When Reality Ignores Republicans....

For six years, we have noticed a disconnect between what right wing Republicans claim and what the facts are. For example, it took a bipartisan report led by James Baker to make it clear that conditions in Iraq are, unfortuantely, not quite the way our president would like to paint them (Bush would like nothing more than to paint a rosy picture before handing his failed policies in Iraq off to the next president). To be honest, it's not always clear when right wingers believe what they're saying and when they're just playing politics; either approach, however, is detrimental to our nation.

Chris of Americablog notes that right wing Republicans in Congress like to say there's nothing real to Global Warming, but the insurance companies are betting that there probably is and are increasingly refusing insurance to homeowners in low-lying land close to the ocean:

With the seas warming, it's no wonder they want nothing to do with insuring properties in the danger zone. The storms are getting worse and moving up the coast, but the GOP doesn't believe global warming is an issue. When a Fortune 500 company makes a move like this, you would think some might take notice.

Laura Smitherman of The Baltimore Sun has the story on the growing problems of insuring coastal property:

Allstate Corp., one of Maryland's largest insurers, will stop writing homeowners' policies in coastal areas of the state, citing warnings by scientists that a warmer Atlantic Ocean will lead to more strong hurricanes hitting the Northeast.

The company will no longer offer new property insurance beginning in February in all or part of 11 counties mostly along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Existing customers won't be affected

(snip)

This has been happening for years in states such as Florida, where homeowners saw rates multiply or lost insurance altogether after Andrew flattened much of South Florida in 1992. Now the trend is edging north.

There are still plenty of Republicans and even conservative Republicans who reasonably have both feet in the real world. After all, in the business world, those who operate like the late Kenneth Lay of Enron don't usually last long. But where in the world are these right wingers coming from and why are they still in Washington peddling their foolishness on issue after issue? It's important to remember that while the Democrats won in November, most of the Republican politicians in Washington are still very right wing and very out of touch.