Why don't the Republicans care about the planet?
They live from fear and chaos, and gravitate naturally to anything that will cause them. Also, they figure there will be enough of the planet left for them, and screw the rest of us.
Posted by sagesource at August 6, 2007 03:10 AMWhen the planet has been sufficiently throttled and finally dies, jeebus will come back riding a dinosaur.
And they all lived happily ....ok not all, I think there’s some “left behind” stuff or wait, don’t some die?.
And some of them lived happily....well this isn’t too clear either.
Most are killed by a vengeful jeebus and the rest are taken away somewhere not quite alive and probably to be eaten by the hungry dino.
Great story.
Go look at Greenland. Things there sure don't look like its warming. When the Vikings were moving around, they found it warm enough to live there for a few hundred years. Then the mini ice age occurred around 1200 to 1300 AD and it got colder. Scientist have found the glaciers there have been melting away for a century. They found that the decade from 1920 to 1930 were by 50% worse than the decade of 1995 to 2005. It was double the warmth in the twenties. Way prior to the massive doses of CO2 which scientist say started in earnest from 1940. Other scientist have noted that temps in Greenland have been along normal lines with neither an increase nor decrease since 1999. And the glacier growth, well the tops grow at a .6CM rate while the bottoms melt at a .4CM rate. Doesn't seem like they're going away. The temps in Greenland averaged higher from 1881-1955 than the post 1955 temps.
Dr. Jim Renwick, the lead author of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report admitted in June of 2007,"Half of the variability in the climate system is not predictable, so we don't expect to do terrifically well."
Posted by peter at August 6, 2007 04:12 AMThey don't seem to care because the interests of the coal industry are tied up in their states. And if not coal than some other non-renewable energy interest. They're politicians. Thinking beyond their next election cycle Isn't easy for them. Until that changes they're gonna continue to vote like dinosaurs.
Posted by snark at August 6, 2007 04:26 AMRemember Global Cooling?
Why scientists find climate change so hard to predict. Newseek Check it out.
Hey Peter, I don't know where you got this info but the Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland is melting twice as fast as it was only 5 years ago.
If you want facts about global warming go to James Hansen from NASA for them.
You know he's telling the truth because Bush tried to shut him up and shut him down.
That's about the best endorsement for honesty I can think of.
Posted by mparker at August 6, 2007 05:42 AMHow about Virginia's Democratic Senator Jim Webb voting FOR the spy bill? So much for Dems. Fuck 'em all.
This country is toast! Why not watch Fox news? It's happy news, not based in reality and don't we need to relax?
The real news is depressing as shit. Our country has been sold out to fascists.
Posted by Mal Feasance at August 6, 2007 06:05 AMI found out yesterday that there is a new zone chart for gardening. St. Louis has moved from zone 5 to zone 6a, indicating warmer weather. The new zoning was completed after 16 years of studying weather trends, instead of the usual 12 year cycle.
Posted by Judith at August 6, 2007 06:08 AM" the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq."
Well well. It seems that the all-knowing General on the Ground lost track of thousands of AK-47's given to the Iraqis. Apparently its not Iran that's arming the insurgents, it's none other than our own Petraeus. What a traitor. What an incompetent. No wonder Bush has put him in charge. If it were not for the clear fact that these US supplied rifles are now being used to kill US GI's, this would be funny. One thing to notice in this sad story.....the only arms we are giving the Iraqis is rifles. I've said this for years now, the US is never going to give the Iraqis the firepower needed to "Stand Up". We don't want them to Stand Up. It's a straw man used to keep US forces there indefinitely.
190,000 AK-47 Assault Weapons, 80,000 Pistols Unaccounted
The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment. But the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq.
The Pentagon did not dispute the GAO findings, saying it has launched its own investigation and indicating it is working to improve tracking. Although controls have been tightened since 2005, the inability of the United States to track weapons with tools such as serial numbers makes it nearly impossible for the U.S. military to know whether it is battling an enemy equipped by American taxpayers.
T2, this isn't the first incident of a cache of money and weapons to disappear. Seems Petraeus turns out to be another on the long list of incompetent mouth pieces for Bush. However, considering that incompetence always hires incompetence, why be surprised.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/05/AR2007080501299.html?hpid=topnews
Posted by Judith at August 6, 2007 06:36 AMBy-the-way, that 30% of the weapons that have gone missing in Iraq. Yes, you read that right, 30%.
President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to read e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants. I guess we can safely assume that we no longer have privacy.
Get out the hook. Scout's back.
Posted by Judith at August 6, 2007 06:50 AMRepubs don't care because, like our fine "businessmen" (whom they serve over everyone else), they have given up on anything other than short term profit maximizing decision-making. Market externalities like pollution generally cannot be solved absent market regulation, which reduces profit, which results in business (and hence Repub) opposition.
Another aspect of their "not caring" is that the goal of psychotic members of Team Conservative (like peter) is simply to oppose and "defeat" lib'ruls, whatever the merits of the question might be. That's what gets them excited, you can tell it by the perverse enthusiam of peter's taunts---the sadism shows right through. The satisfaction he gets from having his "team" win in what he is in this "game" for---public policy is meaningless, the public good is a joke to them, "victory" over the hated lib'ruls is everything.
Think of the "policies" these sick conservatives support. If there was a 1% chance that a Saddam had WMDs or was "working" with Osmama, then to Cheney that was enough to invade a country in violation of the UN charter. But the fact that most scientists now think that we're on the verge of destroying our 11,000 year old stable climate via CO2 emissions, well, there's no way we know enough to undertake ANY sacrifice there.
Sick. Perverted. Poisoned brains. What else can you say? The planet hangs in the balance and we are dragging these ten ton millstones around our necks.
Posted by euzoius at August 6, 2007 07:07 AMWhat has always amazed me about rightwingers is the enormous pride they seem to take in their own ignorance and the enjoyment they seem to get from sharing it with others. When the last iceberg has melted and New York City is twenty-feet under water, I am convinced they will still be arguing that the whole thing is just one big fraud conjured up by the looney left. It really is an amazing thing.
Posted by PretzelsOne at August 6, 2007 07:08 AMBTW, it's not "just" global warming that Repubs don't care about---they're behind every rollback of pollution controls, EPA staff reductions, reduced enforcement, ocean destruction and endangered species indifference.
They hate any government attempt to regulate the protection of the environment. There isn't an environmental statute they haven't tried to gut, or an agency regulation they haven't diluted or repealed under this horrendous administration. And you don't hear a word about it in the press, nor will you in the upcoming election--which, if any issue gets "discussed", it will be all Iraq and terrorism, all the time.
Posted by euzoius at August 6, 2007 07:16 AMSimple greed. Republicans think the waste from coal fired plants can be made into diamonds.
This misconception comes from listening to too much country and western music and taking it literally like the bible.
"I'm just an old lump of coal...
But I'm going to be a diamond some day."
Mal
Webb had us fooled. He is still a Repug.
One of the best compilations of how to argue with a climate skeptic was put together over at Grist
http://gristmill.grist.org/skeptics
Deserves to be bookmarked
Posted by mainsailset at August 6, 2007 08:05 AMmainsailset, Missed your writings, hope things are well.
Posted by Seven of Six at August 6, 2007 09:59 AMSoS, thanks. Been working with 2 Rep Denialists clients who have swept me into a strange alternative world. Unfortunately, my magic fairy wand as well as my sledgehammer have been mislaid and God knows logic can't prevail to resolve. If I hear one more time, 'but I want it' I will need to break open the liquor cabinet. Best to you and yours. Mss
Posted by mainsailset at August 6, 2007 10:34 AMBring On The Funny!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2aj1j_a-gentlemens-duel_shortfilms
BoingBoing posted it a couple of days ago . . and as they point out, some of the feminine stereotypes are extremely painful. At the same time, those painful stereotypes make the funny even better. Its the funniest damn CG cartoon I've watched since the Jack Jack Attacks short that came out with The Incredibiles DVD. (My wife had to fetch the inhaler and resuscitate me off the floor.) It's Pixar meets Chuck Jones meets steampunk meets Roger Rabbit.
Posted by idiosynchronic at August 6, 2007 01:36 PM