No Rush On Global Warming

The New Republic: Moderate Legislation Worse Than None With Climate Change

(The New Republic)  This column was written by the Editors of The New Republic.

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Not long after George W. Bush proudly declared last year that he had no intention of watching Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth,” he told reporters that there was a "fundamental debate" about whether global warming was "manmade or natural." It was an ignorant statement utterly at odds with the scientific consensus. Recently, however, he tried to walk it back. "Beginning in June 2001," read a White House letter released last month, "President Bush has consistently acknowledged climate change is occurring and humans are contributing to the problem." (A second letter claiming that the White House consistently acknowledged that Saddam Hussein had no WMD is said to be forthcoming.)

Revisionism aside, it's nice to see the administration swear off pointless skepticism about the science of global warming. Indeed, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prepares to release its latest report, declaring with 90 percent certainty that manmade greenhouse gases are heating the planet, the debate over global warming has shifted. Erstwhile skeptics are scattering for cover. Businesses are lining up in support of a mandatory cap on carbon emissions. Democrats have declared the issue a top priority.

It's not a moment too soon. To stave off melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, and other potentially calamitous effects of large-scale climate change, we should have started working to stabilize carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere years ago. But, while there are unimpeachable policy grounds for rushing to action, the political logic of hastily moving forward is less convincing. Public alarm over global warming is just beginning to build. And the president, despite his shift in rhetoric, still opposes mandatory reductions in emissions. If Democrats in Congress act tomorrow and produce a bill that can pass muster with the White House, they will end up with an inadequate half-measure that could deflate the growing pressure to act meaningfully.

Consider the current raft of climate-change legislation. The only piece that has a chance of surviving a GOP filibuster and Bush veto is one sponsored by New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman. His bill would implement a cap-and-trade regime, setting a national limit on carbon emissions and allowing companies to buy and sell pollution credits — a system that worked with acid-rain legislation in the 1990s. But Bingaman's proposal includes "safety valves" that give companies an out, and it doesn't reduce emissions quickly enough. Unfortunately, stronger bills — such as one sponsored by John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Barack Obama — stand almost no chance, even with the current Democratic majority. (Last time around, that bill netted only 38 votes.)

Democrats, eager to show that they are capable of governing, could rally around Bingaman's toothless bill. Or they could pursue a course that offers the promise of truly meaningful action: They should embrace the strongest bill possible, suffer a Senate filibuster or Bush veto, raise public awareness, and simply bide their time until 2008. Most political observers like the Democrats' chances of picking up seats in the Senate then, and nearly all of the leading presidential contenders — from McCain to Hillary Clinton — take climate change more seriously than Bush. Public pressure will also continue to intensify (already, the Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of companies led by GE and Duke Energy, is pushing for legislation along the lines of McCain-Lieberman-Obama). Then, and only then, will effective action be possible.

Waiting, of course, entails potentially grave risks — especially since the process of reducing emissions is likely to move slowly no matter what. For one thing, wending any meaningful piece of legislation past retrograde committee chairmen and meddling industry lobbyists will take years. For another, averting drastic climate change will involve a mix of emissions caps and mandates for renewable energy — all of which will take time to perfect. The cap-and-trade regime in Europe has faltered in its early stages, suggesting that any new system will invariably arrive with kinks that need to be worked out.

But what other choice is there? Thus far, on issues ranging from the minimum wage to Medicare, congressional Democrats have, appropriately, crafted moderate legislation that has some chance of passing, rather than trying to jam through ambitious policies that would only get smacked down by the White House. After all, a modest minimum-wage hike beats none at all. But climate change is different. There won't be many chances to get this right, and Democrats will need to wait until they can go for broke.

[skyk-2009]

Yeah sure folks just keep listening to these Fascist Rags. They'll tell you when things aren't right!! LMAO Like they would have told us about the mess at the VA Hospital. This Garbage Pail, like the rest of them have an Agenda. That agenda is to protect the Rich and the Well to do. Their Agenda is to protect the Fascist Party. Things that would hurt you and I, things like our kids lying in Rat infested Rooms at the VA? YOU are NOT going to hear those truths from these people. Believing them is asking for BIG PROBLEMS!! Waiting with Global Warming COULD well doom us and this country. ACTING on the other hand does NOT harm us in ANY WAY!!

[grumpas]

Just like the ignorant Republican Governor of our state who doesn't believe Mercury is a toxic metal! He wouldn't join other Governor's in western states on the issue of Global Warming! He hasn't taken his brain out of the closet and dusted it for cobwebs! So, he declined to join them! A Bush prodeige who has been one of George's best students of the absurd!

[hawksprings]

Why should we be concerned about Global Warming doom and gloom when the #1 Cheerleader, Algore, personally lives like an energy hog?

Even he doesn't believe his own c-rap.

And don't give me the bull-doodoo that he 'offsets' his carbon use. He is chairman of Generation Investment Management LLP where he buys his carbon offsets from himself. How Convenient.

In a nutshell, Gore consumes large amounts of carbon-based electricity and fossil fuels while he trumpets the global warming crisis that drives up the value of %u201Cgreen%u201D companies like the ones in which he "buys carbon offsets" or more truthfully, invests in their stocks.

Algore is immoral by his own standards.

.

There are a few hack scientists in the employ of the main offenders who claim that global warming is a fiction of mad scientists bent on something, but mainstream scientific opinion world wide has no doubts that it is here and is being exacerbated by man-made agents which must be addressed if we are to avoid a catastrophe down the road.

[hawksprings]

A quote from http://www.ecotality.com/blog/?p=350

"During the eight years Gore was vice president, he voted in four national elections. Every single time, he and his entourage and security detail and accompanying media flew to Nashville on a large government jet, burning thousands of gallons of fossil fuels and pumping huge amounts of carbon emissions directly into the earth%u2019s atmosphere, and then rode in a caravan of fossil fuel-burning vehicles from Nashville International Airport about 40 miles east on I-40 to Carthage, Tennessee, so the local and national TV cameras could get video of him at the voting booth. And then the whole caravan headed back to Nashville for the plane ride back to DC. Traffic had to be halted on Nashville%u2019s interstates and side streets every time - sometimes during rush hour - idling thousand of vehicles that just sat there, burning fossil fuels and emitting carbon pollution, just so Gore could create a media photo-op.

He could have instead voted by mailing in an absentee ballot - that would have been the %u201Cgreen%u201D thing to do - and a skillful press aide could easily have turned that into a widely publicized pro-green photo-op."

But he's done so much to prmote the global warming gloom and doom hysteria, all that doesn't matter, right?

[hawksprings]

sesanders1, if we're to avoid catastrophe caused by Global Warming, then why doesn't your hero, Algore, live in a way that will avert global catastrophe?

Instead, he's making a killing off the global warming hysteria, buying credits from his own 'green' company, etc. etc.

Algore says global warming is a 'moral issue'.
If that's so, Algore should be very ashamed of his immorality.

http://www.ecotality.com/blog/?p=350
.

[hawksprings]

wjksea, what part of Algore's story am I 'swift-boating'?

So you don't mind that your Holy Father of Global Warming creates more Global Warming Gasses than 20 of us combined?

And that he profits off of it by setting up a so-called "Green" company where he buys carbon offsets from himself, and with his preaching of gloom and doom, drives up the stock on his kind of company?

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[hawksprings]

"I've tried for years to understand the right but it seems they are hell bent on noticing the speck in their brother's eye instead of the log in their own."
Posted by wjksea at 11:58 AM : Mar 03, 2007

You're unbelieveable.

This is just what Algore is doing by telling us all we need to cut back on our consumption, use less, tax offenders more, while the whole time he Gore-ges himself on fossil fuels.

He's telling us about the speck of coal in our eye when he's got a whole coal mine in his eye.

It's amazing that you won't admit to Algore's hypocrisy.

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[hawksprings]

wjksea, so the bottom line is, you're not going to address Algore's lifestyle of carbon gluttony while telling us to 'drastically cut back'.

That's why most people don't believe in the gloom and doom forecasts by people liks Algore.

Here's another story for you from USA Today, that bastion of ring-wingedness:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-09-gore-green_x.htm

Here's the closing sentence from that editorial:

"The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives."

Algore's life motto: "Do as I say, not as I do."

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[hawksprings]

wjksea, if all the scientific data is so true, and we're all gonna die if we don't drastically change our ways, then WHY ISN'T ALGORE LEADING THE WAY INSTEAD OF JUST TELLING THE REST OF US TO CHANGE?

It goes to the HEART of his credibility.

Using your reasoning, I guess you would have no problem with that pastor in Colo Springs, Ted Haggard, who preached against homosexuality while at the same time he was having a gay affair?

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[hawksprings]

One time a bunch of guys were living in a frat house together.
One day while a bunch of them were watching TV, one of the guys walked into the living room and told the other guys, "The house is on fire and we need to get out now or we'll die."
Then he left the room and went to the kitchen and made himself a huge sandwich and sat down to eat it.
The other guys followed him in to the kitchen, and saw him gorging himself. And then he turns to them again and with a mouth full of food said, "The house is on fire, you need to get out now."

They thought he was an idiot.

.

[hawksprings]

The Dembots owned the Presidency, the Senate, and the House when Clinton and Algore got elected. The Dembots had been the majority party in Congress for over 30 years before that, almost 40.

What did they do with that power?

One of the first things Clinton did was focus on *** in the military.

If we're all going to die of greenhouse gas caused calamities, why didn't they do anything about it then?

It's because they don't believe it's that bad themselves.

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[jimfinster]

HawkSprings:

Give it at rest with the algore thing. We understand you don't like him. But he has nothing to do with the factual basis of global warming.

[hawksprings]

jimfinster, Give it a rest?

Algore and his ilk are trying to drastically and regressively change our lives, while not changing his, and in addition, profiting on it, and I should give it a rest?

According to the Global Warming Gloom and Doom crowd, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE FROM GLOBAL WARMING!!

But people like Algore go right on consumin' like nothin's wrong. Why is that? Could it be that he doesn't really believe his own docudrama?
I don't think he does. He's just profiteering from it.

I don't doubt that there's climate change going on. The earth's climate has always changed from warmer to cooler and back again, and it always will.

But we can't cause it and we can't stop it, all we can do is adjust.

THAT'S the Inconvenient Truth.

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[jimfinster]

HawkSprings:

This is science issue. You are trying to make it a political issue.

I am asking this in a nice way, but do you understand the science involved?

[erasmus6]

The reason they didn't do anything years ago is because of the reason people don't want to believe it today-MONEY and LAZINESS. They all figured that if they closed their eyes it would go away. The problem now is it hasn't gone away and it is probably too late. And you ignorant idiots out there who don't believe and would rather wait and see (of course you won't be alive to see), don't you think it would be better to just start doing something about it, just in case it is true? How is having cleaner water and air to breath bad? If you dumb ****s can't get up off your lazy *** to do your part then the least you can do is shut the **** up!

[erasmus6]

One other thing, instead of thinking of yourselves and how much work it will be for you, start thinking of your children and their children and what the world will be like for them if it should turn out to be true.

[hawksprings]

jimfinster, you are missing the whole point.
At the Oscars, Algore in his acceptance speech said that Global Warming is a MORAL issue.
ALGORE said that.

So in his mind, it's not political or scientific, it's moral.

So since he has the center stage, he gets to set the agenda for this issue - that it's a moral issue.

Now, if that's what he believes, and he is basically the Pope of Global Warming, then why doesn't he set the example for us in the way he lives?

Instead, he lives like an energy hog, he sets up a corporation to profit from the hysteria HE is trying to create, and at the same time tells us all we need to cut back drasctically on our consumption.

How is Algore any better than who erasmus6 calls dumbasses who won't get off their butts and do anything?

Algore is part of the problem, not the solution.

.

[erasmus6]

HawkSprings, you need to move on. This isn't about Al Gore. Al Gore is just the delivery person. You are like my husband, he always has an excuse to why he doesn't want to do something too.

[doctor--o]

Pick a topic.
Any topic.
The Bush administration is the worst thing that has ever happened to this country.

As for the latest right wing nonsense about Al Gore; just think swift boat.
Diversionary nonsense from people only skilled in political mud slinging.Propaganda terrorists who succeed simply by getting media attention.

[hawksprings]

Well erasmus, Algore isn't doing it either.
But he is getting rich off telling others to do it. That's the Inconvenient Truth.

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[erasmus6]

HawkSprings
Did you see the article "Gore defends Mansions Power Consumption"? He is doing things, you just don't know what they are. What are you doing? Should he have 3 houses? no probably not but as long as he is changing what he is doing in those houses (lights,energy efficient appliances,recycle etc.etc.etc...)at least he is doing something. Everyone needs to concentrate on themselves and what they are doing. If you didn't read the article- go to the heading "POLITIC NEWS" then click on "More politics news stories" then scroll down and click on "More stories inside this section" then click on Gore Defends Mansions Power Consumption". THEN MOVE ON!

[skyk-2009]

Well erasmus, Algore isn't doing it either.
But he is getting rich off telling others to do it. That's the Inconvenient Truth.

.
Posted by HawkSprings at 02:41 PM : Mar 03, 2007

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA Now that's funny. A fascist claiming to know the TRUTH about anything!

[skyk-2009]

If we're all going to die of greenhouse gas caused calamities, why didn't they do anything about it then?

It's because they don't believe it's that bad themselves.

.
Posted by HawkSprings at 12:30 PM : Mar 03, 2007


Why do you fascist ask a question then answer it for everyone? LMAO Is it that you want to make SURE you get the right answer? Is it because any other answer will not properly allow you to focus you hatred at the people you want. I mean you ARE not addressing the issue of Global Warning here at all sparky. You are just practicing Fascism and not doing it real well at that. Why would you want to get a debate going about what happened BEFORE the Scientist reports involved? Maybe you should read something besides the Reich Propaganda rags Sparky. After all if we all read those rags NO ONE would have know about the VA Hospitials AND we'd all still be thinking we were winning in Iraq now wouldn't we? Sieg Heil Sparky!! ROFLMAO

[skyk-2009]

Algore is part of the problem, not the solution.

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Posted by HawkSprings at 02:13 PM : Mar 03, 2007

Okay! Would EVERYONE just stand up and shout WE HATE AL Gore for this pathetic Nazi so he'll sit down and shut up! God you people are SO simple minded it's unbelievable! Now are you happy? EVERYONE has said they hate Al Gore for you... now can we all get back to discussing this issue. Whew!!! Sieg Heil!!

[erasmus6]

HawkSprings
WOW, you really are obsessed with Al Gore aren't you. Like I said- what are you doing? The fact is if it wasn't for Al Gore nobody would be doing anything even now! It is he who has brought it to everyones attention. I am not saying others haven't tried, but it is this movie that has gotten people motivated. Get over the obsession, you are beginning to sound like an idiot. Concentrate more on what you are doing and less on him.

[erasmus6]

HawkSprings
It is you and people like you that are the problem, not Al Gore. He is just an excuse for you to remain stupid.

[scott4261]

Hawk really just thinks he's being funny. He has been following my posts on many different threads telling me that he'll campaign for Gore as a Green Party candidate. "Me from the right and you from the left," he tells me. It's really laughable, this neo-con nutjob who beleives global warming is a hoax is going to campaign for someone he has called a fraud. What a joke! Yet he'll carry water for the ******* currently occupying the White House 'til the cows come home! Amazing!

[bamuttra]

HawkSprings,

Let's say that I told you that scientists say that eating fast food is bad for you, and we shouldn't eat fast food. Now let's say that after I tell you that, you see me eating at McDonalds. Do you really believe that would somehow prove that the scientists are wrong? It sure sounds like that is what you are saying.

Sounds to me like somebody doesn't like the message, so their only recourse is to shoot the messenger.

[condumism]

Definition of a FASCIST, ie: an AMERICAN GOPig:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
4. Supremacy of the Military
5. Rampant Sexism
6. Controlled Mass Media
7. Obsession with National Security
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
9. Corporate Power is Protected
10. Labor Power is Suppressed
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
14. Fraudulent Elections
15. DENIAL of all of the above!

[jimfinster]

There are many people in denial about this issue. It is a waste of time to debate with them, because they do not know or care what the facts are...

[olgreyghost]

There are many people in blind support of this issue. It's a waste of time to debate with them, because they do not know or care what the facts are - and they intend to take over your life regardless if you want to maintain control over it or not and they will insult, degrade, malign, slander, libel, arrest, imprison, and eventually execute you if you resist...

[erasmus6]

OlGreyGhost
I am beginning to think you are an alien from another planet.

[jimfinster]

OlGreyGhost:

Dude, you sound seriously paranoid. I am not joking, you need some counseling...

[ressigmann]

to condumism
Congratulations #'s 1,3,4,5,7,8,9,&12 all describe our founding fathers.
2-obviously you feel murdering terrorists should
be codled instead of punished
6-as you can make this post freely you disprove
your own point
10-Democrats are doing more to supress labor with
their attempts to remove secret ballots from
labor elections over whether to unionize than
anyone else
11-highly subjective opinion on your part
13&15-liberals fit both of these too a tee
14-if you have proof go to a judge and press
charges

[crater7]

IT IS CLEAR, THAT THIS ADMINISTRATION IS IN DENIAL THAT GLOBAL WARMING IS MAN MADE. NOT ONLY THAT THE UNITED STATES IS PART OF THE PROBLEM, HIS CURRENT CHINA TRADE POLICY'S CONTRIBUTES TO THE PROBLEM.
SINCE O1, OVER 3 MILLION JOBS HAVE BEEN LOST, THE TRADE DEFICIT HAS SOARED FROM 83 BILLION TO OVER 232 BILLION, AND CLIMBING. CHINA CONTINUES TO BUILD FACTORIES AND SUCK UP AMERICAN JOBS, AND MILLIONS OF DOLLORS FROM THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. THESE FACTORIES ONLY ADD TO THE GLOBAL WARMING PROBLEM. MORE OF THE SAME TO COME. STAY TUNED.

[hypnotoad72]

How does one say "This has to be done, so let's do it." without coming across as being a fascist?

Light rail, public transport, pressure to bring back the electric car if not superior hybrids... lead acid instead of lithium batteries; the solutions aren't based on sci-fi or limits to science, we can do it now. So why not?

Even peoples's desire to live 50 miles away from work - S.T.U.P.I.D. - can't spell it out any more simply than that. What is wrong with living close to work? Save driving for the weekends to go to the park? Reverse the scenario and the amount of gasoline used diminishes.

[erasmus6]

Here's a little story.
My father-in-law was an alcholic. He sat downstairs drinking and watching tv. My mother-in-law sat upstairs crocheting and watching tv. The family went over to their house to get the father to go to AA. The mother had an absolute conniption fit! WHY? because it meant CHANGE!!! A change to her lifestyle if he got better. Change is scary to a lot of people. It takes work and people are lazy. The father is long dead now. He died of liver damage and stomach cancer because he and the mother didn't want their lifestyles to CHANGE! What do I say? GET THE **** OVER IT!! Get off your lazy ***s and do something. It will make your life better in the long run, even if you don't believe in global warming.

[victoriarum]

Fear not the stupidity of idiotic human
language, as they fear thy self in human soul.

www.victoriasecretshow.com

God Bless