The Heat Is On. 

Senator Joe Manchin is a pinhead. The first three are song titles. This last one is a fact. This one Democratic senator chose to block legislation that would have forced power plants to clean up their climate altering pollution. He broke up an effort to help consumers pay for electric vehicles. And he said he could not support government incentives for solar and wind companies. 

Did I mention that Joe Manchin made his millions, before becoming a senator for the great state of West Virginia, got his hands dirty in his home state's favorite industry, coal mining. On top of that, you can go ahead an pile the campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry that are far and away more than any other senator and you've got a pretty clear picture of what is going on here. 

Oh, and he has three children. Ten grandchildren. And a will to stand still while the planet on which they live continues to teeter on the brink of becoming uninhabitable. 

One more thing: Joe is a Democrat. Had he voted for any of those previously stated proposals, the tiny advantage held by his party in the Senate could have been overcome by the deciding vote from the president of the Senate in the person of Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Maybe the fact that Joe is even more popular in his home state with Republicans than those who call themselves Democrats. Which becomes a essentially unimportant because he still captures the votes of a majority of Democrats too. West Virginia loves them some Joe Manchin. 

There are not a lot of polar bears living in West Virginia. Chances are the hold that Joe Manchin maintains over the rest of The Mountain State would extend to them, even as the skies blacken and the temperature continues to rise. Somewhere in that tiny brain is a signal that keeps getting through about "the will of the people." West Virginia is encouraging him to continue to stand in the way of any meaningful advances by our government on climate change. 

Last time I checked, West Virginia had children. A bunch of them. And even more grandchildren. Maybe they could change their state song to Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire." Or get rid of their senator.