Some things I ran across recently have finally smashed the last bit of bright eyed innocence I had that kept the small glimmer of hope alive that our leaders are qualified to address climate change or even have an educated discussion about alternative energy. Fuck me sideways. Between stupidity and corruption I think we're pretty much fucked Captain!

Little gems from Texas Rep Joe Barton:




And apparently we don't need to adress pollution or anything because God said he wouldn't hurt us again......


There is more but I lack the will.....ugh

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Old Joe was right in that the wind aides in heating and cooling the planet (though I think the ocean's currents and our distance from the sun play a bigger role), but the thought that putting up wind turbines would fuck is is kind of whacked.

Remember, we elect these people. Want to blame the idiots in charge? Blame the idiots that vote. Until we're a better educated country, nothing's going to get better.

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The second quote wasn't quite as bad, but he's still saying that we can't do anything because nothing is wrong. WTF???????

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

The thing politicians are best at is getting elected.

Why would a real leader with real talents sign up for for the petty and personally abusive charade that is a life in politics?

No, no. Politics is for the demagogues, egomaniacs power-whores and lawyers.

God bless the USA

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Here, let's take an example from the other side.

Al Gore: "Corn based Ethanol and the subsidies required to sustain it in the US is a bad policy and the only reason I said it was a good policy was because I was running for President and I needed votes from Iowa and Tennessee."

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOil ... 22?sp=true

Fucktards.
Every. one. of. them.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/temperatu ... ature.html

Global warming is happening, but there's very little we have to do with it, and very little we can do about it.

There has been an ice age about every 100,000 years, and the last one was only 10,000 years ago. Before the last ice age the average global temperature was 3 degrees warmer than it is now. We have about 90,000 years of warming before the next ice age, with plenty of dips and spikes along the way.

The temps measured since recording directly with thermometers around 1850 doesn't come anywhere near close to telling the whole story. Tree rings and ice cores tell a story from hundreds of thousands of years ago. If the earth takes an upswing back to where it has been before, humans will just have to adapt or get used to the fact that they won't be around for long (just like every other organism that ever lived).

I think I'm in the "insufficient data to tell what the fuck is going on," camp. As long as the republicans don't take away snow and christmas, I'm fine.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I'm in the camp that thinks we need to take steps to stop rampant polution regardless if we caused the climate change, we're speeding up the natural climate change, or if it's all just a Democratic conspiracy to do...stuff.

Whatever your stand as far as beliefs on climate change, what about the simple fact that eventually we'll need to find an alternative to fossil fuels? Do you trust a guy who thinks the world will always be fine because God said so to make decisions that will effect us and our children's children? Or how about the guy who thinks wind turbines will slow down the wind, thus warming the earth? Are these idiots going to do what is needed based on science and reality?

About the voters though. I hardly think that any of these guys said "Oh yeah, the Bible is my guide to Climate change!" or "my religious views are way off to the right" when they were running for office. I'm sure it was the old "Family values" and "Go to church" kind of stuff, so blaming the voters for something they didn't know is hard to sell to me, though I do agree that people need to put more thought into who they vote for.

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Wind turbines do effect the climate.
They're removing energy from a system, they're altering that system by definition.

Someone saying they influence global temperatures is clearly talking out their ass, but they must have an impact...scientifically speaking.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

If we cut down a few trees for every wind turbine we put up, that should neutralize the effects of the wind resistance created by the turbines, no?

GO GREEN!

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Wheelhouse

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

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I haven't bothered to actually look into it, but the energy removed and the overall effect has to be so small as to be inconsequential at best. For this guy to suggest that windmills would alter the earths temp, especially since the wind isn't stopped, just re-directed....wait.....why the fuck am writing this? Who needs me to explain this? Bottom line, this dude is a moron.

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There was also the old bitch at the House of Representatives complaining about a 200 year old rule where she can't wear one of her 300 hats on the House floor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket ... ats-sexist

AMERICA!

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

There is more kinetic wind energy lost to wind that's slowed down by running into mountains and other natural features than humans could possibly so with wind farms.

Holy crap.....mountains are causing global warming...WE MUST BULLDOZE THE MOUNTAINS!!

Ahh, but those mountains and other natural features were already part of the system. We're adding entropy. They usually get installed in places that have no natural resistance, like offshore or in the desert.
It does remove energy from the system, it must therefore have an effect.

On a side note: Wind farms are retarded and will not solve our energy problems. Any of them.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I'm not saying that they don't have an affect. I'm just saying that the effect they have is so insignificant that it's scientifically meaningless.

And no, wind farms are not the silver bullet answer. But, they're not a complete waste either.

DP, I don't prefer invoking religion into the issue either. As an atheist that's as silly to me as the notion that man is powerful enough to influence the climate above what hundreds of natural factors already are doing. The sun spot cycle, moon, sea currents, lava flows, methane gas, continental drift and all the way down to deep sea microbes effect the climate. Somehow though, we are to believe that how much fossil fuel we burn trumps all of that? The co2 levels in the atmosphere are higher than ever recorded...by FAR! Yet somehow the temperature is only one degree or so higher than a century ago...a century ago that marked the end of the "little ice age" when temps were unusually cool! That should tell people that co2 levels are not as influential a factor as hyped, unless we should be fearing that we are only now about to fall off the cliff due to a century of our misguided ways. Of course that's what is most dramatic and it sells and gains votes the best.

Those people you quoted might be really ignorant or even maliciously politicking to protect connections to oil and other fossil fuel supporters. They are no different though from those that will over-hype and promote alt fuel sources that will redistribute energy revenue and political power. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that all these alt fuel sources are somehow cleaner or greener. Electricity still requires burning coal, so hybrid cars just shift from burning oil to burning coal. Other energy sources might be totally clean, but they'll have to be affordable too. I looked into solar panels for my home but the cost dwarfed what I would spend on coal based electricity even if I lived here for the next 60 yeras.

Bottom line is that none of us can trust any discussion in Washington about climate change. It's nothing more than a political football with some people that are on the right side of the issue for the wrong reasons, and others that are simply on the wrong side of the issue. Yes, it would be great if we could transition to cleaner and (supposedly) greener fuel sources, but not if that transition breaks the economy with unattainable laws or codes that businesses can't afford, only to line the pockets of new corporations backed by a different political agenda and faulty/skewed, bought-and-paid for junk science with expected results that are completely unreliable.

People need to realize that the sky is not actually falling, that the earth's forces dwarf the effect of how our cars are fueled, and that no productive changes can occur until the climate is removed from the political arena and reliable, non-partisan research can provide real answers. We also need to understand that eventually (centuries from now), no matter what we do, ice caps will melt, coast lines will recede and sea levels will rise to previous heights, and humans will have to adapt to a warmer climate or die off due to factors a hell of a lot more influential than fuel and factory emissions. I suppose dying off due to a warmer climate would still be less painful than dying off in the next ice age, so maybe it's for the best.

Maybe not a complete waste, but not enough of a benefit to justify the cost.
Until we have some sort of grid wide capacitor or battery solutions, wind and solar are pretty much a waste. Solar to less of an extent.

They're contrary to how our grid works.
We increase generation with demand
We don't increase demand when mother nature decides to be sunny or windy.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Sabresfansince1980, I'm sorry man there was a lot you wrote but to a few points:

I'm no hippie and I'm also not naive enough to think people in congress don't get behind causes for their own benefit. I know that there are people on each side of this issue who are only speaking out to protect a vested interest, which pisses me off, but to see a guy clearly put his hands up and say (essentialy) "We don't need to address pollution or how we treat the environment because mankind won't end until God says so"....I mean come on.

As to fossil fuels, we have pretty strong evidence that it's effecting the environment (How much depends on who you believe). Outside of any effect it has on the atmosphere, what about the effects to the land, sea or economies? The air in Bejing is so nasty people need masks! Taking an attitutde that we can keep going on as we are because God said it was cool makes me want to punch kittens.

I make no claim as to the scientific reality of how badly climate change is or how much of it is our fault let alone what could be done about it but the good thing is, I don't have to make those decisions because I'm not a politician. They are though, and that's just plain scary.

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