Hey, guess what? The Seattle Times isn’t laughing at Ron Sims anymore!
The first time Ron Sims tried to set up a county office to study the effects of global warming, he was mocked.
A Seattle Times editorial said King County Council members Sims and co-sponsor Bruce Laing were belching “hyperbolic clouds of rhetorical gas,” and suggested they instead buy some tomato plants and steer manure.
“The point is,” wrote the amused editorialist, “that the sky-is-falling, icecaps-are-melting, oceans-are-rising rhetoric must be tempered by common sense.” With little support for the idea from the environmental community and none from council colleagues, the proposal quickly disappeared.
That was 1988, before rising temperatures, increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and melting ice sheets persuaded most of the scientific community that the planet is undergoing potentially disastrous climate change caused by human activity.
Now county executive, Sims has set up a climate-response planning team
Question 1: If all the warming were attributed to natural cycles would the lefties still want to reduce it?
Question 2: Is it OK to solve the warming crisis with innovation that does not include reducing use of fossil fuels?
Global warming is so bad here in Hawaii that everyone is scared and moving out in droves! Homes and land are going for almost nothing!……………………………………………………………………Oh, wait…………………………………………………………………Never mind. Rosanna Rosannadana [SNL]
Answers to loser @1
1) Sims is proposing measures to deal with glbal warming. It would have to be dealt with whatever the cause. However, since we know that the cause is human-induced, part of addressing the problem is to reduce the actions that are causing it. We can reduce the threat because the threat comes from us. I don’t know why you need to employ name-calling (“lefties”), but it is clear that Ron Sims is showing good leadership qualities in this case. If there is a different leader taking a different approach that you think is better it would be constructive to point that out. But bashing Sims for his leadership is stupid.
2. All approaches to mitigating the undeniable effects of global warming as well as those that will reduce the effects are appropriate and necessary. Please present your analysis of the problem and ways to address it.
For several nights last month, a group of young Democrat thugs with black hooded sweat shirts pulled tight over their heads, including at least one in “angry” clown makeup, terrorized visitors to Pierce County’s Fort Steilacoom Park, police say. The liberal group cried “woo, woo, Juggalo” as they assaulted park visitors with a machete and fists. They stole cellphones, cash and wallets and even threatened to cut their victims’ heads off, according to court documents.
It’s Seattle. The Democrat response will be to ask why they hate us.
Two Dogs(Gore and Kerry?)-3 “I don’t know why you need to employ name-calling (“lefties”)…”
You must be new here. “Lefties” is an extremely mild description for the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) that frquent this site. Aside from being accurate, it is also very gentle as compared to the vile directed at “righties” by the majority of slogs that lurk here.
I have not heard but one or two lefties propose ramping up nuclear power to substantially reduce CO2, or speculate on what new technologies could stop or reverse global warming. In addition, all of the current proposals together will not reduce warming by more than an insignificant amount, which is consistent with lefty programs aimed at poverty, etc.
“It would have to be dealt with whatever the cause.”
Would dealing with warming seek to reduce or reverse it if the cause was 100% natural? Or would dealing with it then focus on how to adapt?
” … local Republicans remain focused on ridiculing Sims and dismissing his efforts …”
This is true, as far as it goes, but the Republicans have a larger and longer range goal: Namely, to make as much money as possible, regardless of how many people they hurt and what they destroy. The Republican creed is selfish materialism.
China is using too much coal and gasoline! You libs need to stop them! Show us that you reallt want to “save the world”! hehe, JCH
1
If you had a tree that could grow diamonds, would you pick them? What planet do you live on? Come back when you’re ready to deal with real-world problems, little boy.
Here is a copy of the e-mail I just sent the Seattle Times reporter…………
Keith,
Read your article this morning and I have a few comments regarding its accuracy.
As the two links below show, there was an ongoing effort in the early 1990s to bring local attention to the global problem of climate change. The cities of Olympia and Issaquah established tasks forces to take a look at what these two municipalities could do in regards to stopping local contributions of greenhouse gases. During this time there was also a comprehensive look at land use and transportation policies, which provided an opportunity to actually enact policies that would tackle regional contribution of greenhouse gases. Sims, who was a county council member at the time was pretty muted about the subject. In fact, until just recently, Sims has been low key about the issue of climate change. If you doubt what I’m saying, do a search both in your paper’s archive as well as the Seattle Post–Intelligencer to see what Sims, and for that matter Seattle Mayor Nickles, did the last 2 decades in regards to specifically regional public polices and global warming. By giving Sims credit he doesn’t deserve, you neglect those who did and trivialize their efforts on this most important topic.
Thank you,
John Seebeth
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thinking Big: Issaquah, Olympia Warm To Global Task
Katherine Long
Seattle Times
March 25, 1992
You can’t say they think small in Issaquah.
While other suburban communities struggle with mundane things like new roads, schools and houses, there’s a group of people here trying to come up with local solutions to a cosmic problem: the effect of global warming.
They’re doing it for a local reason, too: Issaquah, with its back against the wall
of the Cascades, gets some of the worst air pollution in the Puget Sound area.
And there’s a similar motivation for another group of future-thinkers in Olympia.
Living in a city built on fill atop an estuary, they’re so concerned about melting
ice sheets and rising sea levels that they’ve convinced the city to buy nonpolluting
electric cars and to enforce a strict tree-protection ordinance.
It’s the spirit of “think globally, act locally” – very locally.
Both city councils have created their own global-warming task forces to talk about
how they can take steps locally to reduce the atmospheric pollution many scientists
believe will lead to an increase in the planet’s temperature. Last week, they gathered
in Bellevue with regional experts and local politicians to talk about such heady
subjects as atmospheric change, ozone control, decreasing and rising sea levels.
“People are taking this very seriously,” said Issaquah organizer John
Seebeth.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/
************************************
Polluted Winter Air Sparks Forum — Panel Takes Up Global Warming
Katherine Long
Seattle Times
November 11, 1992
Bellevue’s bad winter air is sparking interest in a much bigger issue: the causes
and the impacts of global warming on the Pacific Northwest.
A panel of experts and high school students will be among the speakers at a city
forum tomorrow to discuss global warming and its implications.
City Councilwoman Georgia Zumdieck said she helped organize the forum because Bellevue air always worsens in the winter because of air currents that tend to blow Seattle’s sometimes polluted air eastward. Addressing the broader problem of global warming is one way to get at the local problem of polluted air.
Katie Choquette, a 10th-grade student at Newport High School, is one of two teens
who will discuss global warming. She said teens want to alert the Bellevue City
Council of their concerns.
“It’s really scary what’s going to happen – the earth’s temperature could rise
by three to eight degrees by the middle of the next century,” she said.
Choquette said cities can fight global warming by encouraging car-pooling, promoting
recycling and using recycled paper.
The forum stems from a similar effort in Olympia and Issaquah. Both cities have
set up global-warming task forces, and Olympia officials have bought several electriccars, increased recycling efforts and done energy audits of city-owned buildings to help tackle the problem.
In Issaquah, where the city formed a global-warming task force almost a year ago,
the group is preparing recommendations to give to the City Council in January.
Last year, the King County Council’s growth-management committee also held a forum on global warming.
Zumdieck isn’t expecting the forum to change minds overnight. But she does hope
it will help educate people about the causes of global warming.
John Seebeth, a member of Issaquah’s global-warming task force, said he hoped that Vice President-elect Al Gore would help refocus the nation on global warming. Gore’s book, Earth in the Balance, discusses global warming and how it could cause a worldwide environmental crisis.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/
This global warming thing might work out for me. I might be looking at being the owner of some nice waterfornt property in a few decades!
RE: #4: Actually, those thugs in Fort Steilacoom Park were Republicans. How do I know? I don’t. And neither do you.
Your ignorance is exmplified by your post, which contains the location as “Pierce County’s Fort Steilacoom Park”, and “It’s Seattle”. Clearly, you don’t know local geography, and are probably from outside the area and only posing as a local on these boards.
Russia is drilling in Siberia and must be stopped! All Democrat libs must help! Save the wildlife in Siberia by protesting! Chain yourselves to the rigs! That will show the Russians you mean business!!
5
“Lefties” is an extremely mild description for the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) that frquent this site .,.. it is also very gentle as compared to the vile directed at “righties” by the majority of slogs that lurk here.”
Let’s see, you just used a term with racist connotations (“watermelons”) and, at the same time, called us commies (“red”) — and you call that “very gentle” compared to the names we call you America-hating unpatriotic neo-nazi cheap labor conservatives?*
* This isn’t name-calling, it’s stating facts.
Okay — whatever. You ask, “Would dealing with warming seek to reduce or reverse it if the cause was 100% natural?” My answer is, yes, I would put a pig feeder in my backyard if pigs had feathers and could fly.
You also asked about ramping up nuclear power. I have posted on this topic before, and my position is no secret: Yes, I realize the technology has advanced in recent years, and that nuclear is a big part of the mix in Europe and provides nearly all of Japan’s power.
But, as I’ve said before, the $500 million cap on nuclear power plant liability enacted by Congress years ago is a deal-breaker. That law must be repealed, and Congress must require the nuclear industry to carry adequate liability insurance to make neighboring property owners whole in the event of an accident, or it’s “no deal.”
As long as the industry or Congress expect homeowners, small businesses, and individual property owners to bear the loss from a nuclear accident — there’s nothing to discuss. That is a classic transferrence of business risk and cost to the community which is completely unacceptable to the community involved. It’s as unfair as it possibly could be — the surrounding property owners don’t run the plant or have any say in what the operator does. The industry has a long and sordid history of cutting corners, falsifying documentation, lying to investigators, and covering up safety flaws.
In short, the U.S. nuclear industry has proved to the American people they are irresponsible and can’t be trusted. That, not economics or technology, is the impediment to building nuclear power in America. And THAT problem has to be resolved before any consideration should be given to building new nuclear plants in the United States. Until then, nuclear power is off the table.
7
“China is using too much coal and gasoline! You libs need to stop them! Show us that you reallt want to “save the world”! hehe, JCH” Commentby REP Pat Kennedy [D-Bitchslap the Black Security Guard At LAX]— 7/12/06@ 10:51 am
If you shop at Wal-Mart, you’re part of the problem.
7
Although, from China’s perspective, I think they would have a hard time swallowing U.S. complaints about their pollution when America’s 5% of the world population burns 25% of the world’s fossil fuels, and is the biggest polluter on the planet.
I think they would say, “What right do you have to tell us we can’t have your lifestyle?
The thing that worries me about the nuclear power program is what they intend to do with all that highly radioactive nuclear waste. That stuff will be around for hundreds of thousands of years, and nobody has any idea what to do with it other than bury it in barrels in some remote region of Nevada.
What we ought to be doing is figuring out this fusion source of energy.
Two Dogs @3
In case you’re new here, I’ll explain the HorsesAss posting rules:
1. This is a liberal blog.
2. Anybody can post here.
3. There is no censorship.
4. Our job, as liberals, is to verbally kick the living crap out of the wingnut neo-nazi fascist trollfucks who are stupid enough to spew their crapola here.
5. They deserve no mercy, and you should offer give them none.
6. Should the wingers wish to negotiate with us, our terms are unconditional surrender.
Hey, can one of you moonbats ask Ron Sims to share his chi squared analysis of temperatures that lead him to conclude “…it’s real.” I’d be fascinated to see his data and analysis.
Get back to me OK?
16
“What we ought to be doing is figuring out this fusion source of energy.” Commentby Libertarian— 7/12/06@ 11:21 am
What would you suggest we do to “figure out this fusion source” that we’re not already doing? Throw more money at it? We’re already spending billions on research — the reactors required for fusion research are among the most expensive construction projects ever undertaken.
9 – Great, children regurgitating the kool aid that’s been poured down their throats in government schools.
Hey John, do a chi squared analysis of temperatures and tell us if current temps are outside the normal range of variation. Can you also research whether the SUN has anything to do with temperatures?
Rabit 19, maybe the science class at newport high could figure out how to make fusion work. They seem to be on top of this kind of stuff to the point of lecturing elected officials on how to set policy.
the reactors required for fusion research are among the most expensive construction projects ever undertaken.
Commentby Roger Rabbit— 7/12/06@ 11:33 am
…
I know they’re working on it, Roger. I’m impatient.
We also need to figure out how to make fertilizers without petroleum products. As we use it the world’s supply, we could be looking at famines worldwiode.
This global warming thing might turn Western Washington into a premier grower of grapes for wines. Napa and Sonoma might get too hot, especially for the white grapes.
CNN FINANCIAL WRITER LOU DOBBS BLASTS GOP IMMIGRATION POLICY
“Dobbs: Bush, Senate ‘lackeys’ reach new low
“By Lou Dobbs
“CNN
“Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Posted: 9:30 a.m. EDT (13:30 GMT)
“NEW YORK (CNN) — The Bush White House and its lackeys in the Senate have reached a new low in their quest to bestow amnesty on 11 million to 20 million illegal immigrants, while doing as little as possible to secure our nation’s borders and ports.
“We’re now being treated to a great spectacle of incompetence as the Senate holds hearings on immigration reform ….
“The senators and the White House demonstrated that they have no shame in continuing to try to blur the line between legal and illegal immigration. …
“Theirs is not leadership; it’s raw, cynical politics and cowardly obfuscation at its worst. …
“The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 called for at least 2,000 more Border Patrol agents per year along our border with Mexico to stop the unrelenting flow of people and illegal drugs into this country. But the Bush administration provided funding for only around 200 additional agents.
“President Bush then promised to deploy by August 6,000 National Guard troops to support the U.S. Border Patrol on the border with Mexico. Now, in mid-July, having already missed a June deadline, fewer than 900 have moved into place along the border.
“While our federal government fails, state and local governments are being forced to fill the national leadership void. Twenty-seven state governments have passed some sort of legislation cracking down on illegal immigration. …
Just this week, Colorado set the highest standard to date. Both houses of Colorado’s Democrat-controlled state government approved a plan that will deny most non-emergency state benefits to illegal aliens. Colorado Gov. Bill Owens … said … the measure … will free up Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance funds for legal state residents. …
“We can be thankful our local and state governments are beginning to take action on the illegal immigration crisis. …”
For complete article and copyright info, see http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/.....l?eref=aol
Well, what the hell do you expect from the CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES in the White House and Congress? They WANT to flood the labor market with illegal immigrants — to drive down wages and put more money in employers’ pockets.
Trollfucks like JCH love to blame illegal immigration on Democrats, but it’s really the CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES in the Bush administration, GOP Congress, and Republican Party who favor opening our borders to Third World workers. It’s all about MONEY — they don’t want to spend any money securing our borders, and they want to make more money by glutting the labor market with desperate laborers who will work cheap.
22
“I know they’re working on it, Roger. I’m impatient.”
Commentby Libertarian— 7/12/06@ 11:42 am
I’m impatient too, Lib — I don’t want to wait 1,000 years for the magic of compound interest to turn my $100 savings account into $1 billion! I want my billion right now!
Sigh. I guess we’ll both just have to work on our patience skills, huh?
TOP REPUBLICANS EULOGIZE CONVICTED FELON
I see in today’s news that George and Barbara Bush Sr., and a bunch of other GOP illuminati, honored one of history’s most rapacious robbers by attending Ken Lay’s funeral. If Lay had lived, he was looking at 200 years behind bars.
So much for Republican “values.”
HOW MANY SOLDIER FUNERALS HAVE THE BUSHES ATTENDED?
None.
Roger Rabbit donated $99 to http://www.operation-helmet.org/ to save a soldier’s life. Republicans constantly bray about “supporting the troops,” but have any of the following people sent $99 to Operation Helmet? I’ll bet not a one of them has.
George Bush Sr.
Barbara Bush
George W. Bush
Laura Bush
Donald Rumsfeld
Karl Rove
RubberStampReichert
Diane Tebelius
Stefan Sharansky
Kevin Carns
Mr. Cynical
ProudAss
Klake the Nazi
Geez, Roger, too bad we can’t all be as holy and sanctimonious as you. Better be careful about patting yourself on the back, it might induce high medical bills that you can’t seem to afford.
I’m curious what exactly this office is supposed to do that is being established. The county has no authority over anything related to energy generation, it can’t go discover fusion or the perfect car. All it can do is regulate. So, in the name of global warming, will we see dictates that we drive only 3 hours per week? That we all move into high rises? That we recycle?
Nothing will happen from that office that isn’t in the dems plans for regulating our lives. But now it will not be for some utopia ideal, it will be to combat global warming.
Pierce County Fort Steilacoom Park
In fact, recreation opportunities at Fort Steilacoom Park will soon be abundant! … View or print a directions to Fort Steilacoom Park in Adobe pdf format. …
piercecountywa.org/pc/services/recreate/FortSteilacoom.htm – 24k – Cached – Similar pages
Rising sea levels swamping ports sounds kinda dangerous to anyone driving in Seattle’s luxurious viaduct tunnel!
Just in case you missed it, “REP Pat Kennedy [D-Bitchslap the Black Security Guard At LAX]” still thinks Seattle is in Pierce County (see comment # 4, above).
33.
The other incident happened in New Bedford, MA.
Apparently, as with the Ravers a few months ago, some nuts are jumping on the “Juggalo” fans of the band Insane Clown Posse.
Once again (as with Richard Pope concerning a robbery in D. C.) there is no information that Juggalos or ICP have any political opinions, at all.
It’s like saying Kiss is a Democratic Party band.
goldstein is a really good parrot…
Yeah… important “here-and-now” issues like banning gay marriage and flag burning. I mean, really… who cares if our resevoirs run dry in the summer or if rising sea levels swamp our region’s ports as long as we have $30 car tabs, right? -by Goldy, 07/12/2006, 9:49 AM
“[H]as the administration or the Republican Congress taken steps to reduce the risks of global climate change? No. They’re more than willing to debate the pet-issues of the far-right, like the definition of marriage, but afraid of angering the White House and their political base by investigating and taking action on tough issues like global warming.” —Harry Reid
How funny is it that Stefan is claiming the last couple cold days in July indicate that global warming is a hoax, and Ron Sims is still full of it.
And Stefan thinks of himself as a man of science (same way MTRKennedy thinks of himself as intelligent and rich)
Talk about pathetic.
Lib @ 22 – Ummm… ya don’t need to worry about not having enough “fertilizer”. Between goldy and roger rabbit, there’s plenty to go around. Plenty…
Loser @ 5
Is name-calling right just because it’s done here and the lefties do it too? I don’t think so.
If global warming were purely due to natural causes then the appropriate response would be to deal with it, not necessarily change it. Most of Sims’s proposals are to deal with it anyway because that’s what we’re faced with.
I know many lefties who favor hydropower despite the disaterous environmental effects and a few who favor nukes. We need to look at the cumulative impacts of all we do. really — many people out here are just trying to think things through and not make a political issue out of every policy — really.
I also note that you chose to trash Ron Sims but did not take me up on my request for you to point to someone else who is showing leadership on this issue, possibly by advocating a different approach. In the future global warming will be seen as the big issue at the turn of the 21st century, and Ron Sims will be seen as an early leader in that area.
Rabbit @ 17 — We can beat these people without resorting to their brand of divisive rhetoric. If the rules here are “anything goes”, I choose to eschew the vulgar language and name calling in favor of trying to debate the issues. I think it can be done. BTW I am not at all offended by your, or anyone else’s (e.g. Dick Cheney) fucking filthy language. I just don’t choose to use it.
21
“Rabit 19, maybe the science class at newport high could figure out how to make fusion work. They seem to be on top of this kind of stuff to the point of lecturing elected officials on how to set policy.” Commentby Mark The Redneck Kennedy— 7/12/06@ 11:36 am
Redneck, until you pay your gambling debts, there’s nothing else to discuss.
37
Even I can’t make carrots grow in a desert.
Why don’t the “progressive” libs Democrats raise the minimum wage to 50 dollars an hour in WASH State. Kennedy, Clinton, Kerry, et al tell us that raising the mimimun wage does NOT cause unemployment. Why not a test? hehe, JCH
As for flag-burning, I’d rather see a hundred flags burnt than one more mud and cowpie-splattered, ripped, tattered and faded Old Glory hanging by a thread off an SUV with “God Bless America”, “Bush/Cheney”, and “These Colors Don’t Run” bumper stickers.
I was taught the “Flag Code” in first grade. Of course, I went to public school, maybe they teach a different one in private schools.
Flag Code Hopefully it links this time.