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56 Comments
Global Warming?
Al Gore Wrong Again
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/reasonmclucus/november_2007/al_gore_wrong_again.htm
“Buenos Aires recorded this Thursday (November 15th) the lowest November temperature in 90 years. Temperature in the Downtown weather station reached 2.5C. Since records began more than a century ago, only two days had colder lows in November. It was in 1914 (1.6) and 1917 (2.4). And ninety years ago the urban heat island effect was much less pronounced than nowadays. In Brazil’s southernmost province Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil temperatures fell to 2.3C. In Sao Joaquim Monday’s (Nov., 12) the temperature was -1.2 C with frost.”
Poor Nathan…
He does not seem to understand that Al Gore has been repeating what the credible, peer-reviewed scientists say.
And Nathan does not seem to understand the HUGE difference between credible peer-reviewed SCIENCE, and deceptive op-eds, web pages, etc..
And Nathan does not seem to understand the difference between GLOBAL, and REGIONAL.
And Nathan seems to be completely clueless about all of the research, and corrections re UHI’s done by the climate scientists. And the matching satellite data.
It’s very sad that Nathan cannot understand simple facts, data, and concepts.
I see the actual landscapes of glaciers changing, which never before any written history has not change at such rapid pace.Something different is positively going on.How can anyone be a pompous ass in saying that it is not so?
Hey Wiseman,
You’ve got the pompous ass on your side. Algore is the definition of pompous ass!
Fortunately, public opinion is turning against the politions and their paid hacks in the scientific community. The ‘consensus’ is that GW is a fraud!
NYT Blog: What Has Become of the “Iraqitects”
What Has Become of the “Iraqitects”Media: NYT Blog On the Ground
Author: Kurt CampbellDate: November 14, 2007
Kurt Campbell is an expert on Asia and security issues who is now chief executive of the Center for a New American Security. He served in the Pentagon in the Clinton administration, in charge of Asia/Pacific issues, and earlier taught at Harvard. Kurt has written widely, for popular and academic audiences, about everything from Japan to nuclear policy.Recently I was on a long flight with one of the Bush Administration’s key architects of the Iraq War who had just left public service to explore “challenging new horizons in the private sector.” Perhaps it is more accurate to describe this fellow as more of a general contractor than architect, given his perch at the Pentagon and deep engagement in the early conduct of the war.Anyway, much to my surprise, he watched the movie (a rollicking “Transformers,” with giant militant robots that would have undoubtedly come in handy in the battle for Falluja), browsed the duty free and tried to cut the steak meal with the plastic knife, just like the rest of the passengers on board. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was certainly not this very clear display of public normalcy. Shouldn’t there be some subtle sign of contrition or regret? Perhaps a wistful look out the plane window after takeoff? I’m not sure what to look for, but I was somewhat unprepared for the sheer … normalcy of it all.I am certainly not alone in my curiosity about how many of the recently departed Bush foreign policy team are handling life after making their contributions to our national security. I notice at policy dinners and academic conferences that other attendees watch these former members of the Bush high command surreptitiously for any sign or clue of how the recent travails have affected them.The Financial Times recently carried a long account from a passenger who sat behind Paul Wolfowitz on a recent train trip. He recounted minute by minute what the former Deputy Secretary of Defense did throughout the trip – read the paper, conducted an animated cell phone conversation, enjoyed a snack — and his account also underscored just how (here comes that word again) normal the former Deputy Secretary’s daily routine was.Perhaps part of the curiosity is because this current generation of war planners has conducted themselves so much differently than the Vietnam era Masters of the Universe. Many from the version 1.0 of the best and the brightest – those intrepid Cold Warriors who led the country to a slogging defeat in Vietnam – had to subsequently endure booing on college campuses, shunning from old friends and colleagues, brutal treatment from the commentariat of the time, and the kind of bitter despair that generally accompanies a thoroughgoing battlefield defeat.As a post graduate fellow at Harvard, I can still recall the lonely, ghostlike figure of Robert McNamara striding around Cambridge, making presentations to a new generation of would-be strategists about how to learn from his mistakes of the past. Others, like Dean Rusk, simply quietly retreated from public view, perhaps hoping history would treat them more gently than some of their contemporaries.The version 2.0 era of neoconservative advocates of military action to topple Saddam have behaved very differently in the midst of our current quagmire in Iraq. Almost all have generally tried to put on a brave public face and to remain on the intellectual offensive, pointing out the weaknesses and limitations of their critics and full of ideas for what the United States can do next in the world. On Iraq specifically, some have blamed the overall faulty execution of the entire United States government, or the stubbornness of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, or the lack of preparation of the Army to conduct irregular operations, or the ultimate failure of the president to make timely and badly needed course corrections along the way.Yet, very few have publicly questioned themselves over their own culpability in the entire mess. And those who have had the courage to do so, like Frank Fukuyama, have been roundly attacked and criticized from within the neocon camp. Indeed, what’s particularly unique about this group of national security strategists is their sheer ability to keep moving forward and to remain in the game. No public fretting or loss of composure, no signs of a larger remorse for the terrible chain of events they helped set in motion, no sense that history is not going as planned.Even after offering atrocious advice to President Bush during the 2000 campaign, most of them are back again advising one or more of the prospective Republican candidates, and many continue to offer sage assessments and quick denunciations on Fox news about the recent developments in Iraq. All say that history will redeem them, that democracy will triumph in Iraq, and that Harry Truman has suddenly become their second favorite president of all time (no one could beat out the Gipper).Iran poses new opportunities for scheming and planning, and Islamofascism is on the march and must be vigorously opposed. For the Iraq architects – or Iraqitects — life goes on and there is very little in the way of public accountability or introspection. Everything remains, well, normal
Global Warming in the 20th century.
Let’s see, it’s really been scorching.
-1.33 degrees F global average-
Phew! Someone turn on the air conditioner, I can’t take the heat!
Federal prosecutors on Friday accused Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) of soliciting bribes in two alleged schemes that had not been previously disclosed.
The allegations, detailed in a seven-page document filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, will not result in new charges, prosecutors said, but they plan to present them during Jefferson’s federal bribery trial as evidence of a pattern of intentional wrongdoing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111701287.html?hpid=sec-politics
How come this guy isn’t in jail yet?
Fortunately, public opinion is turning against the politions and their paid hacks in the scientific community. The ‘consensus’ is that GW is a fraud!
Posted by: Hank Price | November 18, 2007 at 06:02 AM
I think they call it “dumbing down”.
Luddites as to our energy consumption and technology and our responsibility for stewardhship of the Earth grow more frantic by the day. HERE we see two of them frantically trying to convince THEMSELVES that attitudes aren’t changing.
Such folk that vehemently oppose progress and environmental responsibility should be regarded as quaint but not terribly intelligent or relevant.
I’ll regard you as Quaint then, JR.
Anyone notice how Chas disappeared after the Bible was thrown at him last night?
Scared s***less.
He must be busy this morning.
No Pat,
You’re wrong. at first he appears quaint but when you get to know and love him you find he’s just not terribly intelligent.
I liked JR’s standoff at the OK Corral the other night with Nathan.
Nathan played him well I thought.
JR threw down the gauntlet, and Nathan in a cyberspace way, just stood there, looked at him, and said something like “Now what?”.
Then JR goes to bed.
It was a hillarious display of retardation by JR.
(I’m surprised JR even knew the word ‘quaint’)
From the Salt Lake Tribune;
After more than seven years of intense lobbying and debate on Capitol Hill, GOP legislators passed the most sweeping school voucher bill in the nation by a single vote.PTA moms and dads rallied, teachers put on their walking shoes, and on Nov. 6 the citizens of Utah voted that measure down by the tens of thousands. Government of the people, by the people and for the people is certainly alive and well in Utah.Unfortunately, some voucher proponents have vowed to bring that measure back during the next legislative session in January. That would be a huge mistake. Inscribed on the west wall of the House chambers, just above the clock and the Gold Seal of the House of Representatives, are the words “Vox Populi,” meaning “voice of the people.”
It IS an open thread. The subject DOES tend to wander.
I named no names. Let the record show Hank eagerly embraced the characterization as a dumb luddite.
Self proclamation. Well at least he is an honest jerk.
Every time there is a tax bond proposal voted down, they bring it up again for another vote 6 months later.
Why wouldn’t school choice in UT be pushed in the same manner?
Hank, are you talking about Nathan?
It IS an open thread. The subject DOES tend to wander.
I named no names. Let the record show Hank eagerly embraced the characterization as a dumb luddite.
Self proclamation. Well at least he is an honest jerk.Posted by: J R | November 18, 2007 at 09:29 AM
Nothing like a self-deprecating post to prove Hank is absolutely correct!
“You’ve got the pompous ass on your side. Algore is the definition of pompous ass!
Fortunately, public opinion is turning against the politions and their paid hacks in the scientific community. The ‘consensus’ is that GW is a fraud!”
Spoken like someone who values ideology over information.
Please.
And I see Pat Herron is doing the stalking troll thing.
Furthermore, even though public perception is not a guide one way or the other as an evaluation of the legitimacy of an issue, Hank’s claim about the direction of public perception of the global warming issue appears to be factually wrong.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/su-pag021307.php
Anybody catch the morning news on NPR?? Seems like MANY countries in the world are on board with the Global Warming Issue… According to NPR, even BushCo. is buying into the idea that at least part of Global Warming (not regional, but global) is caused by human pollutants… Some of you might want to check http://www.npr.org!!
http://www.npr.org
Even the Secretary General of the United Nations has seen, in person, the huge ice melts in Antarctica… Maybe Pres. Bush should go see it first hand as well…
I know, Bush can take Thanksgiving Dinner to the Penguins, and the Troops stationed at the South Pole!!
Frank Rich: What “That Regan Woman” Knows
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111807Z.shtml
Frank Rich of The New York Times writes: “New Yorkers who remember Rudy Giuliani as the bullying New York mayor, not as the terminally cheerful ‘America’s Mayor’ cooing to babies in New Hampshire, have always banked on one certainty: his presidential candidacy was so preposterous it would implode before he got anywhere near the White House.”
Whew! Sigh of Relief! No need now to launch a pre-emptive strike if the Pakistan government falls to extremists.
The US is tracking the Pakistani nukes as closely as if they were in North Dakota, or Louisiania, or wherever…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/washington/18nuke.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
U.S. Secretly Aids Pakistan in Guarding Nuclear Arms
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROADPublished: November 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 — Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, secure his country’s nuclear weapons, according to current and former senior administration officials.
!!! – While American officials say that they believe the arsenal is safe at the moment, and that they take at face value Pakistani assurances that security is vastly improved, in many cases the Pakistani government has been reluctant to show American officials how or where the gear is actually used.
Sounds real safe there Max… Sure glad I’m not in Pakistan!!
The TRUE GLOBAL WARMING AGENDA REVEALED!
According to the UN, the Wealthy Nations (Ie. United States) MUST help the poor nations immediately!
Global Warming scheme purpose:
1. Extort $$$ from the US, and weaken the US.2. Gain more control for Big Government and the UN.
No wonder most countries of the world support the UN position on global warming. These other countries all have their hands out expecting some $$$ from the USA.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7086048
Asia must act fast to lessen climate change-reportReuters Sunday November 18 2007
By Jeremy LovellLONDON, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Asia, home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s people, must take urgent action to lessen the effects of climate change but needs considerable help from rich nations elsewhere, a report said on Monday.
“Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific,” the last in a series of reports from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) think-tank, appears just after leading scientists said the effects of global warming would be all-pervasive and irreversible.
“Wealthy industrialised countries must act first and fastest to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but emerging Asian countries also need to contribute to climate change mitigation,” it said.
“Wealthy industrialised countries must act first and fastest to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but emerging Asian countries also need to contribute to climate change mitigation,” it said.
Posted by: Max | November 18, 2007 at 11:59 AM
===========================
Not thats what we been talking about, Max… everybody working together!!
“Wealthy industrialised countries must act first and fastest to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but emerging Asian countries also need to contribute to climate change mitigation,” it said.
Posted by: Max | November 18, 2007 at 11:59 AM
===========================
Now thats what we been talking about, Max… everybody working together!!
sorry bout the double post!! blog is acting strange again today!
“Fortunately, public opinion is turning against the politions and their paid hacks in the scientific community. The ‘consensus’ is that GW is a fraud!”
Posted by: Hank Price | November 18, 2007 at 06:02 AM
Poor Hank Price is wrong about climate science AND public opinion.
“1. Extort $$$ from the US, and weaken the US.”
Ummm Max, ol’ buddy, the way the dollar is losing ground, we dont need anybody to weaken our economy!! We’re heading for a recession all on our own power!!
During the period of record 1880-present, Arctic temperatures generally:
* Rose for 60 years, to 1940.* Fell for 25 years, to 1965.* Rose for 40 years, to the present.* Were higher in the 30’s and 40’s than they are today.
The Arctic was warmer in the 1930s than it is today, and somehow, mysteriously and magically, neither the polar bears nor the Inuit became extinct. Nor did we go over any mythical “tipping point”.
Planning on a vacation in the Arctic?
January and FebruaryAverage temperature -29°F / -34°C.
Summertime Temperatures average -1.5°C / 29°F
Anyone catch that report on the decomposition of the trees killed by Katrina will puto out more co2 than all the trees in the world will absorb in a yr.?
The only thing that keeps increasing is not the temperature caused by man, rather it is the doomsday claims about it.
The Phantom,
It was roughly what the trees in the U.S. absorb in one year — but that’s still a lot of CO2 from only one storm event.
‘Forests Damaged By Hurricane Katrina Become Major Carbon Dioxide Source’http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071115164458.htm
“The scientists then calculated total carbon losses to be equivalent to 60-100 percent of the net annual carbon sink in U.S. forest trees.”
Here’s what The Phathom posted: “Anyone catch that report on the decomposition of the trees killed by Katrina will putout more co2 than all the trees in the world will absorb in a yr.?”
There are many studies of the tree loss due to Katrina. Here is what one claims.
Chambers, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane, have determined that the losses inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast forest trees are enough to cancel out a year’s worth of new tree biomass (trunks, branches and foliage) growth in other parts of the country.
Note: There is a vast difference between “all the trees in the world” and “all the trees in the country.”
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/18/business/morgenson.php
Yeah? So what? They earned it.
Creative pay packages for top officials of subprime mortgage company
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Sunday, November 18, 2007
NEW YORK: Things aren’t going very swimmingly for investors in NovaStar Financial, a subprime mortgage originator in Kansas City, Missouri. Its stock plummeted last week on news that the company lost $64.05 a share in the third quarter, that it had canceled its preferred stock dividend and that it was no longer able to reap the tax advantages of a real estate investment trust.
The stock ended the week at $1.72, down from $40 in June.
Equally troubled are many holders of NovaStar mortgages. As of Sept. 30, some 6 percent of the company’s loans held in its own portfolio were at least 30 days delinquent. And 5 percent were in foreclosure.
Happily, though, there is one NovaStar constituency that is doing just fine – the top executives and co-founders. Over the years, they have pocketed millions in compensation, based largely upon loans that probably should never have been made.
. . . .
Then there was the NovaStar branch office system that was too busy generating loans to bother applying for the pesky licenses that some states required. Tiresome regulators – didn’t they know that NovaStar’s entrepreneurs had a company to run?
Alas, the NovaStar party ended this year, for its shareholders, anyhow. Its executives are somewhat better off.
Consider last year’s pay for NovaStar’s creators, Scott Hartman, the chief executive, and W. Lance Anderson, the president. Both earned $1.7 million in salary, bonus, stock grants and other compensation in 2006. This followed $1.6 million that each earned in 2005 and $1.7 million each took home in 2004.
Wait, there’s more. Check out what awaits Hartman and Anderson in their deferred-compensation accounts. As of the 2007 proxy, Hartman’s deferred compensation totaled $9.9 million, while Anderson’s came in at $5.8 million.
And the numbers grow. In 2006 alone, Hartman’s deferred-compensation account generated $1.4 million – more than he earned in salary and bonus combined. Anderson’s account earned $711,386 last year. Sweet.
But NovaStar, known for creativity in its lending practices, also came up with a novel element of executive pay: cash dividends were accrued and paid to top executives on their stock option grants.
Got that? Even though the executives did not yet own the underlying shares, they received cash dividends on them.
Nathan,
Do some research. Global warming is happening faster than scientists expected. The consequences (rising sea levels, loss of drinking water, etc) are future realities, not “doomsday claims”.
Deltoid has a PDF version of the new AR4 report with better quality graphics than the IPCC’s PDF.
‘IPCC AR4 Synthesis report released’http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/11/ipcc_ar4_synthesis_report_rele.php
Also, the IPCC’s new report does not include the most recent data re climate changes and economic trends. Read the “Update” at above link.
Squander 100,000 dollars?
It’s your problem.
Squander 100 million dollars?
It’s the BANK’s problem.
But never fear–the idiots who make the decisions never forget to make the decision to pay themselves an obscene salary . . .
Ahh yes..man made global warming. I will ask the next mastodon I see about that.
Oh..wait..they are extinct. They died during a NON man made end of an ice age. Very common climatic changes that have been occurring for millions of years.
Of course, since the darling Al Gore has made a movie about it, it is now a political issue, and all the blame for this supposed man made global warming is 100% fault of Republicans.
taz obviously has NOT watched Gore’s documentary.
Ooops, should have double checked. Glad I had it wrong though!
Actually, Cows cause more greenhouse gases than all of our carbon emissions combined. Even if using carbon resources, half the world would have to convert to vegetarianism to put a dent in all the gases the cows put up. Autism and mental retardation have been linked to contaminated drinking water thats been polluted by factory farm sewage run off. If somebody really wanted to make an indivdual impact to reduce their pollution, they would drive a modern 4-banger car, and quit eating cows.
When cows pollute more than cars.
http://www.planetizen.com/node/16981
Did anyone else catch “Hannity‘s America” tonight, if not I expect to see something about in Houston school district there is a controversy. It seems that there is a text book being used that teaches about the middle east, the claim is that it teaches Islam. It brought back a memory of a local controversy in my local district, the rumor was that the schools here were going to teach Native American religion. There was even a petition drive to block the curriculum. Now it was just a baseless rumor and caught the local school district off guard.
But the question is can you teach about a culture or country where religion plays a major play in that society without also teaching about that religion?
LOL side note: Hannity fired a shot to start off what has become the annual “Christmas is under assault”. There was a different tact, this time it is to block Santa Claus! A principal of a elementary school cancel a field trip to view “miracle of forty second street”. Because the movie focuses too much on Santa Claus and some parents complained.
I wish I could become a vegetarian, but I LOVE a good steak…my kids haven’t eaten meat in over ten years, even my grandkids are vegetarian.
The world would be a better place if we gave up factory farming.
I’ll catch Hannity’s fantasy land on the rerun writerdog.
Hannity is a kook. But ya gotta keep your eye on the kooks.
Yup Mary, I can’t quit eating cows either, I grilled a bunch of burgers today for the Chiefs game.I do buy free range chicken eggs though, they actually taste better, and they look like real chicken eggs, not the bleached white grocery store eggs. I don’t think they are bleached, but its still a mystery to me why factory farm eggs are white.
Like nails on chalkboard…I can’t even listen to them..you’re a better man than me, JR.
Egg color is determined by breed; the “factory” egg layers require less feed than the hens that lay colored eggs (a breed specific requirement) and therefore are more desirable–minimize inputs, maximize outputs. No chemical treatment involved. However, the “brown” eggs you get at the store are sometimes “helped” into being brown (they look painted and far too uniform in color.)
If you want free-range farm eggs, find an egg farmer and buy from the source. Otherwise, you’re trusting advertising.
College life is sooo weird!!
They died during a NON man made end of an ice age. Very common climatic changes that have been occurring for millions of years
Or they died as man trapped and ate them.