At this hour the lights are going out at public buildings in Seattle to raise awareness of global warming.
Good timing! In addition to all that atypical late snow, Seattle's low today of 34° tied the record low for March 29 and the forecasted low temperatures for tomorrow, March 30 and Monday, March 31 are even lower than the recorded lows for those dates!
UPDATE (Sunday morning): Seattle's low temperature so far today, 33° has beat the old record low for March 30.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 29, 2008 08:00 PM | Email ThisWhy is that most of Africa are experiencing massive droughts, and that there are massive ice shelf breaking off Antarctica?
Posted by: Brooks on March 29, 2008 08:37 PMI just turned several lights ON.
Posted by: Michele on March 29, 2008 08:40 PMI's cool wid it.
The lights have been out in public buildings in Seattle for as long as the Democraps have been in power.
The HOT AIR eminating from within those buildings has kept them toasty warm.
I would not be suprised if the HOT AIR eminating from that entire Seattle community has not been entirely responsible for the entire universe's destruction.
All from Al the hypocrit Gore telling consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways:
Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, which are full of Mercury and are not only dangerous if broken, but how do you dispose of them? devastating
Use a clothesline, in our rain?
Drive a hybrid, What do you do with the $5000 battery when it dies?
Yes just follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle."
Carbon-Neutral my ass
He owns a private Gulf Stream Jet that in one flight produces more green house gas than a year of driving produces.
Public records reveal that he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.)
But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.
Sorry I ain't buying it!
Posted by: GS on March 29, 2008 09:07 PMWell, like, you see like. Like it is like see well like you know of like of course. Global Warming like heat things up huh. Like and like then things like get all warmed up well like global warming needs to take a breather! Like if YOU were working so hard and like melting all of like the glaciers you would like need to like take a rest too!
So you see, Global Warming is causing the global cooling. Because like the Global Warming is just tired.
Posted by: pbj on March 29, 2008 09:15 PMFrom 8 pm to 9 pm I put on every single light in both my living room and bedroom and kitchen of my one bedroom apartment at Somerset Apartments including the balcony light and the bathroom lights (all compact fluorescents).
It was a celebration of man's ingenuity of the past 10,000 years having ascended from the caves where there was only darkness.
See my special home page design for today (oh, ok, it's always that way ):
Posted by: John Bailo on March 29, 2008 09:39 PMAfrica has been in a state of drought for a long long time, much longer than any of the current political hysteria. Ever hear of the Sahara Forest?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara
As for ice shelves calving off - it is late fall down there and the shelves always calve off at this time of year. Sure, the last one was a biggie but no bigger than Larsen B which calved off February 2002.
Posted by: DaveH on March 29, 2008 09:46 PMThe large slice of Antarctica that has been slicing off started doing so a couple of hundred years ago. Something like that takes time to develop. Most of the rest of that continent has been experiencing greater snowfalls and thickening ice. It is sorta like a thin slice of the southern California coastline is breaking off while the entire remainder of the 48 states remains the same or is growing. That is the dimension of Antarctica. Now, why did the southern hemisphere experience its coldest winter in decades and the US its snowiest in many years, in some areas the snowiest and coldest ever.
Posted by: Arnold on March 29, 2008 09:59 PM
The large slice of Antarctica that has been slicing off started doing so a couple of hundred years ago. Something like that takes time to develop. Most of the rest of that continent has been experiencing greater snowfalls and thickening ice. It is sorta like a thin slice of the southern California coastline is breaking off while the entire remainder of the 48 states remains the same or is growing. That is the dimension of Antarctica. Now, why did the southern hemisphere experience its coldest winter in decades and the US its snowiest in many years, in some areas the snowiest and coldest ever.
Posted by: Arnold on March 29, 2008 10:00 PM
The only warming we have now is AGW rhetoric. That is why the AGW prophet will speak tomorrow on 60 Minutes. They are confused and need to be re-assured that their faith is not in vain.
Posted by: deadwood on March 29, 2008 10:12 PMThe organizers locally forgot to mention that we get our electricity from falling water. No C02 involved.
Brooks @ #2:
You need to get some updated facts. The interior of the Antarctic has had the biggest increases of snow/ice since they've been measuring it. Further more, nothing that we are experiencing right now (globally) hasn't been experienced before, and that includes receeding glaciers or sea ice, no matter where you want to point your finger.
So I'd sincerely like to ask you, and I'd like a sincere reply: The earth has been warming and cooling since time began. During that time, people have been able to grow wine grapes in Great Britain and conversely, there have been times when they could ice skate on the river Thames. Given these facts, what makes you believe the climate we have right now it the right one to preserve?
Also, I'd like to point out something generally to all the folks at S.P. Lately I have been mentioning to avid Global Warmists that there is now a body of evidence that 1998 was the peak warm year and global temps have plateaued since then with 2007 seeing the largest/fastest global temperature drop (average) ever. And when I mention this to people I'd expect them to say: "Really? Well, I am thankful for that, it means we may be out of the woods on this global danger!" But no, they aren't happy. They treat my news with open hostility and scorn because the climate has nothing to do with it. Their belief point is that they simply hate industrialized western society and have been taught to despise our society by left leaning university professors who came of age in the first "green revolution" of the late 60's. For these folks the rubric of Global Warming™ (or Climate Change™) is the excuse to pillory our way of life. The proof that captialism is the monster they have always believed, the killer of Mother Earth™. In their mind we have been to successful. We are the "breakout species". Good news on the climate to normal rational people is bad news of the first order to them.
http://www.horsesass.org/?p=4534
Posted by: FreedomLover on March 29, 2008 11:57 PMTypical. Blame it on the long-haired academics, when all the while you're cherry-picking your data to shape the results as you see fit.
It's important to keep an open mind with everything, and hey, if the next four or five years show that there is no drastic increases in CO2 concentrations or changes in climate, I'll be the first one to celebrate. But a few data points aren't evidence enough to falsify the climate models that exist.
Declaring global climate change (NOT global warming, which is a misnomer) to be dogma is fine, and I don't doubt that there are people that believe in "global warming" but have no idea how it is supposed to function. But to blindly assume that it's false with no proof or understanding of the processes? That's just as bad, and that's what seems to characterize the approach of many opponents of climate change policy.
And hey, I don't give a crap about what Al Gore does with his house. That's not relevant to what *I* think might be a problem.
Posted by: bma on March 30, 2008 01:43 AMReally I think that global warming has become a religion for wayward atheists. When you attack their reasoning, you attach their god.
Some day we'll watch another YouTube debate, and somebody with get on their holding a DVD of An Inconvenient Truth and they will ask the candidates if they believe every word in this DVD.
Posted by: SeaRep on March 30, 2008 09:44 AMReally I think that global warming has become a religion for wayward atheists. When you attack their reasoning, you attack their god.
Some day we'll watch another YouTube debate, and somebody with get on their holding a DVD of An Inconvenient Truth and they will ask the candidates if they believe every word in this DVD.
Posted by: SeaRep on March 30, 2008 09:45 AMIt's looking like the people who espouse this nonsense fall into one of two groups - liars or dupes. You can discern who is whom by what they say, for instance the liars fall back on angry flat-earther rhetoric because they know they are lying. The dupes stick to arguing the "facts" and "statistics" because they are struggling to maintain their own beliefs in the face of what they see outside their own windows.
Posted by: threeoddnumbers on March 30, 2008 09:54 AMPlease note the warmest period was during the time of Moses. Could he be to blame for global warming because of his stuborness? God did have to keep a burning bush burning for a while. IT could well be the cause of global warming.
The challenge is to look at the 102 Year Climate-Culture Pattern. INteresting and very telling. It asks the question does climate affect the world in terms of War, Prosperity, Depression, and Peace
http://www.longrangeweather.com/images/chart.pdf
It makes a person think.
I would recommend just viewing through this website. Take it with a grain of Salt but reflect on what is being mentioned. Drought and heat cause wars. Things go in cycles.
Perhaps you will understand this November. After Karl Rove succeeds in the destruction of Obama and Hillary, guess what quietly observing civilian will step in to save the day? That's right, one lone, brave, Nobel Prize winning, Environmental Warrior, who made Rove pee his pajamas. Be careful what you wish for, Karl.
Posted by: storsie on March 30, 2008 10:06 AMIsn't it funny how warm periods coincide with the great civilizations while cold periods fit cold ones?
The high priests of the AGW cult seem to have some kind of reverse logic on this. Their "ideal" climate has us starving, migrating and warring while we are in their complete power.
Let it warm. We will prosper while billions are fed. Who cares if we cause a couple of degrees of that warming. It beats the heck out of the alternative.
Posted by: deadwood on March 30, 2008 10:08 AM"So let me see if I have this right - if it gets warmer anywhere it proves that AGW/GCC is occurring. And if gets cooler anywhere it proves that AGW/GCC is occurring."
You don't have this right. Two words: global. warming. If the entire globe gets warmer, then it proves that global warming is occurring. And really, I thought we were past this. Even the critics who disagree with standard policies regarding GCC admit that global warming is occurring. They typically just don't think humans have anything to do with it. It makes me think Stefan is just putting up a smokescreen to move the discussion away from what matters. Or maybe he is just trying to be funny.
Posted by: Noble on March 30, 2008 10:12 AMJust wait until the Yellowstone "supervolcano" erupts again. All of that ash and dust will blot out the sun, causing years of cooling. Humankind driving big SUVs, and coal burning plants are nothing compared to Mother Nature. That's one of the things that totally disgusts me about the AGW enthusiasts; we're so insignificant on the big scale of things. In their pathetic little minds they have to believe that we have more control over the Earth's climate than the sun.
"Scientists have revealed that Yellowstone Park has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago...so the next is overdue. The next eruption could be 2,500 times the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. Volcanologists have been tracking the movement of magma under the park and have calculated that in parts of Yellowstone the ground has risen over seventy centimeters this century.
http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm
There may be several super-eruptions large enough to cause a global disaster every 100,000 years. This means super-eruptions are a significant global humanitarian hazard. They occur more frequently than impacts of asteroids and comets of comparable damage potential.
Prof. Steve Sparks FRS (University of Bristol), co-lead author, said: "Several of the largest volcanic eruptions of the last few hundred years, such as Tambora (1815), Krakatoa (1883) and Pinatubo (1991) have caused major climatic anomalies in the two to three years after the eruption by creating a cloud of sulphuric acid droplets in the upper atmosphere. These droplets reflect and absorb sunlight, and absorb heat from the Earth - warming the upper atmosphere and cooling the lower atmosphere. The global climate system is disturbed, resulting in pronounced, anomalous warming and cooling of different parts of the Earth at different times.
Prof. Stephen Self (Open University) said: "Super-eruptions are up to hundreds of times larger than these, and their global effects are likely to be much more severe. An area the size of North America can be devastated, and pronounced deterioration of global climate would be expected for a few years following the eruption. They could result in the devastation of world agriculture, severe disruption of food supplies, and mass starvation. These effects could be sufficiently severe to threaten the fabric of civilisation."
http://www.solcomhouse.com/supereruption.htm
Nature has much more power than we do, and those of you concerned about what kind of fuel I put in my car, or what light bulb I use, should 1) get a life; and, 2) realize that we have very little impact on the global climate.
Here's a quarter; go buy a clue.
I can see that the creationists and the George W. Bush fans have thoroughly dominance over the Global Warming discussion at Sound Politics. Needless to say, arguments about science with the scientifically illiterate are quite literally pointless. The uneducated spend their time boasting about their ignorance while the informed roll their eyes and wait for George W. Bush to leave office ...
So the members of SoundPolitics continue to confuse the weather with the climate. I don't care. But I do have a question for the ignorant citizens of Seattle:
How much are you people paying for gasoline today?
God, it looks like you people are only a few years away from losing your SUVs ... God have mercy on you all!
If you pray devoutly enough maybe God will perform a miracle and allow George W. Bush to stay in office for another eight years so that you people can continue to enjoy Republican Prosperity.
Don't mind the housing bubble! Don't mind the collapsing currency! Don't mind the skyrocketing commodity prices! Don't mind the 4,004 dead soldiers in the George W. Bush Iraq War Memorial!
Keep on driving your SUVs and in a few years you people are going to witness the collapse of the United States of America. You will lose your cars, your wealth, and (if you are really unfortunate) your food.
Other than that, you really don't need to worry about anything ... !
Everything's ok! Go shopping! Buy a McMansion (they are getting cheap now)! Drive your SUV to the mall! Go to McDonald's and eat some fatty food!
George W. Bush was the greatest president in American history!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 10:17 AMI have very little patience to argue with a bunch of ignorant, scientifically illterate creationists ... but I found this story in one your local newspapers:
"Since hitting an all-time record of $3.56 a gallon on March 16, the average for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area has fallen by more than six cents, to $3.49 as of Thursday.
"The state average also has fallen four cents, from $3.53 on March 19 to about $3.49, according to AAA's daily Fuel Gauge Report."
and ...
Now I really want to know ... now could you people tell me ... are you all conservatives still so astonishingly ignorant that you continue to smile as you fill the gas tank on your SUVs and watch the numbers climb so very high and continue to ascend every year on a path which is leading directly to an economic catastrophe on such a large scale that it might destroy our economy and lead to the collapse of our God-blessed nation?
You people scoff at the idea of Global Warming. Fine. Creationists scoff at Charles Darwin!
But are you people so ignorant as to fail to notice that your American Way of Life is dying?
God have mercy on you all. You people are going to experience some really harsh times within five years. You are going to lose your cars and your economy and your future.
Have you people prayed to God today? Have you spent some time at Church begging for God's mercy?
You people better hope that the Rapture comes soon ... because otherwise you people are going to experience the Tribulation!
Don't you know ... if you pray often enough conservatives will spend eternity in Heaven!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 10:32 AMhttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88520025
Posted by: ITK on March 30, 2008 10:41 AMFrom NPR: The worlds oceans seem to be cooling!
Thank God, we're saved!
Or perhaps you people don't know what you are talking about ...
SoundPolitics is a good place for ignorant people to boast about their ignorance but there isn't anyone here who can engage in any sort of scientific discussion about anything. It is sort of like visiting the Institute for Creation Research and asking people about the validity of Darwinism, Plate Tectonics, Geology, Cosmology and Physics!
These people are well trained critics and nit-pickers but their work doesn't exactly succeed at refuting the conclusions of science.
So a bunch of George W. Bush fans in Seattle don't understand climatology! Who cares?
George W. Bush is going to leave office soon and you people are going to lose your SUVs soon.
Pray to God! Maybe God will save you!
To Heaven you shall go, if you are good enough!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 10:47 AMBrilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Sorry, but all the little choices that people all make add up to some very big problems. If low-flow toilets weren't required by law, we'd be building a second Brightwater plant.
And of course you can go and find places on this earth that look as if they haven't been touched by people. But go off to the rapidly industrializing areas of China, the toxic waste dumps of Africa, the coal mining areas of West Virginia, the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic, and then tell me that people are insignificant and have no impact.
At a global level, sure, I would say that our understanding of climate change will change as more data becomes available. I don't, however, think that stating blindly that it isn't a problem, then doing *NOTHING* except sitting on our thumbs, is quite the rational strategy, do you?
To read the comments by the yahoos on this board, you'd be hard pressed to think that conservatives were keen on "conserving" anything. The wastrel ways that you laugh about do nothing to promote the economy, national security, trade or scientific research, and are merely symptomatic of blind hatred of (rational and not-so-rational) liberals.
In fact, the national security issues alone should give conservatives a reason to promote independence from oil and development of new energy technologies as fast as possible! So what say you? What exactly is the internal cognitive dissonance that allows you to complain about "Islamofascism", Russian nationalism and Hugo Chavez on one hand, then actively fund these regimes on the other?
Posted by: bma on March 30, 2008 10:51 AMThink the price of oil is going to climb to a point where it prices us out of cars? Only if Democrats do what they have been doing & block domestic production.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/01/bakken-and-torquay-formations-saudi.html
We should also drill in ANWR and off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and Florida. Give the states the same deal Wyoming has with the oil revenues. It is a win-win for everybody except the extremist religious wacko environmentalists.
If you hate carbon emissions David, tie a plastic bag around your head. AGW is a lie.
Posted by: AP on March 30, 2008 11:05 AMWho is blocking the drilling in ANWR and off the U.S. Coast? The religious wacko Democrats. You are blaming the wrong folks for the problem. Last time I checked, Bush wanted to drill ANWR and the Democrats have blocked his efforts. It is the Democrats that need to stop killing our economy and stop blocking domestic energy production. By drilling ANWR and off the coasts, and also ending ethanol subsidies, we can right the economy quite fast with lowered energy and food prices.
Posted by: AP on March 30, 2008 11:11 AMOOPS.
The road to hell is paved with stupid liberal "good" intentions and its inconvenient unintended consequences...AGAIN.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on March 30, 2008 11:19 AMThe same may be said of the politicians claiming that global warming is caused by the citizens that elected them.
1. Citizens must accept or be cowered to believe that they and they alone are responsible for Global Warming.
2. Citizens must sacrifice their way of life to save the planet from Global Warming.
3. Like the "war on poverty", "war on drugs" and other similar wars, victory is not possible.
Of course this always leads to tyranny. Sacrificing our way of life includes sacrificing government, education and commonsense.
Facts are ignored and people responsible for spreading facts are castigated. There is a 0 tolerance policy regarding truth. As truth causes confusion.
History has recorded time and again how falsehoods have been used to create a state of fear or hysteria and once created the falsehood is harnessed by "Saviour's". The results are never pretty. Millions have sacrificed their lives unnecessarily so. A small trip down memory lane quickly reveals how once popular falsehoods were harnessed at great costs to civilizations.
Communism (Socialism) continues to survives today even though it has never produced the comforting results espoused by supporters.
Fascism used by the Nazis and coupled with Eugenics sacrificed millions of people and for what?
One may argue that these examples are extreme and have little to do with "Global Warming". I would only say that these examples are not extreme but clearly point out the extent "Saviour's" would go to satisfy their appetites for power if left unchecked by society.
Surrendering truth, commonsense and morality to a few for whatever reason always cost a high price in lives, economics and tragedies.
Today we are being asked to do so on several fronts. I, for one refuse.
Posted by: Snuffy on March 30, 2008 11:20 AMWe should also drill in ANWR and off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and Florida. Give the states the same deal Wyoming has with the oil revenues. It is a win-win for everybody except the extremist religious wacko environmentalists.
If you drill in ANWR and off the coast of Washington ... you are still going to lose your cars! After you get done burning all of the remaining oil resources left you won't have anything left to fuel your cars.
Drilling in ANWR is about as effective as putting a band-aide on a mortal wound!
You people should keep on driving your SUVs. Wait a little while and you will see what happens. You won't like it, either ...
Once you burn the oil it is gone forever!
So you will lose your SUVs and your economy and your American Way of Life and the God-blessed United States of America.
Too bad for you!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 11:22 AMCitizens must sacrifice their way of life to save the planet from Global Warming.
I know I have to speak slowly in order to educated the George W. Bush Republicans of Seattle.
Let me tell you what is happening:
You are losing your American Way of Life now.
You are losing your American Way of Life even if you don't want to lose it! You are losing it even if you would prefer to not make any sacrifices.
You are losing your SUVs and your economy and your American Way of Life.
The God-blessed USA is both bankrupt and insolvent. Our country is presently in liquidation. All those resources which formerly flowed freely to the American consumer are going to find their way to the consumers of China and India.
So no one is going to ask for a sacrifice from you. What you have today you are going to lose, and you are going to lose it in the most painfully unsacrificial manner possible.
Too bad for your SUVs! Pray to God for mercy because only God can save you!
Do you have a mansion in Heaven? Become a Christian and get saved ... spend eternity with George W. Bush!
I know that the Creationists of Seattle find falling snow a sufficient argument to refute Global Warming, and I cannot help but concede this argument to them (have you ever attempted to reason with a creationist?), so I will direct your attention to a much different and far more alarming chart:
And for those of you who are proud warmongers, I will direct your attention to another chart:
4,007: The George W. Bush and Dick Cheney Iraq War Memorial
There are some other charts which I could also bring to your attention but I would hate to force the uneducated and scientifically illterate George W. Bush conservatives to encounter actual scientific data which might even explain why snow is falling in Seattle and Antarctica's icecap is eroding and the Arctic icecap is melting away.
You people really do need to get out more ... drive your SUVs to the mall, Americans! If you are a patriotic American, shop til you drop!
George W. Bush and Jesus are friends of mine. Please forgive me for name-dropping!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 11:43 AM
Why is it Chicken Little, that in the one nation that has done more than any other in the world to improve the human condition through innovation and industry, you no longer think we are up the the challenge? That's the one flaw in your doom and gloom scenario. Americans are inventive and forward thinking. Take your liberal government, with their onerous rules and regulations, off their backs and watch them problem solve. Take the taxes that kill the dream of success off their backs and watch them problem solve.
Incredible Collapsing US Dollar
When your dollars become worthless driving will become a privilege available only to the elites. Until then, I encourage you all to burn oil as quickly and inefficiently as possible!
As an American, you are entitled to live in the most profligate, wasteful and foolish manner possible. Who cares about the future ... except maybe your grandchildren and their grandchildren!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 11:47 AMYou ask an excellent question ...
you no longer think we are up the the challenge?
In answer, I will say:
No, absolutely not! You people aren't up to any challenge, much less the very real troubles which you are facing!
Look, you people are so ignorant that you confuse weather with the climate and in particular Seattle weather with the entire Earth's climate.
God, I think I need to pray for you: "Dear Jesus, please bless the George W. Bush Republicans of Seattle with at least a minimal High School education in science! If this is not too much to ask, will you also allow them to spend eternity with George W. Bush in Heaven?"
People who cannot comprehend the climate are not well suited to solving the Economic Collapse - Resource Depletion - Malthusian Catastrophe problem.
Many of the people here don't even know that the Earth is over 6,000 years old! May God have mercy on their scientifically illiterate souls!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 11:54 AMPlease address the documented damage the alarmists have done to the economy and to our food supply/costs, the physical damage wrought by enviro-wacko's and further, please contrast/compare that to the massive fortune the evergrowing Al Bore and his merry band of cultists have made from that alamism.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on March 30, 2008 11:54 AMDid you read the link I posted about the Saudi Arabia of oil under Montana, the Dakotas, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan? Obviously not. Also, why should we not drill off the coast of Florida and leave that oil to the Cubans and Chinese? There is plenty of oil, but the religious wackos on the left are doing their best to keep us from accessing it.
Read this:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/01/bakken-and-torquay-formations-saudi.html
Posted by: AP on March 30, 2008 11:57 AMPlease address the documented damage the alarmists have done to the economy and to our food supply/costs, the physical damage wrought by enviro-wacko's and further, please contrast/compare that to the massive fortune the evergrowing Al Bore and his merry band of cultists have made from that alamism.
Well, our little argument is getting interesting ...
Would you care to estimate the cost of a Climate Change-induced drought to America's breadbasket ... you know, the same sort of drought which very nearly deprived Atlanta of its water supplies in 2007?
Would you care to estimate the cost of rising sea levels should they rise high enough to swallow New York City, Miami, New Orleans and the Houston refinery infrastructure under the ocean?
Would you care the estimate the cost if the extreme "drought" of the American Southwest eventually dries out Lake Mead and Lake Powell, thereby depriving that entire region (including Las Vegas and Phoenix) of water?
Climate Change is a Biblical-scale catastrophe! Haven't you read the Bible, Ragnar?
Read the book of Revelation. That is a poor description of what is coming. St. John never envisioned a planet with 9 billion humans and one billion cars and a horrendous polluted atmosphere, ocean and land. St. John never imagined what a Malthusian population collapse would look like.
But you might as well read the book of Revelation. That's the Christian prophecy of humankind's future and it ain't pretty.
I wonder why these Christians are ignorant about their own infallible Biblical prophecies? They need a Bible education to go along with their science education!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 12:01 PMYou fail to understand my comments.
Regarding the USA financial policy, the President proposes and Congress disposes. Blame Congress for failed financial policies. The same may be said of Washington State. Blame the State Houses for failed financial policies. However, this posting is not the place for failed financial policies.
However, Global Warming financial policies currently enacted by Washington State Democrats and most assuredly into the future will significantly contribute to a weaker economy in Washington State and the Country. The list is too long for this posting. However the impact is to meaningful to be ignored. Each and every productive citizen in this state will expect to pay at least $800 more next year and most probably several thousands dollars by 2018. This is from the OFM. And that is why Global Warming as being preached by the Al Gore and his cohorts, including the Democrats in Olympia, must be challenged and exposed for the fools that they are. Doing otherwise is very costly. And therein lays the sacrifice expected from each productive citizen in Washington State. And for what, the financial policies adapted by Washington State will have no impact on the climate of the planet.
By the way, the snow pack is at record highs. This is good for the snow pack provides the water which powers the dams producing electricity for Washington State. No carbon footprint. Therefore turning off the lights on the Space Needle is only symbolic.
By the way, my SL500 gets much better mileage then the Cadillac and that is my transportation sacrifice.
Posted by: Snuffy on March 30, 2008 12:01 PMDo you understand economics? Do you understand geology? Do you understand the fact that until a viable energy source is found, oil is king? Do you understand the U.S. is sitting on more oil than we can use in 500 years?
It is religious nutjobs like yourself that is holding back our economy and innovation. A true alternative energy source will only be developed if we keep govt. away. They will just screw things up or force resources into the wrong area. We also need a strong economy to develop a true alternative energy source.
But I think this whole issue has nothing to do with energy or environment to you religious wackos on the left. If you had your way, we would go back to your favorite energy source of the past; slavery. The whole AGW scam is nothing more than a money and power grab.
Posted by: AP on March 30, 2008 12:05 PMDid you read the link I posted about the Saudi Arabia of oil under Montana, the Dakotas, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan? Obviously not.
I did read it, AP, and I am astonished by your gullibility! May God have mercy upon the ignorant!
Also, why should we not drill off the coast of Florida and leave that oil to the Cubans and Chinese?
I am a resident of Florida who happens to enjoy clean beaches and can assure you that my response to the request for oil drilling off of Florida's coast is: Hell, no! I am not alone in responding in this manner to the ecological destruction of Florida's remaining beauty.
I'd much prefer that people in Seattle pay $4 a gallon for gasoline (to fill their egregiously wasteful SUVs) than to surrender Florida's coastline to the oil industry.
No thanks!
Not that the oil is needed ... you know, there's a Saudi Arabia's worth of oil in North Dakota or whereever!
There is plenty of oil, but the religious wackos on the left are doing their best to keep us from accessing it.
There's plenty of alcohol but it is still best to prevent an alcoholic from drinking it all up! You people are going to have to learn to live without your SUVs!
Please understand ... as an environmentalist ... I am crying for you!
God loves George W. Bush and the God-blessed United States of America and the Hummer H2 and the morbidly obese shoppers of America!
I cannot help but feel patriotic on the SoundPolitics blog ...
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 12:07 PMYou ask good questions. You advance to the front of the class here at the Seattle George W. Bush Elementary School. You ask and I will answer:
1. David, are you for ethanol subsidies?
No. Ethanol subsidies deprive the impoverished of their food.
2. Are you against the U.S. drilling for oil off our coasts and in ANWR?
Yes, absolutely and forever. You don't solve an addiction problem by getting more drugs.
3. Do you understand economics?
Yes. A bankrupt and insolvent country doesn't remain a Superpower for very long. See Great Britian in the 20th century.
4. Do you understand geology?
Yes. The Earth is finite hence all of its resources are finite. See: Gold in California and Alaska (19th century), Silver in Nevada (19th century), oil in Texas (20th century), and oil in Mexico (21st century).
5. Do you understand the fact that until a viable energy source is found, oil is king?
Yes, absolutely, and this is the reason why you people are about to experience a horrible economic catastrophe. Too bad for you!
6. Do you understand the U.S. is sitting on more oil than we can use in 500 years?
You need an education in geology! American oil production peaked circa 1971 and it has experienced a steady and unstoppable decline since then even though America enjoyed a massive oil discovery in Alaska.
7. It is religious nutjobs like yourself that is holding back our economy and innovation. A true alternative energy source will only be developed if we keep govt. away. They will just screw things up or force resources into the wrong area. We also need a strong economy to develop a true alternative energy source.
Well ... if you need a strong economy ... too bad that you are losing it now! And ... about the private sector ... the Free Market is sick, capitalism is terminally ill. Haven't you paid any attention to the Fed and wall Street over the last seven months?
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 12:16 PMFeeding the dave only makes him feel validated.
God have mercy upon anyone who receives their validation from the scientifically illiterate George W. Bush Fan Club of Seattle!
Are you going to Heaven when you die, Deadwood?
Accept Christ today and spend eternity with George W. Bush in eternity! I hear that Heaven's McMansions are bigger than the biggest McMansions on the Earth. Heavens SUVs are bigger than the Hummer H2, too.
Heaven is beautiful ... and it is also pristine and unpolluted (not that conservatives would care, conservatives love pollution!).
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 12:20 PMBy the way, my SL500 gets much better mileage then the Cadillac and that is my transportation sacrifice.
I just wonder, Snuffy, how far will your SL500 go when you cannot any longer buy any gasoline?
You better enjoy driving your car now when gasoline is only $3.50 a gallon.
Burn, burn, burn the oil! Burn away your future!
Don't worry about tomorrow because you live only for today! Only environmentalists and Democrats worry about consequences! The oil industry and George W. Bush affirm: Everything's ok, Seattle! Go shopping! God wants you to burn gasoline and spend money! God wants you to use your credit card!
God bless the consumers! God bless the God-blessed US of A! (Just step over the dead Iraqi children ... God doesn't love them ... they aren't consumers and they certain are not Christians!)
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 12:27 PMassorted Dave rantings
Don't be upset at me just because you don't comprehend the full magnitude of your predicament.
The residents of seattle need to wake up to the new reality. The Age of Abundance has ended, the Age of Scarcity has begun. The American Superpower era has ended, the American Collapse era has begun.
In other words: We have entered the Age of Consequences.
Life is going to change in ways that you people will not like. You people need to wake up from your George W. Bush-induced consumerist slumber.
But if is a very difficult to tell the entitled that they have lost their entitlement ...
What you don't believe you will experience.
So your world is ending, besides that everything really is ok!
Posted by: David Mathews on March 30, 2008 12:48 PMAre you that much better than the rest of us? In what way? Give us some examples of what you're doing to change life on earth. I'd like some concrete examples, if you please. Does your sewage end up in the same place ours does?
Posted by: dan on March 30, 2008 01:14 PMAnd the Earth also continues to ruin the parade for these nuts. A giant new reserve looks to have been discovered in North Dakota. It appears to be almost on par with with what is under Saudi Arabia. So the "run out of oil soon" argument isn't looking too good either. And you're not going to see the entire nation retooling all of our fuel and energy distribution network, until it makes economic sense to do so.
200 Billion Barrels of Oil discovered in North Dakota, would be a very good example of why it won't make economic sense to abandon oil any time soon.
There will always be pathetically low-self esteem individuals carrying around sandwich boards that say "The End of The World Is Near!" meanwhile the rest of us will continue to enjoy productive lives. They are valuable, because they provide us with entertainment.
But the Left Leaning leadership is not going to give up, because their goal is the control of man. They want to implement Marxism, and they'll use whatever hoax they can find, or move on to the next hoax if need be.
Posted by: Jeff B. on March 30, 2008 01:43 PMClimate Change nuts build in to their models that the Sun Output is nearly a constant. But the reality is that the noise fluctuations of the Sun's energy alone does have an enormous effect on the planet Earth. And that effect combined with volcanoes, earth's magnetism, earth's oceans, etc. are all much greater drivers of our climate than they and their models are willing to acknowledge.
Apr fool's is a few days away, but I see that the foll has already made an appearance. Please tell us all how Democrat and Environmentalist Albert Gore is worrying about the consequences of using in one month 20 time the energy in his 10,000 sq ft mansion? Please tell us all how he is worrying about the consequences when he drives his SUVs and flies all over the country in a private jet burning 10 times the fuel per passenger than a coach flight?
Posted by: pbj on March 30, 2008 02:25 PM"No. Ethanol subsidies deprive the impoverished of their food."
You might want to tell this to Saint Obama who cosponsored the "Fuel Security and Consumer Choice Act," which would mandate that all vehicles sold in the U.S. be able to run on an ethanol blend as well as gasoline within 10 years.
"Yes, absolutely and forever. You don't solve an addiction problem by getting more drugs."
Unless of course it is marijuana, right?
"Yes, absolutely, and this is the reason why you people are about to experience a horrible economic catastrophe. Too bad for you!"
Hey, didn't I see you outside Westlake the other day yelling this very same thing at the top of you lungs while thumping the Communist Manifesto?
David...... are you there? helloo.
Funny, he was right here a minute ago.
Posted by: dan on March 30, 2008 03:19 PMWhat will happen if it is found that oil is a renewable resource, a by-product of Earth's internal activity?
Will that finding change the position of the left?
I sincerely doubt it. The left wishes to cobble citizens at any and all costs. Costs of course to be paid for by the cobbled citizens. Crude oil is only part of the equation. The oil pumped out of the ground must be refined. There are any number of formulas for refining oil depending on the season, state (city), additives and of course the end product(s) produced. In the USA there has not been any new refiners built in some time. And current refiners are maxed out. So what are the politicians doing to resolve the issues? Wind farms, bio-fuels and solar panels seem to be high on the list of priorities. And let us no forget mandates to use only approved light bulbs. Never mind that they contain Mercury which is unfriendly to living things. Unattended consequences are of little concern to socialist.
In short, got to run, the quantity of available oil has little to do with the policies being shaped by the the socialists. Their primary cause is to take power at all costs. The firmly believe that they know better.
Posted by: Snuffy on March 30, 2008 03:27 PMUmmm, Snuffy, have you heard of the term "fossil fuels?" News flash to Snuffy--petroleum comes from dead dinosaurs. And since experts now tell us that even 'Nessie,' the Loch Ness monster, has fallen victim to global warming, THERE WILL BE NO MORE ADDITIONAL PETROLEUM. And BTW, it also killed Storsjudjuret, the Swedish equivalent of Nessie.
Morons.
Posted by: storsie on March 30, 2008 04:17 PMFlash to Storsie
I said what will happen "if". My point being that the Storsies of the world would continue to argue even if their argument is pointless. Take for example "Global Warming" which hinges on fabricated modeling that simply doesn't bear up to peer review or reality. No small matter, if enough people believe it, then it must be true.
Read the news flash Storsie, Global Warming is a hoax.
Posted by: Snuffy on March 30, 2008 06:32 PMSupporting Evidence, Briefly
Oil being discovered at 30,000 feet, far below the 18,000 feet where organic matter is no longer found.
Wells pumped dry later replenished.
Volume of oil pumped thus far not accountable from organic material alone according to present models.
In Situ production of methane under the conditions that exist in the Earth's upper mantle. (PhysicsWeb; Sept. 14, 2004)
NASA scientists are about to publish conclusive studies showing abundant methane of a non-biologic nature is found on Saturn's giant moon Titan, a finding that validates a new book's contention that oil is not a fossil fuel. (World Net Daily; Dec. 1, 2005)
When it is fully understood how the dead dinos are not the only contributing factors to oil production, the left may have a big problem. If you wish to discover additional items to prick your own balloon, ask and you will receive.
Fat Al Bore will launch a three-year, "$300 million campaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a move that ranks as one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history."
I just bet he will.
FOLLOW THE MONEY!
So, the "disappearance of the Loch Ness monster" proves AGW or GCC.
Whatever.
Please cite data on the temperature fluctuations in Loch Ness over the last 100 years.
Then again, how can you "prove" the death of a creature which has never been proven to exist?
I didn't think so.
Ever been to Loch Ness? I have.
Moron.
Oil from dinosaurs? Nessie killed by AGW? And confirmed "experts"?
Obi, you should know better than to feed this kind of troll.
Posted by: deadwood on March 30, 2008 09:17 PMOh sorry, I forgot that you conservative wacko types don't believe in experts, science etc.
Posted by: storsie on March 30, 2008 09:18 PMWe are being screwed. This world of ours has had cyclic temp changes since it formed. There is nothing man made about these cycles and we can't affect them.
Posted by: Chuck Berlemann on March 30, 2008 09:26 PMhttp://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/
In the famous NASA picture of the Korean Peninsula, the South is brightly lit while the North is completely dark.
Make no mistake about it. This is what the Global Warming freaks want to bring us to.
Posted by: Bill K. on March 30, 2008 09:31 PMBill K - to the GW freaks North Korea is morally superior because they don't "export imperialist aggression and emit low levels of CO2". Of course their human misery is off the charts, but the GW freaks are definitively anti-humanist from everything I've seen and heard. They just don't have the balls to admit it.
Posted by: FreedomLover on March 30, 2008 09:34 PMI must go now. The carbon footprint plan I'm on strictly limits my computer time debating with fools.
Posted by: storsie on March 30, 2008 09:37 PMI just find it incredible that .04 percent of anything, let alone an important plant food such as CO2, will bringing about the collapse of life on the planet as we know it.
But if I was Al Gore and I had my fortune invested in a company trading carbon certs, I'd sure make it look like .04 percent was a big deal. And he's STILL trying in spite of what the IPCC says about the latest reports on cooling.
Posted by: Untitled[1].HTML on March 30, 2008 10:14 PMA recent Washington Post article had scientists calling for zero CO2 emissions within decades. This would be a death sentence for the human race. There are tens of thousands of chemical reactions that emit CO2 that are necessary to sustain our technical civilization. Even the cave men needed fire and of course we exhale CO2 with every breath. CO2 is an unavoidable byproduct of human existence.
Maybe all the haters of man will get their wish as soon as the next election. McCain wants to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% and Obama and Clinton want an 80% reduction. Either way is still a long slow death.
Posted by: Bill K. on March 30, 2008 10:29 PMYour mind is either very closed or you have been ignoring data that doesn't fit your pre-conceived idea of the present state of Climate Change™, Global Warming™ or whatever you want to call it (I think all here know what is meant, it is the left that keeps moving the goal posts) theory right now. At present there is a nine year sting of world-wide measurement data showing a cooling trend.
I only seek the truth. Facts, reason and common sense guide me. That is more than I can say for many connected with Climate Change™. I started out as a believer many years ago and have come to see things a little differently now. I do not deny Climate Change™ (or Global Warming™ or whatever the new buzz words are) but I do deny that it is a special problem that needs global government control of everything we do to "cure".
I also find it incredible that you cling to the idea that the present state of climate modeling is anything near accurate. I think it is safe to say that climate models have been shown to be mostly bunk if only that all the needed data points can't be covered let alone know the complex interactions of them all. For example, water vapor is the most important and plentiful greenhouse gas yet it is not presently modeled nor is it wholly understood what to do with it if it was.
You know, I don't care what Al Gore does with his house either BUT I do care what Al Gore does to ME by his own greed, arrogance and paternalism.
This business about people turning some lights off at a specified hour because other people tell them to is embarrassing. These people obviously cannot decide for themselves when they should use lights and when they shouldn't. No wonder they want the politicians to take care of them and make everybody be like them.
C'mon people. Use your brains.
Posted by: Gary on March 31, 2008 06:32 AMIf the public ever stopped to think for themselves, the 'eco-friendly' hybrid would be banned from our highways.
They are not 'green.' They are, in fact, blacker than Hitler's bastard heart.
Do any of these bunny-hugging, sign-waving morons stop to think about what it takes to make just one of those big-assed batteries? Come to think of it, do any of these idiots stop to think about what it takes to recycle one- which is necessary every five years!?
Of course not. And you can bet your sweet ass that none of the proponents of these toxic deathtraps is about to tell you, either. All they say is that they use less gas. And after all, isn't that what it's all about?
Last summer, when I asked these questions of a greeniac sign-waver who preached the Gospel According to Al "St. Fat Dumbass" Gore, the poor little fly cleared his throat and said tentatively, "Well, that's still a problem that hasn't been solved. But we should still do it, because by the time the mass of batteries has to be exchanged, we'll have the technology to do it."
I smiled wickedly and rejoined, "So what you are saying is that in spite of the fact that these batteries are shockingly toxic to produce, and shocking toxic to recycle, we should still buy only hybrid cars?"
"Well, yes, because they still use less gas."
I must have looked as appalled at his lack of critical thinking as I actually was, because he defensively asked, "What...?"
"Do you have any idea how utterly and patently stupid your rationale is?"
"What do you mean?" The young man bristled.
"I mean, you rail and rant about how America is destroying our ecosystem because of the huge so-called 'carbon footprint' we leave due to our use of petroleum, but you are more than happy to advocate forcing us to buy cars that are even more toxic to the environment- and far more dangerous to the consumer- when you don't even have a frigging clue as to what's really going on here."
"They are not dangerous!" retorted the misguided idiot.
"Oh, yes they are," I shot back, leaning forward. "Think about it. How much does that big-assed battery weigh?"
"I dunno."
"A helluva lot. And if you are driving at 60 miles an hour and aren't watching where you are going while texting your Earth Mama and have a head-on collision with someone else, or a bridge median, guess what the last thing to go through your mind will be?"
"What?"
"That big-assed battery, pal. And if you manage to survive being crushed by the battery, what do you think will be all over your mangled body?"
"I dunno."
"The stuff that was in the battery, Brainiac. And you know what else? No medic team in its right frigging mind is gonna come anywear near your sorry mangled ass while that big old battery is dicharging all of its energy and acid all over you and that ugly-assed car. So you'll sit there in your carbon-neutral happy-wagon and boil your skin off until a hazmat team shows up to make it safe, which could take a long, lonnnnnnnnng time, considering how fast the Department of Transportation moves these days."
I paused for another breath while a few other Berkenstock Boneheads directed their attention towards our exchange, then continued:
"Now just suppose you survive your traumatic injuries and the additional insult of being stewed by your battery. Let's even go so far as to say that you survive the trip to my ER in a bumpy, cold medic unit. Do you think I'm going to let your sorry, toxic ass into my ER and jeopardize the health and safety of my staff and other patients? HELLLLLLLLLLL, NO. You're getting your ass scrubbed down of ALL toxic materials OUTSIDE before you get into one of my rooms. Here's a brutal truth, bud: Someone who is stewing in battery acid because he didn't think for himself before buying one of your Utopia-Mobiles isn't even close to being worth four of my people getting poisoned trying to save his stupid ass."
I turned on my heel, walked to my 26 MPG, 340HP Mustang, revved up with a lusty, throaty roar, and rolled down my window.
"Peace out, dude," I said as I roared out of the parking lot and drove to work.
I know your not one to take advise Matthews, but keep them short. No one wants to read your long self righteous posts. If you want them read, try keeping them shorter. What did you do, change your E-mail address? Can't wait till they block you again.
There goes every thread! Time to bounch that fool again.
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on March 31, 2008 09:32 AMhttp://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/earth_hour_crashes_to_earth/
I wonder what Al was doing during EE? Did he buy his way out and go on as normal (for him that is).
Will someone print up a bumper sticker that says Thank God For Global Warming. That about sums it up.
Posted by: Yaddacubed on March 31, 2008 10:50 AMWill someone print up a bumper sticker that says Thank God For Global Warming. That about sums it up.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well after the last 3 days of cold & snow, I pray for some GW. LOL
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on March 31, 2008 10:55 AM" Because, if we are being honest, Earth Hour, like its forefathers, is not about environmental policy, it is about social networking and self-importance. " ...
... " Earth Hour is for those consumed with monitoring their carbon footprint and confused about why they do. " ...
... " Rather than creating a platform for compelling, fact-intensive arguments about eco-threats or creative ideas for green energy, Earth Hour is yet another in an endless series of symbolic events that define intergalactic participation in "something" as an end in itself. " ...
... " No one is for capricious destruction of the environment. Truly being "green," however, demands more than annual self-esteem boosters. "
OUCH!
" Some warming worshippers just didn't get that this was about cutting warming gases, not adding to them with a bonfire: At Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons, celebrity chef Maurice Terzini ensured diners were not left in the dark in spectacular fashion by lighting 1000 candles. "
Too funny.
That's probably the last thing the world really needs.
Posted by: JDH on March 31, 2008 01:15 PMLOL!!!! No, a TRUE celebration would be gathering an "earth circle" in the darkness and singing Kumbaya.
Posted by: FreedomLover on March 31, 2008 03:37 PMUpdate: While Google scolds the rest of the world about turning off the lights, HA reader Simon Scowl directs our attention to this month's Harper's, which has an interesting look at Google's plans to exploit cheap electricity in Oregon. Thanks to a boatload of government subsidies, Google located its new server farm on the Columbia River -- where it will use enough electricity to light Tacoma, Washington.
But that's not the best part. According to Harper's, Google and its competitors have now started building data centers in places like Lithuania, Dublin, Siberia, and Shanghai. What do all these locations have in common? Except for Lithuania, where 78% of the power will be nuclear, all of them rely on carbon-spewing energy production with lower prices and fewer controls on emissions. So much for Earth Hour, eh?
Cult followers.
Global warming will soon be a thing of the past. Liberal Fascism will fight virulently against this "The debate is over..." cries the leftist fascists cult followers. And to all a good night..
Posted by: KS on April 4, 2008 10:57 PMWhy ? The following should give an insight..
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346310,00.html
