Replies

"Environmental activists also remain wary about continued oil drilling in areas adjacent to the park... .In California, the Long Valley Caldera was hit by a series of strong quakes in the late 1970's. "Unrest in the area persists today," the USGS explains."

So much for credibility. "Unrest"? Well, there it is. That's what it's all about. The volcano god is angry. Meanwhile, scientists (environmental activists) are reading the goat entrails in an attempt to see into our future. I am reminded of a jaw-dropping interview conducted immediately after the Loma Prieta quake in 1989. An "expert" with the USGS went on national TV to proclaim that "the earth itself is violently angry with what man has done to it. It's expressing its outrage." Stranger still, nobody questioned the absurdity of that statement. It's not unrest. It's a zone of seismic and volcanic activity. Quake swarms and lava domes come and go, and have been doing so since the beginning of time. The ground shakes, and thunder clouds fill the sky. Japan gets hit with the biggest quake in over a thousand years, and we want to know why. Will the same fate befall us...have we displeased the volcano god? Bad things happen to good people, and we seek an explanation. Yellowstone and its caldera will still be here when your children's' grandchildren arrive to play atop it. The sun will rise tomorrow. Dress appropriately.

An "expert" with the USGS went on national TV to proclaim that "the earth itself is violently angry with what man has done to it. It's expressing its outrage."

Somebody -a normally intelligent and sober person- laid that line on me on Friday. I responded with a brief explanation of plate tectonics and subduction zones and closed with 'it would have happened even if Man had never existed'.

He didn't seem comfortable with that, but declined to pursue the discussion further.