Thinking Right

By jbmlaw

August 22, 2007 9:04 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. Count me among the global warming optimists. Everywhere becomes like Florida, beach frontage opportunities in Northern Canada.

The “global warming” phenomenon is a binary issue of religious faith – one’s view is either “the apocalypse is coming,” due to man’s transgressions, or it is part of an eternal “ebb and flo.” I think the apocalypse is likely to be on a scale equal to that of Y2K, Freon and the ozone hole, the coming ice age, the Amchitka blast, the population bomb, and the evils of DDT. Does not keep me up at night.

By GodHatesTrash

August 22, 2007 9:14 AM | Link to this

Oh yes, the Gold Dome of the Georgia capitol building - a reknowned center for knowledge and reason (if you’re a dumba-ss kkkracker Woo-ten kkklanner) - strikes a blow for the very modern pseudo-science of global warming debunking - more voodoo for KKKhristian retards, sort of like “creation science”.

No surprise that Wooten is a skeptic on global warming, he ain’t the brightest bulb. Someone could take a p-iss on him and tell him it’s raining.

He’d say yep.

By Redneck Convert

August 22, 2007 9:23 AM | Link to this

Well, the missus is eating us out of trailer and home. She heard on the news that fatness is caused by a virus. So she says it ain’t her fault she’s big and besides she has to eat plenty to keep her strength up to fight the disease. She’s up to 375 lbs. and still growing. Her sister got the disease worse. She weighs 510 lbs. and last time she had to go to the hospitle I had to build a special ramp to her trailer and it took 8 people to carry her to the ambulance. We need a fund to get rid of this virus more than we need to worry about something as silly as global warming.

Hot as it is, I don’t believe in this global warming nonsense. I’ll believe it when I step outside of my trailer into about 5 feet of water from a melting iceberg. It’s all a big scare cooked up by libruls that are against business and Private Innerprize. The same people that made us wear seatbelts and force us to get our trucks inspected every year and make us buy gas without lead are the ones that are angling to force business owners to go to all kind of expense just to get rid of a few bad things that might come out of a smokestack. Next thing you know they will be wanting us to package beer into paper bottles. Then just about any weakling can crush a beer bottle with his bare hands on a Saturday night. You can’t trust a librul. It’s been proved time and time again.

Now suppose the libruls are right. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Well, in a few years the icebergs would melt and the people in New York City and California and other librul states along the coasts would drown. Is that so bad? We would be rid of the cause of most of our problems and we would have godly Republican presidents for many years. Instead of some pantywaist librul that would raise our taxes and turn us into a commie country.

Now suppose the libruls are right. It ain’t likely, but suppose they are. If we do what they want us to do we would lose a lot of profit and the commie countries that don’t have to do nothing would be making it all and pretty soon we would be marching in the May Day parades to sellabrate Karl Marx and people like that.

Either way, we’re better off doing nothing. So I don’t care weather global warming is real or phony. The godly, patriotic thing to do is just ignore all the hot air the libruls put out and go about our business of making money and profit. Besides, none of us is going to be around to see weather global warming is real, so why should we care? Maybe if it’s real we will get our caskets washed out of our graves and they’ll have to plant us again. Leastwise, we won’t have to do none of the work.

By Goodbye all

August 22, 2007 9:25 AM | Link to this

I’ve decided b(s)logs are a time waster I can do without. This one in particular offers less than no value to the world, other than giving time to pass gas a place to spew his torrents of bloody, sick and twisted KKKonservative diarrhea. So, Southern Democrat, your little “problem,” is now over. No more nightmares for you. Geez, what a ninny.

By WTF?

August 22, 2007 9:36 AM | Link to this

Jim, you’re always focused on the wrong things!!! What you should be focused on is our ignorant government! IMPEACH BUSH!!!!

By DebbieDoRight

August 22, 2007 9:37 AM | Link to this

This is really sad. Folks we are looking at a man who’s mind is so contorted with dementia that he is touting three scientists in georgia as the be all know all about global warming. Scientists around the world have already said again and again, that YES there is global warming; but Wooten finds three scientists in georgia who says that there’s no such thing.

Sigh. They say that the “fat” virus can be caught — I wonder if the fat head virus, dumbo ears, pea brain, repuglican banality, stupidity and dementia virus can be “caught” as well. If so, no one stand next to Wooten; he’s showing symptons of all the above traits.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 9:44 AM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

I always thought he was joking.

He wasn’t.

He was swift-riverboating Al Gore.

By MELO

August 22, 2007 9:45 AM | Link to this

Are u not the same person Wooten, who has said you can find think tanks that can agree with whatever you want to agree with. Same here with you. Out of the thousands of authoritative voices out there on global warming, u found two blow hards, hardly known in scientific circles, to nod their heads at ignorant yu. CONGRATS WOOTEN AND KEEP THAT HEAD IN THE SAND!!

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 9:50 AM | Link to this

Cartoon idea: Show an obese lady in Lucko’s cartoon today standing in front of her doctor. The doctor says, “You’re not big-boned, lacy, you’ve got the plague”.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 9:51 AM | Link to this

* DebbieDoRight*

For every scientist that says yes, their is one that will say no. Their is no definitive answer either way. Is man the cause or is it a trend of nature. Can man do anything about it?

But if you want lunacy, how about the idea by Al Gore that we turn up our AC and open up the doors and windows to our home!

Twenty five years ago Newsweek was espousing the danger of Global cooling. What will it be twenty five years from now?

By deegee

August 22, 2007 9:52 AM | Link to this

The prime minister of Iraq is in Syria criticizing the US, and Wootang wants to talk about the weather. Here’s a taste of what you won’t find in the AJC, link to the entire article below.

“DAMASCUS, Syria: Iraq’s prime minister lashed out at American criticism Wednesday, saying no one has the right to impose timetables on his elected government and that his country “can find friends elsewhere.”

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/22/africa/ME-GEN-Syria-Maliki-US.php

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

I always thought he was joking.

He wasn’t.

He was steamboating Al Gore.

By JK

August 22, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten, nice job avoiding the real news today: WE LOST ANOTHER 14 SOLDIERS in one helicopter that shouldn’t be there anyway!

Meanwhile: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at American criticism a day after President Bush expressed frustration with the Iraqi government’s inability to bridge political divisions.

“No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people,” the Shiite leader said at a news conference in Damascus at the end of a three-day visit to Syria.

“Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere,” al-Maliki said.

Well, there’s their gratitude for ya. Why don’t you get THIS guy to explain to those 14 families why their loved ones just HAD to be there?

By getalife

August 22, 2007 10:02 AM | Link to this

You can’t argue science with wingnuts, it way over their dumbed down heads but they are not claiming the Artic for nothing. It is melting and now they can get the oil.

China has banned cars but are praying for wind to clear the smog.

Scientists have agreed and this debate is over.

By tom

August 22, 2007 10:02 AM | Link to this

Steps in the conservative mythology about global warming: 1. it’s not happening 2. it’s happening but human activity has nothing to do with it 3. human activity is making it worse, but there’s nothing we can do about it 4. we can do something about it, but it would be too difficult/expensive 5. there are practical things we can do, but we need to leave that to the free market 6. it’s all a conspiracy of Hillary/socialism/the “liberal media”/those ungodly scientists/Darwinism anyway

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 10:02 AM | Link to this

What if global warming was a virus that an entire planet could catch? What if we caught global warming by exchanging heavenly-bodily fluids with Mars via ice/water comet debris-osmosis…..

The think tanks say it’s possible.

Now I’m frightened.

By STFU crackpipe you sad embittered eco whacKKKo ho

August 22, 2007 10:03 AM | Link to this

The whoralcious crackpipedebbieturd has sadly finished making its daily (tax free) 50 cents servicing a dozen or so illegal leech day labourers earlier than usual this morning and is gleefully puking up its usual witless doltish hateful bollocks. crackpipe’s predicktably pathetic cretinous pig ignorance about global whining is freaking hilarious!!

I guess the drivel that passes as ebonics dominated racebaiting far left eco whacKKKo sh!!te is as eagerly swallowed by crackpipe as anything oozing from the average unwashed peasantish day labourer illegal leech.

Many media outlets — such as the recent Newsweek magazine cover story — portray man-made global warming as fact and those who deny it as conspirators. But skeptics are increasingly certain that the scare is vastly overblown.

A new study by Brookhaven National Lab scientist Stephen Schwartz contends that the Earth’s climate is only about one-third as sensitive to carbon dioxide as the United Nations’ recent climate study claims. Schwarz’s work will be published in The Journal of Geophysical Eesearch.

The study is just one of several peer-reviewed scientific studies challenging global warming alarmism:

The Belgian Weather Institute concludes that carbon dioxide does not have a decisive role in global warming.

A study by two Chinese scientists says CO2’s role in warming is “vastly exaggerated.”

And new research by University of Washington mathematicians shows a correlation between high solar activity and periods of warming.

Meanwhile, what is billed as the first comprehensive analysis of global biofuel impact has concluded that their use may release between two and nine times more carbon gases than fossil fuels.

The study published in the journal Science says the clearing of forest land to grow biofuel crops will produce immediate carbon gas releases and also destroy habitats, wildlife and jobs. It says that while biofuels look good from a Western perspective, they will be harmful on a global scale. The study contends it will take about 40 percent of American and European agricultural land to grow enough biofuel crops to replace only 10 percent of fossil fuel use.

By deegee

August 22, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this

Is it any coincidence that DebbieDoRight and RCH disappeared on the same day and returned on the same day?

By Southern Democrat

August 22, 2007 10:07 AM | Link to this

Here are the choices presented to Mr. Wooten and the other fringe, minority elements that choose to ignore climate change (not just global warming, but that might take some actual research by them rather than mindlessly going to the same sources of information over and over and over):

1.) Listen to an overwhelming, crushing majority of scientists who say that the Earth’s climate is changing rapidly, due to human causes, and that the effects will be severe and widespread.

2.) Listen to their pastors who will read how God made us “stewards of the Earth” and we are called to care for it directly by Him.

3.) Listen to leaders of their own party — Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, etc., who were bold leaders in environmental preservation.

4.) Out of a sense of moral duty, pledge to leave the world a better place for one’s kids and grandkids.

No, Mr. Wooten and his ilk choose to ignore all of these voices and listen to the same voice that tells us to ignore the homeless person on the street b/c it’s not our problem or to have that second dish of ice cream. It’s the voice of self-indulgence, self-centeredness, and intellectual laziness.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this

What if global warming was a virus that an entire planet could catch?

What if earth caught global warming by exchanging heavenly-bodily fluids with Mars via cometary ice/water debris-osmosis and stuff?

What if the ozone was like a condom and the hole in the ozone was like a high school prick-prank Venus played on earth?

Be afraid, people, be very afraid.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this

Deegee Is jealousy rearing its ugly head?

By getalife

August 22, 2007 10:12 AM | Link to this

“14 US troops die in copter crash in Iraq:

A helicopter went down in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said, the deadliest crash since January 2005.

Maliki to Bush: You have no right to tell us what to do:

Responding to a question about U.S. criticism of his government, Maliki said: “The Iraqi government was elected by the Iraqi people and nobody (has the right to) put timetables … on it.”

My goodmess, Malarki just told w to GFY!

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 10:14 AM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

Was he joking, or steamboating Al Gore?

By deegee

August 22, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this

RCH, get over yourself.

By GodHatesTrash

August 22, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this

No, Mr. Wooten and his ilk choose to ignore all of these voices and listen to the same voice that tells us to ignore the homeless person on the street b/c it’s not our problem or to have that second dish of ice cream. It’s the voice of self-indulgence, self-centeredness, and intellectual laziness.

It is the ethos of the American rednekkk. Since Nixon, our country has been bedeviled by the rise of the redneck. Dumbya is their spiritual leader - a self-indulgent, self-centered, lazy moron, the quintessential American rednekkk.

Our government is trash, elected by trash.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 10:18 AM | Link to this

Deegee

It was you that was concerned!

By Van

August 22, 2007 10:19 AM | Link to this

While no sane person says there is no global warming - the sun does it every day - we are looking at the wrong source of global warming. It isn’t humans that are to blame Norwegian newspapers, citing research from Norway’s technical university, said a motorist would have to drive 13,000 kilometers in a car to emit as much CO2 as a moose does in a year.

By jm

August 22, 2007 10:22 AM | Link to this

To say that man has had no impact on the climate or environment is ignorance (just look at haze in the Atlanta skyline). To say that man is the primary cause of what is happening to climate and the environment is arrogance (SUVs did not melt the glaciers or cause the ice age). Weather patterns are cyclical.

It has taken about 500 years for the industrialized society we live in to get to where it is today. To expect change overnight (as advocated by many in the global warming crowd) is folly. That being said, there are little things that everybody can do. For one, stop being so wasteful. Americans are far and away the most wasteful people on the planet (just look at how much trash we generate). Maybe instead of using the dryer for your clothes, you can hang them out on the line (assuming you have a clothesline). A side benefit might also be a few less dollars going to the nutjobs in the middle east.

By these global nutters are deranged lying obsessive scum

August 22, 2007 10:23 AM | Link to this

as ever the illegal greasball getaturd’s pathetic abject lies are freaking hilarious!!

scientists have NOT “agreed”. The albore’s hysterical hypocritical LIES AND DISTORTIONS have been eviscerated by numerous scientists who understand that there is NO such thing as global whining. The global whining nutters need to STFU and stop lying about such feeble evidence and distortions based on deeply flawed self serving computer models, scientific pig ignorance and extremely selective, severely discredited eco whacKKKo propaganda.

tell us getaturd, why it is that the slumlord energy guzzling hypocrite alBOre is literally selling itself and massively profiting from) its worthless scam of carbon credits??!! the incestuous self serving greed of these deranged eco whacKKKo scumbags is just too funny!!

Atlantic hurricanes have @ 30 year cycles getaturd, there have been numerous warming periods with tiny (relative to today) global populations on the planet with not a SINGLE car or factory chimney and HAPPILY with not a single leftist global whining nutter wasting precious oxygen screeching about global whining.

By Van

August 22, 2007 10:24 AM | Link to this

oops, I forgot about dairy cattle.

This is even worse than the moose.

Agriculture is responsible for producing 37 percent of global methane emissions, a gas that is 23 times more potent than CO2 when it comes to global warming.

By Shar

August 22, 2007 10:25 AM | Link to this

Rep. Jeff Lewis is also the guy who fought so hard for $330 in taxpayer money to build an additional gas pipeline from Savannah’s Elba Island LNG facility to North Georgia in order to “bring lower gas prices to Georgia consumers.” He failed to understand two important points: that natural gas prices are set on the world market, and only reflect a wisp of transport costs in the final amount paid by consumers, and that his sponsor in this, Atlanta Gas Light, would not be pushing him so hard to get the bill passed in order to lower their prices.

Rep. Lewis is a nice fellow, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I give his pronouncements on climate change the same weight as his views on the energy market, and I look to his sponsors on both issues to have paid for the words coming from his mouth.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 10:26 AM | Link to this

An Alternate caption for luckovish today:

Show an obese lady at her doctor’s office, and the doc says, “You’re not big”

By Curious Observer

August 22, 2007 10:29 AM | Link to this

But jm, Dusty’s clothes are so wide that the necessary clothelines would look like a bad wiring job along a street in the Bronx.

By jbmlaw

August 22, 2007 10:32 AM | Link to this

Looks like the religious left rears its ugly head today. All who disagree must be silenced, “true science” has no room for challenge or dispute. Never mind that global temperatures abated over the past five years. As the Queen of Hearts reminds us, “sentence first, verdict afterwards.” Obviously we need to do all we can to destroy our economy now, just in case there is something to the religious fervor over global warming. Man can be the only significant cause of a century long temperature rise, which is just now getting back to the levels the earth enjoyed 800 years ago. What we need to do is the same thing we did 800 years ago, to get the temperatures back down as we did then.

For those not seized of the religious fervor over global warming, there is a great essay on the nature of political opposition in America today: http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010503

On immigration enforcement: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010504

By I LOVE MY CARBON FOOTPRINT

August 22, 2007 10:33 AM | Link to this

Our government is trash, elected by trash.

DAMN!!! after all this wasted time and demented racist yanKKKee puke at last rednekkks NAMBLA actually GETS SOMETHING RIGHT!!

its backward retarded child molesting homo loving racebaiting black racial spoils cut and run appeasing corrupt venal yanKKKee/KKKalifornia northern/western maggots that have elected the most govts in the last 100 years or so. its demoNcrats who have mostly run congress in modern times you sick and twisted child molesting oafish shemaleson of a bloated yanKKKee w hore!!

nice to see the paranoid rabid racist nutter heebeedeegee has the heebeedeegees yet again!!

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 10:33 AM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

Was he joking, or steamboating Al Gore?

Is global warming a virus? Did we catch global warming by exchanging heavenly-bodily fluids from cometary ice/water debris osmosis and stuff?

Did Venus prick holes in our ozone as a high school prank?

. .

.

Alternate cartoon for Luckovich: Show an obese lady in the doctor’s office, and the doctor says, “You’re not big-boned, lady, you’ve got the plague.”

By getalife

August 22, 2007 10:34 AM | Link to this

Iraqi PM: Iraq “Can Find Friends Elsewhere”

Told ya, Iraq is not our ally.

I think his trips to Iran and Syria has embolden him.

Our troops are stuck in the middle when the Iraqis they trained turn and kill them.

Russia sold Syria some missiles and wonder if that is why the Blackhawk went down.

By Van

August 22, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this

Paleoclimate scientist Bob Carter, who has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (LINK), noted in a June 18, 2007 essay that global warming has stopped.

Tis is good news, Al Gore can go home and stop selling carbon offsets.

From the Senate

By getalife

August 22, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this

Research boom in Arctic village as oil reserves draw big powers

There are oil reserves there and they will fight for that territory.

Wingnuts are too stupid to see global warming is a huge economic opportunity.

Alternative energy will create many jobs and boost our econmy.

It is a great investment opportunity but go go ahead and bash it losers.

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 10:49 AM | Link to this

idea by Al Gore that we turn up our AC and open up the doors and windows to our home! RCH, can you substantiate this???? Air Conditioning heats up the environment.

By deegee

August 22, 2007 10:52 AM | Link to this

It is generally accepted that the earth and the solar system are about 4.5 billion years old. A lot has changed over time. The earth will survive climate change. We won’t unless we make some changes in the way we live. If we humans want to survive the inevitable short term changes, 7000 years or less, then we need to make some changes in our lifestyle.

White people are going to have to slap on the sunscreen.

Replace fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy. Until then we should probably get used to the idea of wearing breathing masks over our mouth and nose.

Losing weight should help us by lowering our BTU output and allowing us to better handle the heat.

We are going to be paying more to keep our homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter so smaller living spaces are in order.

No more government subsidized insurance for coastal property. If you have to ask what it costs you can’t afford it.

By WTF

August 22, 2007 10:54 AM | Link to this

As usual, Jim cherry picks his information. While John Christy has said that he does not agree with the dire predictions of some regarding global warming, he has also said “It is scientifically inconceivable that after changing forests into cities, turning millions of acres into irrigated farmland, putting massive quantities of soot and dust into the air, and putting extra greenhouse gases into the air, that the natural course of climate has not changed in some way.” Mr. Christy also helped to draft the American Geophysical Union statement on global warming which states: “Human activities are increasingly altering the Earth’s climate. These effects add to natural influences that have been present over Earth’s history. Scientific evidence strongly indicates that natural influences cannot explain the rapid increase in global near-surface temperatures observed during the second half of the 20th century.”

By I LOVE MY CARBON FOOTPRINT - WITH ALLAH'S HELP IT WILL HOPEFULLY GET MUCH BIGGER

August 22, 2007 10:55 AM | Link to this

the brainless moron getaturd (ironically) witlessly points out that there are vast untapped oil resources there for the taking. this gives the LIE to the usual tree shagging lentil munching eco whacKKKo nutters’ empty shrill claim that the oil is running out and we need a billion eco whacKKKo windmills to generate electricity - except of course in the DUI killer Kennedy’s line of sight in their millionaire’s luxury summer drunken playground.

we need to drill in the Alaskan so called wild life refuge now (sod the moose) … its only a small bit of a massive area but will (in a few years) help to keep petrol prices down so the hollywood scum can continue to drive their SUV’s from their lear jets to their cocaine sniffing leftist lynch mob parties!!

By Van

August 22, 2007 10:58 AM | Link to this

deegee,

Go for it. I want you to be as happy as anyone else does.

I do not agree, but then when was the last time everyone agreed on anything.

As a carbon based life form, I will sit back and enjoy the weather.

By WTF

August 22, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this

Let’s assume that Jim and others of a like mind are correct and global warming is not occuring. Isn’t there still good reason to work for reduced emissions so that we can breather cleaner air? To work for new sources of energy and new energy technologies so that the US isn’t dependent on other nations for oil? It seems that both sides of this debate should be able to agree on a common goal of a cleaner environment and energy independence for the United States. But instead, all we get is silly schoolyard name calling by people on both sides who could put their time and energy to better use.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 11:04 AM | Link to this

Lily Toad

What the ‘Summer of Cooling” bill does is require anyone (except those in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other protectorates) with a refrigerator and/or central air in their home, cottage, office, store, factory or anyone who has air in their vehicle such as a car, SUV or RV, that they turn them on especially during the hottest point of each summer day or in the case of a fridge, open the door. At the same time that they do this they are required to open their windows and let the cooler air emanating from the fridge or air conditioning out into the open air.

Who came up with this lunacy?

By getalife

August 22, 2007 11:10 AM | Link to this

Van,

That is what cons do.

Sit back and do nothing while the liberals fix your mess.

“President Bush: The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.

Reporter: What did Iraq have to do with that?

President Bush: What did Iraq have to do with what?

Reporter: The attack on the World Trade Center.

President Bush: Nothing!!

Now that idiot is spewing that if we withdraw, it will be like Vietnam.

Duh, should of thought of that before he invaded. Maybe if that coward fought in Vietnam, he would not have repeated Vietnam.

Geez.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 11:11 AM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

Was he joking, or steamboating Al Gore?

By WTF

August 22, 2007 11:12 AM | Link to this

RCH @ 11:04am — You copied your description of the “Summer of Cooling” bill from

http://witsterblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/good-old-american-ingenuity-to-stop.html

which clearly describes the blog as “Witty, humorous rants, thoughts, explorations, news satire/parodies, and the occasional joke from the mind of the self-named ‘Head Witster’.”

In other words, THERE IS NO SUMMER OF COOLING BILL. It is a joke. Satire. Wit. Really, some of you people have absolutely no sense of humor.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this

Finally, Mr. Wooten gets off the mundane and brings up a topic sure to “heat up” some passions!

The unequivocal answer to the question of whether or not man-induced global warming is occurring will be answered.

Though the evidence is certainly convincing, even definitive, it is not yet proven. But years ago neither was the evidence that Mars once had water. Of course, it now is.

And, yes there are countless uninformed “leftists” who will grab onto anything said by their favorite political personalities and run like hell with it.

Even so, IMHO, the greatest hope mankind has is through science and intellectual progress. Many, many of the answers that seemed impossibly far off, in the fields of medicine, physics, cosmology, the earth sciences, technology and most of the other sciences as little as 20 years ago, are now at our fingertips or are known.

And for the neo-conservatives and reactionaries, there’s the rub.

I believe that the reasons for the strident opposition to this theory are at least two-fold, and they are the same ones employed over and over and over again.

First, it has been my experience, based on reading much on the topic from numerous sources and both sides politically, that it is simply a predictable and well defined knee-jerk reaction against any and all things originating in the “liberal” camp. Especially if it is posited by the godless devils in academia.

And that leads to the second part of the equation - religion/faith and science/reason are constantly at odds, if not polar opposites when it comes to answering these types of questions.

So now, we have countless armchair “scientists”, some of whom apparently slept through high school, who trot out the most inane “examples” as evidence, though the subject matter is clearly so complex, and they demonstrate such a rudimentary, if that, knowledge of that which they propose to speak truth to, that it is utterly ridiculous.

But when compiling a dismal, or even worse, track record, compiled over many centuries, in the study of answering these types of questions and finding solutions to the problems mankind faces, one would have to turn no farther than to the great organized religions of the world, whose real interest, lets face it, lies in an afterlife.

So the fundamentalists and evangelicals are horribly concerned, even alarmed, at this rise in the power of knowledge and reason over the once nearly total power of religion and what many now deem, mythology.

And as the vast majority of the neo-conservatives are either or both “haters” of anything and all things liberal or religionists (or closet supporters), they simply cannot allow themselves to believe what they do not wish for and that which is postulated by their political and philosophical rivals.

But in countless cases, over a very long period of time, the answers that they feared, and the ones that would replace their “answers” were to become known as fundamental truths and accepted as such.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this

WTF

I have a hard time taking anything that Al Gore says seriously.

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 11:24 AM | Link to this

When I first read RCH’s Al Gore “lunatic idea” it sounded like something from “The Onion.” Fox News probably reported it as a fact.

By WTF

August 22, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this

RCH — Are you joking or serious? If, and that is a BIG if, Al Gore called for a so-called Summer of Cooling bill it was a joke. The man has a sharp sense of humor that apparently goes over the heads of some people. And if you’re referring to the witsterblog reference to Al Gore supporting the “bill” then you still clearly haven’t grasped that the site is about PARODY and SATIRE. It’s not meant to be taken seriously.

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 11:31 AM | Link to this

RCH, you’d be better off taking Al Gore seriously than Bill O’Reilly.

By deegee

August 22, 2007 11:31 AM | Link to this

That’s good, Van. Sit back and enjoy your asthma and melanoma.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 11:32 AM | Link to this

Lily Toad and WTF

It was a joke. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Al came up with something like this. Remember, all the things he wants us to do do including riding a bike to work. Now there is lunacy. In Atlanta? In one week you would be called “road kill”.

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 11:34 AM | Link to this

RCH, you’d be better off taking Al Gore seriously than Bill O’Reilly.

By WTF

August 22, 2007 11:39 AM | Link to this

Whew. RCH, I’m glad to get know that you saw that it was a joke. I think your comment about biking reflects part of the larger issue. Biking to work is feasible for many people. It just depends on where you live. But for some people it’s difficult to see merit in any proposal by someone with whom they disagree if it isn’t something applicable to their immediate existence. Sure, if you live in Clayton County and work Downtown you’re not going to bike to work. But if you live in Midtown and work Downtown it would work. The issue boils down to people taking everything so literally and failing to see that there is a bigger world than their own lives. RCH, while some can bike to work to help the environment, maybe you can recycle or use environmentally-friendly light bulbs. Everyone can do their part and in the end we all benefit. Of course, some nut job on here is going to call me a commie for suggesting that we all have an obligation to care about the greater good.

By Van

August 22, 2007 11:43 AM | Link to this

WTF ,

While the debate of whether global warming is happening or not and whether it is caused by human activity will never be solved - too many zealots like getalife and other that will not listen to science.

A cleaner environment is always a good thing, the question is do we spend trillions to stop a naturally occuring cycle or spend it on cleaning up the environment. While some items show up on both lists, they are not the same.

For example, we wouldn’t spend a ton of money experimenting with the feed for cattle to stop their polluting with green house gases.

Do we need another Al Gore company selling so-called carbon offsets?

Since CO2 makes up about .038% of our atmosphere and we produce about 2.75% of that as man made CO2, the only downside is a benefit to farmers.

By TW

August 22, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this

C’mon Jim – an ignorant viewpoint could not find itself a better home than the ‘Gold Dome’…unless Chambliss has a library I don’t know about? Regardless, drivel like this will not catch you back up to Cynthia Tucker….

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this

In Florida many millions have been spent in cleaning up and monitoring phosphorus run off from cattle ranches. It has resulted in many dairies and beef ranchers re-locating to south Georgia where such controls are not in place.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 11:50 AM | Link to this

Oh good.

Michael Ware is rebutting w’s bs.

Today w supports Malarki, yesterday he bashed him.

Ware is saying Iran has the influence more than us.

Duh.

They are not our ally.

So we have wasted 4000 Americans and a trillion dollars for Iraq to be Iran’s ally.

Geez and the VFW cheer him on.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 11:51 AM | Link to this

WTF

I agree that any action such as recycling, better gas mileages, etc. does help the environment( even though I do not push the global warming agenda),the Al Gore type of rhetoric of global disaster and the need of sudden life style changes overwhelms rational thinking.

By Van

August 22, 2007 11:59 AM | Link to this

Lily Toad,

Get serious, AlBore over Bill O’Reilly.

One has the personality of dry toast and the other is entertaining.

Plus, W made him look stupid during the 2000 debates. What a laugh.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 12:03 PM | Link to this

Al can not save the wingnuts from burning in hell.

Nobody can because they chose the wrong path in life.

Repent your evil warmongering and hatred is the only way to save your souls.

By SusieHomeMaker

August 22, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this

Is it any coincidence that DebbieDoRight and RCH disappeared on the same day and returned on the same day?

He was great! What can I say?! My husband IS gone for a while……

By SusieHomeMaker

August 22, 2007 12:19 PM | Link to this

Twisted: For You.

http://www.killsometime.com/animations/animation.asp?ID=52

By Van

August 22, 2007 12:23 PM | Link to this

getalife,

So when will Al Gore get rid of his big oil holdings and his zinc mine?

If he was really interested in saving the world, those two would make a good start.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 12:28 PM | Link to this

Van,

Bashing Gore does nothing.

We will clean up the mess, just sit back and watch.

Loser.

By Curious Observer

August 22, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this

The neocons’ rejection of global warming has nothing to do with religion or even with a perverse delight in rejecting liberal theories.

It’s all about the money. An acknowledgement of the legitimacy of global warming would lead to pollution controls. And pollution controls cost money—money that could otherwise be pocketed as profit.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 12:36 PM | Link to this

While the debate of whether global warming is happening or not and whether it is caused by human activity will never be solved - too many zealots like getalife and other that will not listen to science.

This assertion just couldn’t be any more incorrect.

Simply look to the past for refutation of this very strange claim.

The most single powerful body in the entire known world at the time and the very definition of dogmatic zealots, the Roman Catholic Church, tried desperately to silence (and worse) Copernicus, Galileo, Magellan and many others, but even they couldn’t do it.

The religionists and power brokers of the rural South of the 1920s tried desperately to silence Williams Jennings Bryan and Darwin and couldn’t do it.

And even though those who don’t want to know the truth may hope beyond hope that the answer will never avail itself, it most assuredly will.

And people who try to frame this debate in the context of Al Gore, or anybody else for that matter, are merely engaging in mental masturbation and their “information” is irrelevant and immaterial. Science doesn’t care one iota what you or I or any of those others think or say.

And the knife cuts both ways, of course. But the conservative, for lack of a better word, viewpoint has proven time and again to be consistently scientifically incorrect.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 12:38 PM | Link to this

SusieHomeMaker Easy, you will give deegee a heart attack!

By GreyGayGeek

August 22, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this

getalife: For Van, bashing Gore is better than masturbation. It must be for him, since he does it so much.

Plus, by bashing Gore, he can conveniently ignore all sorts of inconvenient truths.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 12:48 PM | Link to this

Curious, yes I neglected to mention the always over-arching aspect of rejecting this theory - MONEY!!!

Yet, even that argument is ludicrous in some ways, as new technologies and new ways of accomplishing things offer untold riches. But the question is, for whom?

By Van

August 22, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this

AmVet,

You make good points, but do not apply to this topic.

There are scientists on both side, there are hearings going on in DC, both sides are being heard.

The trouble is when both sides are being displayed and not examined.

I gave a link earlier that showed a large list of peer reviewed publications that say human contribution to global warming is not as significant as first believed.

If both sides are examined, cooler heads will prevail.

By global whining leftist tossers

August 22, 2007 12:53 PM | Link to this

why is this pompously named am vet such a brainless, shameless leftist tosser?

all it does is puke up empty leftist lies. bet the only thing its a vet of is licking G SOREos’s currency speculatin’ arse!!

science has repeatedly proven there is NO global whining - you leftist dogturds just keep endlessly lyin’ cos its ur new religion - now racial spoils blacks have turned racists and the commies have been defeated.

the amount of methane ozzing outta global whiners and these lice infested anti-capitalist/anti-globalist rabble thuggishly imposing their noxious presence wherever they can to attack local cops is a much bigger problem than even the alBOre’s hypocritical carbon credits that this eco wankkker sells itself and its shameless energy guzzling whilst “on tour” to promote a Goebbels like proganda film!!

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 1:13 PM | Link to this

Van, though you may wish that the points I made do not apply here, I believe that is somewhat naive.

Up until they recently “changed their minds” on the evidence, the Bush administration was accused any number of times of quietly suppressing information contrary to their ideology.

And do you really believe that the corporations with the largest vested interests in the status quo are not using every weapon in their arsenal to do the same?

And I know that there are some examples of this strident behavior on the other side of the issue as well.

But science is not a popularity contest. The data will stand or fall on its own. And as more is learned, the data will shift in one direction or the other.

Massive, rampant pollution on this planet is a reality. Entire ecosystems have vanished. Hell, entire rain forests have vanished. Mass extinctions (over fishing, habitat destruction, etc…) are happening at an accelerating rate.

And to contend that man has little or no effect is simply laughable. Go out and breathe the air in Atlanta (I believe it is in the unhealthy range for ALL people today). Go take a dip in the Chattahoochee (or like on The Simpsons, look for fish with three eyes!) Look at any number of the mountains of refuse that is graded over and covered up at numerous places around the city.

Common sense and open eyes indicate that industrialized man is wrecking havoc with this planet. And in spite of many successes in battling and even reversing some trends (thank you progressives!), the sheer amount of carcinogens and dangerously unhealthy crap going into the air, the water and the land just keeps growing exponentially.

How many “studies” do we need before the most intransigent among us will agree that these are the facts and they are irrefutable. And so I for one will err on the side that contends the you-know-what is going to hit the fan if we don’t change our ways and now.

By GodHatesTrash

August 22, 2007 1:15 PM | Link to this

AmVet, good post, but Mr. Bryan lined himself up with the forces of evangelical KKKhristianity. It was Clarence Darrow who defended Mr. Scopes, who incidentally was convicted in the intellectual backwater called the State of Tennessee courts.

Ironically, if there ever was a group of people that proved our descent from apes, it would be the “people” of Tennessee…

By GreyGayGeek

August 22, 2007 1:20 PM | Link to this

GodHatesTrash

Ironically, if there ever was a group of people that proved our descent from apes, it would be the “people” of Tennessee…

Well, my mamma’s people originally came from the northeast corner of Tennesse, right where it, Virginia, and Kentucky come together. In fact, her ancestors are a long-established band of inbreeds known as “Melungeons”.

Oh. Yeah. I guess I’m just proving your point. :-)

By silence the global whining leftist tossers

August 22, 2007 1:24 PM | Link to this

talking of apes rednekkks NAMBLA - How’s your oafish bloated fleabitten yanKKKee mammy doin? still getting paid in bananas and monkey nuts at the Emory primate centre for personal services rendered!!

just (again) wittily mirroring back your unprovoked hate bollocks chops!!

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 1:29 PM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

Was he joking, or steamboating Al Gore?

What if global warming was a virus that an entire planet can catch? We caught global warming by exchanging heavenly-bodily fluids with Mars.

Now we’ve got crab nebula’s.

That explains why men scratch themselves at formal dinners!!

d’oh!

By silence the global whining leftist tossers

August 22, 2007 1:30 PM | Link to this

proof positive that pig ignorant nasal whining yanKKKees are as expected justasdumbasshit … and then some!!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070822064927.3gb131i5&show_article=1

By Van

August 22, 2007 1:31 PM | Link to this

AmVet,

Cleaning up the environment and global warming is not the same fight.

While Galileo was imprisoned(house arrest) for his beliefs, today we have peer review in science.

For example -

The study found that times of high solar activity are on average 0.2 degrees C warmer than times of low solar activity, and that there is a polar amplification of the warming. This result is the first to document a statistically significant globally coherent temperature response to the solar cycle, the authors note. Authors: Charles D. Camp and Ka Kit Tung: Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Source: Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) paper 10.1029/2007GL030207, 2007

Which big business funded this study?

When the left stops supporting the Dan Quail of the left and start looking at the science, we will be better off.

BTW, this is not a bad day, I grew up in Los Angeles in the 60’s - that was pollution. Ask anyone that lived in Britain during the bad days in the 50’s - that was pollution, this is nothing. Should we be concerned, yes. Can we do something about air pollution, yes. Will the belching of cows cause global warming - no.

By GodHatesTrash

August 22, 2007 1:32 PM | Link to this

The bloviations of a retarded English poofairy are not witty, they are not even half-witty.

Trash.

By Van

August 22, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this

AmVet,

Another toady of big business -

Belgian weather institute’s (RMI) August 2007 study dismisses decisive role of CO2 in warming: Excerpt: “Brussels: CO2 is not the big bogeyman of climate change and global warming. This is the conclusion of a comprehensive scientific study done by the Royal Meteorological Institute, which will be published this summer.

Wow, they must be in the pocket of the looney right wingnuts!

Do you want more? How about the Chinese? Surely they are bowing to the evangelical religious nuts.

Chinese scientists Lin Zhen-Shan, and Sun Xian’s 2007 study, published in the peer-reviewed Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, noted that CO2’s impact on warming may be “excessively exaggerated.” Excerpt: “The global climate warming is not solely affected by the CO2 greenhouse effect. The best example is temperature obviously cooling however atmospheric CO2 concentration is ascending from 1940s to 1970s. Although the CO2 greenhouse effect on global climate change is unsuspicious, it could have been excessively exaggerated. It is high time to reconsider the trend of global climate change,” the two scientists concluded.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 1:46 PM | Link to this

Mark Twain said, “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.”

He wasnt joking, he was steamboating Al Gore.

By Elton's John

August 22, 2007 1:51 PM | Link to this

Whether you believe in Global Warming or not, I know you believe in pollution. If we keep dirtying our environment, through carbon emissions, polluting our drinking water, stripping bare land of trees that eat carbon dixiode and exhale oxygen; then we will not have a planet that is capable of sustaining life as we know it.

Is this what we want? Is the money that we get now, worth killing our children’s children’s children tomorrow?

Think about it.

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 1:53 PM | Link to this

GGG — I’ve heard lots of theories about the origins of Melungeons, but the ape connection is a new one. About as believable as global warming not existing.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 1:59 PM | Link to this

Cleaning up the environment and global warming is not the same fight.

Unless I am completely confused, what is the argued source for man-induced global warming?

Answer - The scientific consensus identifies elevated levels of greenhouse gases due to human activity as the main influence.

Greenhouse gases. Carbon Dioxide, methane, other hydrocarbon fuels, ozone, etc… And where do these gases come from in terms of human generation? Pollution generating devices like cars, power plants, etc…

They are inextricably entwined and the sources are in countless cases, the same.

If man is significantly responsible for global-warming it is because of the same reason that smog predominates across the globe - gargantuan amounts of air born pollutants.

And if it makes you feel better, keep finding and posting everything you can from those who you agree with. It doesn’t matter! For every organization, scientist or quasi-intellectual group you can find, your opponents can list a dozen or more.

Just realize that science is based on consensus, which does not infer infallibility, just enormous credibility.

By Anonymous

August 22, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this

Wooten says “Count me among the global warming skeptics.”

I can only assume this is based on his years of study in climatology, his extensive reviews of the accumulated data and climate models, and his own carefully verified measurements of climate-shift patterns over a period of decades.

Because otherwise, he’d just be babbling about a topic he’s completely ignorant of, right?

By Van

August 22, 2007 2:05 PM | Link to this

AmVet,

Basic concept, there is never room for consensus in science. It either is or isn’t. Science is never a general agreement, it must be provable and repeatable to be accepted.

You are starting to sound like a recording of the loopy left - no opinion, just repeating the talking points - open your mind.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 2:09 PM | Link to this

Elton’s John As mentioned in my earlier blog, no one here can deny that we are stewards of our planet and all of us must act that way. Simple things such as recycling or keeping your car tuned and tires properly inflated makes a difference.

However, unlike your comment these actions can save you money in the long run. As mentioned above, cleaning air filters etc. can put money back in your pocket rather than out.

By Anonymous

August 22, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this

Wow, Van… have you never taken a science course?

Of COURSE scientific consensus is important. That’s why tests and experiments must be objectively repeatable and verifiable by other qualified experts who know what they’re doing. It’s why exposing fraud is the major hobby of many practicing scientists.

“Is or is not” is the province of stupidity and blind belief, not science. Science deals in degrees of plausibility, probability, and levels of verification. Evolution, for example, is 99% certain—it has more verification than the gravitation or atomic theory.

Likewise, the overwhelming majority of qualified scientists have reached a consensus on climate change: it’s real, and human activity is a major factor. There’s no room for discussion unless you have the qualifications to adjust that degree of confirmation up or down a few percentage points.

By Van

August 22, 2007 2:25 PM | Link to this

Anonymous,

In science, if is not repeatable and provable, it isn’t taken as fact, it continues to be studied.

The problem is, is that some wackos feel that if it sounds good, but is not provable and repeatable, then its is okay, we will believe it anyway.

We may not know for certain how gravity works, but we can repeatedly prove its effect.

We can not do that with the current weather models.

By GreyGayGeek

August 22, 2007 2:26 PM | Link to this

Anonymous @ 2:11

Van didn’t need science classes, since he’s got Faux Noise Network as his primary “information” source.

By Van

August 22, 2007 2:40 PM | Link to this

GreyGayGeek,

To borrow from AmVet, it was a consessus of the Church that doomed Galileo. His use of the telescope went counter to their belief that the solar system was based on Ptolemy and not Copernicus.

It was the consensus of the Church, not science.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 2:43 PM | Link to this

There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now. The regions destined to feel its impact are the great wheat-producing lands of Canada and the U.S.S.R. in the North, along with a number of marginally self-sufficient tropical areas – parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indochina and Indonesia – where the growing season is dependent upon the rains brought by the monsoon.The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it. To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic. “A major climatic change would force economic and social adjustments on a worldwide scale,” warns a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, “because the global patterns of food production and population that have evolved are implicitly dependent on the climate of the present century.” Amvet, Lillytoad, Anonmous, others. This article that appeared in Newsweek in 1975 was also supposedly supported by the majority of top scientist. Where are they now? Will we be saying the same thing about global warming in 30 years. Up to this point there are to many conflicting hypothesis to make any logical decision.

By Wouldn'tyaknowit

August 22, 2007 3:03 PM | Link to this

Swartz - paid by the American Enterprise Institute. Funded by Exxon Mobil. Michaels - paid by Western Fuels Association. Christy - paid by Competitive Enterprise Institute. Funded by Exxon Mobil. Leave it to the great backward state of Georgia to come up with the 3 stooges to make their case.

By Lily Toad

August 22, 2007 3:06 PM | Link to this

IN 1975 there had been a lowering of temps, but that trend reversed in 1979, when temps started rising. The Newsweek article did not cite a consensus of scientists as prevalent as the consensus of those who support the global warming theory. In fact, in 1992, Newsweek published another article opposing the 1975 theory.

I’m always suspicious of such doom and gloom prognostications, because they sound too much like the religious “end times.” I also distrust the doom and gloom of the peak oil movement.

By deegee

August 22, 2007 3:12 PM | Link to this

RCH, the answer is yes, we will be saying that the earth is warming not only for the next 30 years but possibly for the next 3000 years if mankind survives the change. During the 2 million years that the human specie has roamed the earth they have evolved and adapted to climate changes. What is at issue is that mankind is contributing to a rapid change in climate and might not adapt.

By RCH

August 22, 2007 3:23 PM | Link to this

LillyToad

But they are almost* unanimous* in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century.

Unless that word means something different today ,it means most.

Is this global warming thing just another doom and gloom? If global warming is occurring then the question will be what is causing it. My bet would be placed on nature. How will we control that effect if it is caused by the sun?

By Dusty

August 22, 2007 3:54 PM | Link to this

Dear JIm Wooten,

I really learned a lot today. First of all, I can call AL when I’m hot and dying. That may come soon. When they built our house 100 years ago they forgot the AC. Since we are into historic preservation and all that stuff, we didn’t add it.

Would you get word to Al for me? We could certainly use one of those floating icebergs. I’ll put it on the back porch.

The second thing I learned is this: that university in Huntsville, Alabama you mentioned is really in Georgia. Yes sir. Likewise for that university in Virginia. Yep! Right here in Georgia. I didn’t know that until our 9:57 blogger told us the facts. Now I am proud! We just don’t appreciate our educational system enough.

Now stay cool. I’ll do the same if the fans here don’t blow me right into Sphgetti Junction.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 4:01 PM | Link to this

Funny how the left were called traitors when they compared Iraq to Vietnam.

Crisis in the Green Zone

Geez.

By Van

August 22, 2007 4:06 PM | Link to this

deegee,

Just out of curiosity.

What temperature should the earth be?

Maybe we are suppose to have 100 degree summers in Atlanta and the lower temperatures were sub-normal?

How do we know that the earth might be warming up to its normal and we are not there yet?

I have a Physics teacher back in the dark ages said that is we have ice caps, it still means we are still in an ice age.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 4:08 PM | Link to this

US envoy spells out anxiety over British strategy in Basra

Lets play the blame game.

Of course, nothing is w’s fault.

KO will talk about this tonight.

A clue for wingnuts, the liberals are not to blame.

Where does the buck stop?

By lying leftist scum

August 22, 2007 4:10 PM | Link to this

getaturd’s cowardly imbecilic brainless dishonesty almost never ceases to amaze. Given it was the vile treasonous leftist scum who were SOLELY responsible for undermining the US military in Vietnam Bush’s very timely, perfectly valid comparison with Nam is merely a reminder of how gutless and craven the leftist vermin are in the USA.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 4:18 PM | Link to this

time for the toilet,

Those links are from the British media.

They said you escaped from a mental facilty and should be hung for treason.

By Casual Observation

August 22, 2007 4:35 PM | Link to this

I have a Physics teacher back in the dark ages said that is we have ice caps, it still means we are still in an ice age.

Van has ice caps. On his soul.

By getalife

August 22, 2007 4:43 PM | Link to this

“Over a year and a half ago, I made a gut-wrenching decision to leave the Army in order to speak out about the war in Iraq. I turned my back on over 31 years of service and what by all accounts would have been a great career. I realized that I was in a unique position to speak out on behalf of Soldiers and their families. I had a moral obligation and duty to do so. My family and I left the only life we knew and entered the political debate. As a two-time combat veteran, I understand the value of thorough planning and deliberate execution. I understand what it takes to win. As a life-long Republican, I am prepared to carry on with the debate for as long as necessary. I have been speaking out for the past 17 months and there is no turning back.

As a conservative, I am all for a strong military and setting the conditions for success. America goes to war to win. I am not anti-war and am committed to winning the struggle against world-wide Islamic extremism. But, I am outraged that elected officials of my own party do not comprehend the predicament we are in with a strategy in the Middle East that lacks focus and is all but relying on the military to solve the diplomatic, political, and economic Rubik’s Cube that defines Iraq. Our dysfunctional interagency process in Washington DC lacks leadership and direction. Many conservatives in Congress have allowed the charade to go on for too long.

It is disappointing that so many elected representatives of my party continue to blindly support the administration rather than doing what is in the best interests of our country. Traditionally, my party has maintained a conservative view on questions regarding our Armed Forces. For example, we commit our military only when absolutely necessary. In the same way conservatives have always argued against government excess in social programs, the lives our young men and women in uniform, our most precious resource, are not to be used on wars of choice or for nation building. The military theorist Carl von Clausewitz taught us that wars are to be fought only as a last resort–the extension of politics by other means.

These principles are apparently not understood by many of the Republicans in our Congress. Besides the fact that many conservatives allowed President Bush to jump head-first into a war of choice, the bullheadedness of Congressional Republicans who argue for staying the course runs contrary to conservative values. Many politicians of my party continue to argue that we must liberally use up whatever our military has left. Bottom line, the Republican Congress of the last six years abrogated its Constitutional duty and share in the responsibility for the debacle in Iraq.

Our all-volunteer military cannot continue the current cycle of deployments for much longer. America’s national strategy in Iraq is akin to a four legged stool with legs representing diplomacy, political reconciliation, economic recovery, and the military. The glue holding it all together must be the mobilization of the United States in support of the incredibly important effort to defeat world-wide Islamic extremism. The only leg on the stool of any consequence is the military–it is solid titanium and high performing, the best in the world. After almost six years since September 11, our country is not mobilized behind this important work and the diplomatic, political, and economic legs are not focused and lack leadership. Most Americans now appreciate that the military alone cannot solve the problem in Iraq. In this situation, the stool will surely collapse.

Our military and our treasury are not unlimited resources. The war in Iraq is breaking our fine Army and Marine Corps, and we are perilously close to doing damage that will take more than a decade to fix. Our brigades and divisions in Iraq today are at near full strength because the rest of the force has been gutted. We cannot place America in a position of weakness as it just begins its long war against world-wide Islamic extremism. The Republican administration is bleeding our national treasure in blood and dollars with little to show for it.

The high price we are paying might be worth it if Iraq’s many factions were making meaningful progress to achieve political reconciliation. But, after more than four years, Iraqis are no closer to settling their differences and the sitting Shia government is ineffective. With insufficient coalition and Iraqi security forces on the ground, the myth of Sisyphus is playing out over and over again. The Iraqi Parliament goes on vacation instead of working, and every few months, it seems, another Iraqi political faction walks out of the process. To me, continuing to expend money and American lives on a nation that shows little drive to solve its own problems is the foreign policy equivalent of a welfare queen.

The only way to stabilize Iraq and allow our military to rearm and refit for the long fight ahead is to begin a responsible and deliberate redeployment from Iraq and replace the troops with far less expensive and much more effective resources–those of diplomacy and the critical work of political reconciliation and economic recovery. In other words, when it comes to Iraq, it’s time for conservatives to once again be conservative.”

– Major General John Batiste, US Army (retired)

By deegee

August 22, 2007 4:44 PM | Link to this

Van, the earth’s temperature should be equal to the temperature of your butt crack in August. Ask a stupid question and you get a stupid answer.

By crush the appeasing pinKKKo scum

August 22, 2007 4:47 PM | Link to this

poor old maggot brain getaturd … it simply canot debate FACTS!! The leftist cut and run smelly hippy scum here and in Europe gleefully for years undermined the war in Nam. Bush today simply sensibly reminded us all of the undeniable shameful pinko appeasing and then cowardly lying wankkkers like you just post hysterical abuse!!

WHOOPPED EM AGAIN JOSIE!!

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 4:50 PM | Link to this

getalife, it is interesting that you brought that subject up at 4:01.

As you my have noticed I sometimes end my posts with Iraq is Arabic for Viet Nam. (hey, we live in an age of bumper stickers, why not use ‘em?!)

Seriously, though I think there are some striking similarities and that is why I use the quote.

Now, after thousands of dead Americans and half a trillion dollars, President Bush has alluded to this once forbidden subject. Of course, solely to make the point that is oft heard here: we lost because the commie-loving liberals stopped the flow of money to fund the madness and we had no choice but to cut and run from SE Asia.

Sadly for many, the more things change, the more they stay the same and these people will never, ever learn from the past.

By Katharine

August 22, 2007 4:54 PM | Link to this

Seasons change. Global warming is a political concept, calculated to scare people into generating more laws and taxes for themselves.

More pertinent to the here and now, we are drowning in filth. Environmental toxins are much more dangerous in the short term, yet we continue to waste and pollute. Public streets and sidewalks are full of safety hazards, because more money is spent on new construction than maintenance. Other infrastructure is on the verge of collapse.

America is a sick nation and getting sicker, yet we continue to poison our own habitat. Animals are smarter and saner. They know not to defecate in their own nests.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 4:54 PM | Link to this

getalife, gigantic kudos to you!

That sobering message from Gen. Batiste was perhaps the most compelling of arguments, I have ever read (and I have read many very good ones) about the failures of this neo-conservative administration and this ludicrous misguided, mismanaged “war”.

I was very glad to see he used the word debacle, as there is, in my mind, no better description.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 4:58 PM | Link to this

Mark Twain once said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

He wasn’t joking, he was steamboating Al Gore.

What if global warming was a virus and earth caught it by exchanging heavenly-bodily fluids with Mars?

That would mean we’ve contracted the crabs nebula, man.

that would explain why E.T. was always scratching his balls now, wouldn’t it?

God, is there anyone who can blog like me?

By God

August 22, 2007 5:05 PM | Link to this

Dusty

By getalife

August 22, 2007 5:09 PM | Link to this

AmVet,

“In the News” posted it at Mike’s blog.

Damn shame w did not listen to him.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 5:10 PM | Link to this

What if global warming was a virus we contracted by exchanging heavenly-body fluids with Mars? That means we have the crabs nebula! That would explain why E.T. was always scratching his balls now, wouldn’t it?

You loser bloggers on the left fall for everything. If just one of you would blog one original idea, I might respect you.

Fair enough?

But you losers always blog blonde.

Always.

I speet on you. Petooweee!

By Van

August 22, 2007 5:10 PM | Link to this

Anonymous, from your August 22, 2007 2:11 PM “There’s no room for discussion unless you have the qualifications to adjust that degree of confirmation up or down a few percentage points.”

What are your credentials?

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 5:21 PM | Link to this

What if global warming was a virus we contracted by exchanging heavenly-body fluids with Mars? That would mean we’ve caught the crabs nebula, wouldn’t it? Now we know why E.T. was always scratching his balls, eh?

God, I’m good.

I’m really good.

The best.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 5:27 PM | Link to this

getalife, isn’t it funny how IN THE NEWS lists the most sparse of links with no commentary and gets flamed for doing so!

My take, is read them or don’t, comment or don’t, but I love some of the stuff the guy finds. And that expanded message of his that you posted is an instant classic to me.

I just hope jbmlaw reads it and will comment on the faux conservative aspects of the Republican Party as accurately identified and noted by the General.

To his credit, jbmlaw is the only right winger I have ever encountered who isn’t so intransigent that he probably would do so (without malice I mean).

And as far as Mr. Bush giving that extremely informed opinion ANY credence, I just can’t see it.

He is now and forever stuck between a rock and a hard place. He can’t leave and he can’t accomplish any real solutions.

So the KIA numbers will just continue to climb.

By jm

August 22, 2007 5:41 PM | Link to this

AmVet- a lot of people seem to concentrate only on the military part of the surge and overlook the political part. I would like to know why W or at least Condi are not in Iraq sitting at a table with the various factions sweet-talking or strong-arming them into some type of agreement. It is deja vu all over again. When the going got tough in vietnam, W headed to Alabama and with the going tough in Iraq he is headed to Crawford.

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 5:53 PM | Link to this

The parallels with ‘Nam are real, but superficial: two unpopular wars, two prez’s that wouldn’t be reelected, and troops desperately trying to train a local army to take over the fighting, also a polarized nation.

But the geo-political situation, which is the only thing that matters militarily is the difference between 911 and the War of 1812.

Anyone dumb enough to blog in reply to W’s comparison is a moron, sorry……….D’OH!

By Political Foreskin

August 22, 2007 5:59 PM | Link to this

a better line: the diff between Iraq and ‘Nam is the diff between 911 and 411.

no better: the diff between 911 (date) and 911 (phone).

dial tone much?

By getalife

August 22, 2007 6:00 PM | Link to this

AmVet,

Just saw Ware on CNN report the military wants the Iraq government replaced and do not think democracy will work in Iraq.

By AmVet

August 22, 2007 6:04 PM | Link to this

jm, I think that for at least two reasons - political advantage and media ratings - military success sells well and thus is why a lot of people seem to concentrate on it.

The nuance of diplomats discussing subtleties of state and other esoteric differences is not so satisfying or glamorous.

I have a very poor Chilean friend who taught me something truly remarkable.

From his perspective, he said that the problems of the world could be solved with education.

He argued that smarter people are more willing to talk their problems out than are dumber, more violent people.

Diplomacy and military must work together if we’re to “win”.