The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a final report making a compelling case that human-induced global warming is happening and will have dire consequences. But maybe you don’t find the expertise of scientists trained in climatological science all that compelling. Here is another way of thinking about global warming:
(This and some seventy other media clips from the past week in politics are now posted at Hominid Views.)
It was even hotter about a thousand years ago than it is now. Not a plane or car in sight, either.
The Case For Obama
The Atlantic is coming out with a cover story that makes a case for electing Barack Obama president. Selective excerpts:
“He does not smell, as Clinton does, of political fear.”
and
” … Hillary makes … sense if you believe that times are actually pretty good. If you believe that America’s current crisis is not a deep one, if you think that pragmatism alone will be enough to navigate a world on the verge of … religious warfare, if you believe that today’s ideological polarization is not dangerous, … then the argument for Obama is not that strong. Clinton will do. …
“But if you sense … that greater danger lies ahead, and that our divisions and recent history have combined to make the American polity and constitutional order increasingly vulnerable, then the calculus of risk changes. Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution. Close-up in this election campaign, Obama is unlikely. From a distance, he is necessary.”
Quoted under fair use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I haven’t made up my mind. I’m still not backing a particular candidate. I only know that I will not, under any circumstances, vote Republican in 2008 — even if the GOP nominated Jesus Christ Himself, not that He would have anything to do with the party of George W. Bush, Dickless Cheney, and Karl “Rasputin” Rove. This article provides some food for thought. It’s worth your time to read it.
@1 And where you’re going, it’s hotter still.
@3 Notice I’m not an atheist.
Stefen and the wingnuts won’t accept it until Mercer Island goes under or Chevron figures a way to turn CO2 into gasoline.
Hey Lee,
I mean “stoner boy”: We’re talking about you over at soundpolitics.org Check it out; assuming you can grow up and put down your bong long enough that is…..enjoy!!
Oh yeah, curious: Does Roger Rodent trade his med coupons and food stamps to you for weed or does he just hop his little ass to the corner for it?
Sorry, but it is an open thread….
Um, we’re not “arguing over which row we are in.” We know we are in row True and Republicans are insisting against all available evidence that we are not. That’s not an argument; it’s a fantasy.
@1
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessm.....yr_spm.pdf
The Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report says “Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely the highest in at least the past 1300 years.”
So you say one thing, and the consensus of Nobel-Prize-winnning scientists expert in the field say another. Who to believe, who to believe…
7
It is probably more correct to say that there is no scientific argument over which row we are in, only a political one.
We’re talking about you over at soundpolitics.org
Oh let’s just drop everything and head over there! I feel like playing dumb and dumber all of a sudden.
Does Death Penalty Save Lives? A New Debate
Back in the early fifties the state of Illinois would execute those on dead roll every Saturday night. They had two chairs to be efficiently at keeping death roll cells empty and no future back log. When they switch the juices to fry the chap the lights would dim in the whole state, and if two cons got fried it dim twice. Right after midnight the radio or TV announcers would tell everyone who met their end and what they were executed for that night. The next morning it was the talk of the town and the sinners were reminded in church. Nobody was interested in joining those fools in the graveyard so those crimes were at the bottom of their list to commit. Yes the Death Penalty does work but it has to be swift and fair if that possible. Now if the fools are worried about pain an unusual pain just don’t commit the crime.
For the first time in a generation, the question of whether the death penalty deters murders has captured the attention of scholars in law and economics, setting off an intense new debate about one of the central justifications for capital punishment.
According to roughly a dozen recent studies, executions save lives. For each inmate put to death, the studies say, 3 to 18 murders are prevented.
The effect is most pronounced, according to some studies, in Texas and other states that execute condemned inmates relatively often and relatively quickly.
The studies, performed by economists in the past decade, compare the number of executions in different jurisdictions with homicide rates over time — while trying to eliminate the effects of crime rates, conviction rates and other factors — and say that murder rates tend to fall as executions rise. One influential study looked at 3,054 counties over two decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11.....ref=slogin
Folks who was the author of this statement?
“Uttering lines that send liberals into paroxysms of rage, otherwise known as ‘citing facts’, is the spice of life. When I see the hot spittle flying from their mouths and the veins bulging and pulsing above their eyes, well that’s when I feel truly alive.”
Well folks who made this statement about bumper stickers? Roger where is that new bumper sticker where you support the Muslim extremist? We all know how that sticker works on Free Tibet. Wow how is that new silk prayer working five times a day? Now is Goldy conducting prayers in a political correct way making the mullahs happy?
Our “Friends” the Saudis…..
Read this story about Muslim extremism growing in Bosnia and imagine a “the war on terror is a bumper sticker slogan” Democrat in the White House….
http://davidboze.blogspot.com/
Goldy what did you do to MARK1 to make him love you so much?
Now if they just shit-canned Goldy’s whiney drivel from the airwaves, it would reduce noise pollution.
Posted by: Mark1 on November 17, 2007 07:33 AM
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/009661.html
@6 All mail from my legion of admiring fans is eagerly read and appreciated. There is no higher tribute I can earn than the ill will of trollfuck traitors.
@6 (continued) Fyi, my “little ass” weighs 32.63 lbs. (I like to eat.)
Hey Klake the Flake – your extra chromosome is overheated.
Take your meds (anabuse?), cool it down.
11 klake
So now we are supposed to believe crime studies performed by economists? I guess if you believe climate change predictions from wingnut talk show hosts you’ll believe anything.
Imagine you’re the leader of a second-tier or third-tier nation. Wouldn’t it make sense for you to try to acquire nuclear weapons knowing that crazy militaristic motherfuckers run America and yet America has shown that it won’t fuck with a nuclear nation? We’re not stopping nuclear proliferation, we’re causing it.
#19: How is that Mr. Know-it-All since we know North Korea has said they will dismantle their sites and we know Libya gave up their ambitions, all since 2001? What about Mr. Nuclear Khan from Pakistan and his change of heart?
@20 If you’re willing to take N. Korea’s word for that, you’re even dumber than we thought you are.
#2, as in shit: Even better than reading about Osama Obama in The Atlantic is reading Hitchens’ review of Schlesinger. Particularly instructive is the part about Old Arthur testifying on behalf of Clinton’s sex lies.
@10 YLB/’Your liberal bullshit’:
You already are. Your postings on here qualifies.