First, Let's Kill All the Humans...

The allusion in our headline is, of course, to the famous and often misquoted one-liner about lawyers in Shakespeare. But we're referring today to one of the more sinister manifestations of the looney left, best exemplified by certain cadres of eco-freaks and "animal rights" fanatics. Their short argument is that the world would be a far better place if most, if not all, of the humans were dead.

When Wonker tells people about this lunatic fringe, they tend to laugh uproariously and refuse to believe that these clowns exist. But they do, and here's some proof, via a Texas newspaper. (Hat tip to Matt Drudge.):

A University of Texas professor says the Earth would be better off with 90 percent of the human population dead.

"Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine," Eric Pianka cautioned students and guests at St. Edward's University on Friday. Pianka's words are part of what he calls his "doomsday talk" - a 45-minute presentation outlining humanity's ecological misdeeds and Pianka's predictions about how nature, or perhaps humans themselves, will exterminate all but a fraction of civilization.

Though his statements are admittedly bold, he's not without abundant advocates. But what may set this revered biologist apart from other doomsday soothsayers is this: Humanity's collapse is a notion he embraces.

Well, now here's a fellow who'll add conversational spice to your next dinner party. Of course, there's more. Once these guys are on a roll, they're hard to stop. Let's do some fisking, shall we?

So what's at the heart of Pianka's claim?

6.5 billion humans is too many.

In his estimation, "We've grown fat, apathetic and miserable," all the while leaving the planet parched.

The solution?

A 90 percent reduction.

That's 5.8 billion lives - lives he says are turning the planet into "fat, human biomass." He points to an 85 percent swell in the population during the last 25 years and insists civilization is on the brink of its downfall - likely at the hand of widespread disease.

"[Disease] will control the scourge of humanity," Pianka said. "We're looking forward to a huge collapse."

Fortunately, this being a Texas newspaper, we are given a rebuttal:

But don't tell local "citizen scientist" Forrest Mims to quietly swallow Pianka's call to awareness. Mims says it's an "abhorrent death wish" and contends he has "no choice but to take a stand."

Mims attended the educator's doomsday presentation at the Texas Academy of Science's annual meeting March 2-4. There, the organization honored Pianka as its 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist - another issue Mims vocally opposes.

"This guy is a loose cannon to believe that worldwide genocide is the only answer," said Mims, who filed two formal petitions with the academy following the meeting.

Wouldn't you know, it takes a "citizen scientist" to do a little whistleblowing on this moonbat of a prof who has, of course, been named a "Distinguished Texas Scientist." You begin to see, reading this, why HazZzMat has such a healthy contempt for the universe of "prizes," most of which have been taken over or run by nonprofits or foundations (i.e., like the Ford Foundation) which were themselves long ago hijacked by Marxists and harnessed to their propaganda apparatus.

Gratifyingly, Mims has at least one professorial ally:

Joining the crusade, James Pitts, who recieved a Ph.D. in physics from UT-Austin, became the second to publicly chastise Pianka when he filed a complaint Saturday with the UT board of regents. He insists a state university is no place to disseminate such views.

He writes:

"Pianka's message does not fall within the realm of his professional competence as a biologist, because it is a normative claim, not a descriptive one. Pianka is encouraged to use his ecological expertise to predict the likely consequences of certain technological and reproductive strategies, but to evaluate some as good, bad, or worthy of prevention by genocide is the realm of philosophy or political science, not science. His message falls no more within his professional competence than it would for a physicist to teach religion in class or a musician to encourage racism."

If Pitts is a young guy, this probably kills his chance for tenure. If he has tenure, he'll no longer be invited to the best parties. But let's get back to our regularly scheduled lunacy:

...Pianka, a 38-year UT educator, maintains he's not campaigning for genocide. He likens mankind's story to an unbridled party on a luxury cruise liner. The fun's going strong on the upper deck, he says. But as crowds blindly absorb the festivities, many fail to notice the ship is sinking.

"The biggest enemy we face is anthropocentrism," he said, describing the belief system in which humans are the central element of the universe. "This is that common attitude that everything on this Earth was put here for [human] use."

To Pianka, a human life is no more valuable than any other - a lizard, a bison, a rhino. And as humans reproduce, the demand for resources like food, water and energy becomes more than the Earth can sustain, he says.

Now we're getting to the heart of the matter, as indicated by our own italicization above. Here is a choice, highly obvious documentation of the abiding hatred for the human species routinely mouthed by the moonbat left, justified in this case by the ultimate example of moral relativism. Humans are no more valuable than any other species, including fruit flies it would seem. When you view arguments like this, you accrue valuable proof that when you refer to the "looney left," you're not simply name-calling. You are dealing, in this case, with a verifiable fact.

Need more proof?

"The human population is growing," he said. "We will see a point when we reach the carrying capacity - there aren't enough resources."

But resources aren't the only threat, Pianka says. It's the Ebola virus he deems most capable of wide scale decimation.

"Humans are so dense (in population) that they constitute a perfect substrate for an epidemic," he says.

He contends Ebola is merely an evolutionary step away from escaping the confines of Africa. And should an outbreak occur, Pianka assuredly says humanity will quickly come to a "grinding halt."

Great. Something devoutly to be wished for. Let's give the terroristas some swell ideas they can grapple with. Interestingly, Pianka is alluding to something that happened a few years back just about a mile from Wonker's house in Reston, Virginia:

"Although [Ebola Zaire] Kills 9 out of 10 people, outbreaks have so far been unable to become epidemics because they are currently spread only by direct physical contact with infected blood. However, a closely-related virus that kills monkeys, Ebola Reston, is airborne, and it is only a matter of time until Ebola Zaire evolves the capacity to be airborne."

This was the rather scary incident that prompted the 1995 movie "Outbreak." The virus was discovered airborne in a Reston research facility and caused a fullscale biological alert. (No one would go near the facility after that, even when it was vacated, and it was eventually decontaminated, destroyed, and replaced.)

Want more?

Mims worries fertile young minds with a thirst for knowledge may develop into enthusiastic supporters of a deadly disease, advocating the fall of humanity.

"He recommended airborne Ebola as an ideal killing virus," Mims said. "He showed slides of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse and human skulls. He joked about requiring universal sterilization. It reminded me of a futuristic science fiction movie with a crazed scientist planning the death of humanity."

Well, yeah. And if Mims doesn't convince you, how about this?

Most of Pianka's former students are bursting with praise. Their in-class evaluations celebrate his ideas with words like "the most incredible class I ever had" and "Pianka is a GOD!"

Says a female student death-enthusiast:

"[Pianka is] a radical thinker, that one!" she wrote. "I mean, he's basically advocating for the death for all but 10 percent of the current population. And at the risk of sounding just as radical, I think he's right."

Of course, Pianka and his enthusiastic acolytes are probably figuring, implicitly, that they'll be the ones to survive the ultimate pandemic, giving them, like all negative utopians, a free hand to dictate the lives and lifestyles of those who remain. (And of course, there'd be free food and Internet access for all.)

Mims is trying to gain traction with university officials. But, as usual, when such traction might involve the university's sitting down and reasoning with someone like Pianka, that's a no go. Wouldn't want to mess with the academic freedom to indoctrinate wide-eyed students with an idea that's not dissimilar to today's Islamofascist death cult.And while we're on the subject:

Does [Pianka] believe nature will bring about this promised devastation? Or is humanity's own dissemination of a deadly virus the only answer? And more importantly, is this the motive behind his talks?

Responding to these very questions, Pianka said, "Good terrorists would be taking [Ebola Roaston and Ebola Zaire] so that they had microbes they could let loose on the Earth that would kill 90 percent of people."

Hey, and while we're at it, let's give them some free suitcase nukes, too, so they can finish the job if the virus fails to propagate efficiently. The overriding problem with the extreme fringe of today's hard left is that they've gone so far over the edge that even Marx and Stalin would no longer recognize what they'd wrought. Having failed utterly and permanently to force upon an unwilling populace their vision of a Worker's Paradise, where presumably they'd be calling the shots, they'd now just as soon exterminate all the hopelessly stupid (and disgustingly reproductive)workers. After all, if the workers have proved so stubbornly resistant to their own good for so long, and have proved so impervious to Marxist "reforms," then a good Marxist can only assume that the ultimate iteration of Stalinism will provide the real answer: grab a virus and kill them all. And forget the show trials.

This implicit endorsement for an insane "final solution" for humankind may go a considerable way toward explaining why the hard left fringe Houyhnhnms so enthusiastically embrace Islamofascism. In a way, they have discovered at last their soul brothers, their real fellow travelers. Like them, in the end, the Islamofascists would be happy to let loose an uncontrollable virus on the populace, albeit for slightly different reasons. The Islamofascists would recognize that many of their own number as well, perhaps most, would perish in such a biological Armageddon. But that would be just fine. An acceptable risk. Allah would be sure to spare the purest, the worthiest of the true believers. Those believers who inadvertently perished would get a quick ticket to heaven. Infidels (us) would fry in a hell of their own making. And at last the mullah-ocracy would have their perfect world.

Except that they'd need to eliminate Professor Pianka and his surviving students first.

The lesson here is two-fold. First: never doubt Wonker's word. But more importantly, never, never, never, underestimate the craziness of the extreme left, particularly the next time you read about eco-freaks and "animal rights" terrorists. These folks are demonstrably unhinged. But they are also serious about what they're saying. And they want you dead.