Uncategorized: assholes denialists florida idiots Rick Scott
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 6, Day 13: The Florida Land Bust
The Saint Petersburg Times has an excellent editorial citing Chicago’s greening programs as worthwhile models for Floridian cities. Governor Rick Scott, of course, is a typical denialist (and a crook, too!). Poor Florida — soon to be submerged:
As the New York Times recently reported, in 2006 then-Mayor Richard M. Daley embraced climatologist predictions the city was warming at such an alarming pace that by the end of this century Chicago could be facing as many as 72 days a year with temperatures in the 90s, along with increasing precipitation. So Chicago has embarked on a massive green initiative with increased tree plantings, environmentally sensitive building efforts and improved reclaimed water systems. And what of Florida, perhaps the most ecologically sensitive state in the union? For starters, there is Gov. Rick Scott, who doesn’t believe — despite proof to the contrary from the scientific community — that global warming even exists. As sea levels have risen, Tallahassee continues to whistle past the environmental graveyard, abolishing the Florida Energy and Climate Commission and even attempting to repeal the Florida Climate Protection Act on the dubious and misinformed logic it is no longer needed. While Chicago acknowledges global warming and develops forward-thinking strategies, Florida’s leaders ignore scientific reality even as the seas slowly and steadily erode the peninsula.
Good stuff. It’s always enjoyable to mock the twisted thinking of denialists. Too bad they’re for real. Sent May 30:
As the evidence for global climate change piles up ever higher, it would seem that conservative “skeptics” would eventually be won over to the side of science-based policy. To be sure, this does happen occasionally. But in general, this is not the way the denialist mind works. If past history is any guide, a far more likely response will be intensified advocacy of increasingly improbable and complex conspiracy theories. Al Gore heading an international cabal of climate scientists? Check. IPCC Director Rajendra Pachauri secretly planning a One-World Government, complete with mandatory re-education camps for SUV drivers? Check. The ninety-seven percent of the world’s climate experts who agree on the human causes of global warming and the terrifying threats it poses are, in the denialist mind, more likely to be avaricious hypocrites out to make a quick buck than conscientious scientists reporting their findings to the world. Projection, anyone?
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes denialists idiots Republican obstructionism
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Year 2, Month 6, Day 12: Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain
The Austin Statesman runs an AP article on the sudden rash of Republican presidential wannabes jettisoning their previous “well, maybe” positions on climate change, the better to appeal to their knuckle-dragging base:
WASHINGTON — One thing that Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have in common: These GOP presidential contenders are running away from their past positions on global warming .
All four have stepped back from previous stances on the issue, either apologizing outright or softening what they said earlier. And those who haven’t fully recanted are under pressure to do so.
It’s an indicator of a shift on the issue among conservative Republicans, who have an outsize influence in the party’s presidential primary elections. Over the past few years, Gallup polling has shown a decline in the share of Americans saying that global warming’s effects have already begun — from a high of 61 percent in 2008 to 49 percent in March. . In 2008, 50 percent of conservatives said they believed global warming already is having effects; that figure dropped to 30 percent this year. By contrast, among liberals and moderates there’s been little movement, and broad majorities say warming is having an impact now.
These people are a clear and present danger to all of us.
Sent May 30:
Republican readiness to abandon any vestige of fact-based policy on climate change is unsurprising; these politicians have without exception declared their preferential allegiance to the short-term profitability of their sponsors in the fossil fuel industry. It’s too bad, for the conservative “base” badly needs to hear some plain talk about the reality of global warming and its implications for this country and the world. While tea partiers eagerly imagine the existential terrors of Sharia law, gay marriage, and universal health care, the genuine threat posed by increasing greenhouse gases is ignored, misunderstood and ridiculed. The facts are in: if the evidence for Iraqi WMD’s was as robust as that for human-caused climate change, we’d have found loose nukes on sale in the bazaars of Baghdad. But no GOP primary candidate dares to acknowledge this inconvenient reality. Our descendants will have harsh words for these willfully ignorant hypocrites and their enablers.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes denialism idiots Republican obstructionism Rick Scott
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Year 2, Month 6, Day 3: Rick’s A Dick
The Miami Herald’s Fred Grimm has a column reprinted in the Kansas City Star, noting the ignorance of Rick Scott and the problems it presents:
Climate scientists are lending their computer modeling and data analysis and research findings and learned assumptions to the new governor’s first state hurricane conference this week. Gov. Rick Scott seems fine with that, as long as the brainy guys confine their theories to the short term.
In his short speech opening the conference Wednesday, for example, Scott didn’t object to warnings that Florida is statistically likely to absorb a big hit in 2011. He promised Florida would be ready. “We’re going to be very prepared.”
Scott, however, only accepts climate science devoted to the upcoming hurricane season. When it comes to the long-term stuff – the overwhelming research that warns of man-made global warming – he remains Florida’s denier in chief.
Idiot. Buffoon. Psychopath. Sociopath.
Sent May 22:
Of course Florida governor Rick Scott has seen nothing to persuade him that global climate change is real and dangerous. He’s a perfect specimen of the modern Republican politician: obsessed with short-term gain, oblivious to long-term consequences. For Governor Scott and others of his ilk, “future generations” exist only as a phrase to be used in public in order to manipulate low-information voters. Like the Rapturists whose vision of the future ended last Saturday, these politicians think no further than the next election cycle; their corporate sponsors, similarly, think no further than the next fiscal year’s profits.
When it comes to the dangers posed by climate change, we need genuinely far-sighted leadership — leaders who are ready to confront the scientifically confirmed bad news head on and help all of us understand what we as a country need to do in order to secure a sustainable future for our descendants.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes climate zombies florida idiots ocean levels Republican obstructionism Rick Scott
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Year 2, Month 6, Day 2: How Many Times Must A Man Turn His Head?
The Miami Herald runs a piece on how climate change has become a low priority for Florida’s government since the Scott takeover. Big surprise.
Four hundred scientists gathered in Copenhagen recently to talk about the warming temperatures in the Arctic. Their conclusion: The Arctic’s glaciers are melting faster than anyone expected due to man-made climate change.
As a result, the world’s sea level will rise faster than previously projected, rising at least two feet 11 inches and perhaps as high as five feet three inches by 2100, they said.
In low-lying Florida, where 95 percent of the population lives within 35 miles of its 1,200 miles of coastline, a swelling of the tides could cause serious problems. So what is Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection doing about dealing with climate change?
“DEP is not pursuing any programs or projects regarding climate change,” an agency spokeswoman said in an email to the Times earlier this month.
(snip)
Crist’s successor, Gov. Rick Scott, doesn’t think climate change is real, even though it’s accepted as fact by everyone from NASA to the Army to the Vatican.
“I’ve not been convinced that there’s any man-made climate change,” Scott said last week. “Nothing’s convinced me that there is.”
That guy is really a pustulent sore on the body politic. Sent May 21:
When Governor Scott pronounces himself unpersuaded about the reality of global climate change, saying that nothing’s convinced him of its existence, he reveals more about himself and the contemporary Republican party he represents than about the state of contemporary climate science. In the world of science, nobody needs convincing anymore; evidence for the human causes and catastrophic consequences of climate change is overwhelming and utterly unambiguous. In GOP-world, however, the laws of physics and natural phenomena are subordinate to popular preference; the disasters attendant to the greenhouse effect will be nullified by tea-party decree. Why isn’t Mr. Scott convinced? Hint: it’s not because he’s examined the evidence. Rather, it’s because he (along with his ideological allies throughout the country) is philosophically opposed to any policy that doesn’t generate higher profit margins for the fossil fuel industry. The Governor’s already made up his mind; don’t confuse him with the facts.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Army Conservatives denialists geopolitical strategy idiots military wars
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Year 2, Month 6, Day 1: I Wanna Go To Andorra
The Guardian (UK) notes that the US armed forces are actively preparing for the problems of climate change:
Federal legislation to combat climate change is quashed for the foreseeable future, scuttled by congressional climate cranks who allege the climate-science jury is still out. What’s become clear is that, for some, the jury will always be out. We can’t stack scientific facts high enough to hop over the fortified ideological walls they’ve erected around themselves. Fortunately, though, a four-star trump card waits in the wings: the US national security apparatus.
The comments are priceless. Sent May 20:
The cognitive dissonance involved in being a modern-day Republican is extreme, and it will no doubt be further exacerbated by the conclusions drawn by the United States military on the dangers posed by climate change. With a record that includes decades of posturing about “deferring to the generals” on defense issues, the GOP is now in a bit of a box when it comes to responding to the armed forces’ consensus on the strategic consequences of the greenhouse effect. Forced by the exigencies of Republican primary elections to deny simultaneously both scientific evidence and the advice of their military leaders, these anti-science legislators have an impossible needle to thread. Were the issues involved not ones of such great moment, the dilemma of contemporary conservatives would be irresistibly comical. Alas, this is no laughing matter — an assessment bolstered by every single strategic analysis of climate change and its epiphenomena.
Warren Senders
environment: denialists idiots
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Year 2, Month 5, Day 31: Shrill. Shrill. Shrill.
The Myrtle Beach Sun-News runs a column by Michal Hall, who is shrill:
Global warming has become accepted by an estimated 99 percent of all scientists, most religious groups (even 70 percent of evangelicals), both political parties (Bush, McCain and Obama have accepted it) and a constantly growing number of the American people. Still, some doubts remain. For us to honestly address such a life-changing issue, everyone has to be on board. For those who still might have some doubts, here are the facts:
We do need greenhouse gases to blanket the Earth in order to keep it warm enough to sustain life. These gases allow sunlight to enter and warm us. They hold in some of the warmth while also allowing some of it to escape. Without this natural effect, most of the sun’s warmth would escape into space, and the Earth’s surface would be very cold.
But global warming is caused by a build-up in the greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide). Scientists have studied the correlation between the earth’s temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations over the last 500,000 years and have clearly seen that when CO2 rises, the temperature rises. Over the past 150 years (when industrialization emerged) we have seen a clear rise in CO2 and a corresponding rise in temperature. When the greenhouse gases thicken, heat cannot escape, and heat rises.
Figured I’d get Michal’s back on this one, as he’s getting hammered by Kochbot trolls in the comments section. Sent May 19:
Yes, indeed — it’s time to face the facts: the climatic consequences of a century’s worth of wasteful consumption of fossil fuels are going to be far more drastic than anyone imagined. We were warned: climate scientists have been predicting the disastrous consequences of the atmospheric greenhouse effect for over fifty years, warning us with ever-increasing specificity to change our ways if we wished to avoid catastrophe. While humans are indeed a “resilient species,” we won’t have a chance to demonstrate our resourcefulness if we don’t stop hiding from reality. Americans were once known for optimism, inventiveness and a “can-do” spirit that was admired throughout the world – yet now we ignore the genuine threat looming on the horizon while focusing our attention on trivialities. While our media and politicians are complicit in this collective denial of global climate change, the responsibility for concerted action is ultimately ours. Let’s get to work.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: denialists idiots Ken Cuccinelli plagiarism Republican obstructionism scientific consensus scientific literacy
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Year 2, Month 5, Day 27: What Matters Is That He Could See That Far!
The Wegman Report, used by Republican politicians to justify inaction on climate change, has been withdrawn by the journal which originally published it, following revelations that the whole thing was both filled with errors and substantially plagiarized. Heh heh heh.
Evidence of plagiarism and complaints about the peer-review process have led a statistics journal to retract a federally funded study that condemned scientific support for global warming.
The study, which appeared in 2008 in the journal Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, was headed by statistician Edward Wegman of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Its analysis was an outgrowth of a controversial congressional report that Wegman headed in 2006. The “Wegman Report” suggested climate scientists colluded in their studies and questioned whether global warming was real. The report has since become a touchstone among climate change naysayers.
The journal publisher’s legal team “has decided to retract the study,” said CSDA journal editor Stanley Azen of the University of Southern California, following complaints of plagiarism. A November review by three plagiarism experts of the 2006 congressional report for USA TODAY also concluded that portions contained text from Wikipedia and textbooks. The journal study, co-authored by Wegman student Yasmin Said, detailed part of the congressional report’s analysis.
A commenter at Daily Kos put the idea into my head about Ken Cuccinelli’s dilemma, and I decided to put it into a letter. Sent May 16:
So the “Wegman Report” from George Mason University turns out to be both flawed and plagiarized. This poses a problem for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, whose harassment of climate scientist Michael Mann is predicated on Mann’s funding from the University of Virginia. Given that George Mason University receives extensive state and federal support, it’s inescapable: Edward Wegman’s academic misconduct qualifies as a misuse of public funds, and we may confidently expect Mr. Cuccinelli to pursue legal action against Wegman and GMU. Let’s pause a minute to let the hilarity subside, and remember that George Mason University also receives substantial funding from the notorious Koch brothers, well-known supporters of climate-change denialism. While Republican legislators are unlikely to repudiate the Wegman report, perhaps this scandal might inspire our more ignorant politicians to do some of their own science homework, rather than relying on the grownup version of a term-paper service.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: denialists idiots Republican obstructionism
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Year 2, Month 5, Day 26: Breaking — CO2 Linked To Ignorance!
The Spokane (WA) Register-Guard notes the recently issued NRC report with some stern words, in an op-ed titled, “Heed Warning on Climate.”:
The effort to combat global warming has waned in this country, as many Republicans express skepticism about the science of climate change. The federal debt and other issues have preoccupied lawmakers and the American public. A new report by the National Research Council makes a powerful argument that putting off the problem any longer would be folly.
The council, which represents the nation’s scientific establishment, warns that global warming is real and that action should be taken “as soon as possible” to reduce carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
Contrary to the claims of climate skeptics, the report emphasizes that warming trends cannot be explained by natural factors such as changes in incoming energy from the sun or natural climate variability. The report says the effects of climate change on human and natural systems will intensify as warming continues.
Sent May 15:
As the NRC report makes amply clear, the crisis of climate change is no longer something that belongs in a conjectural future, but a clear and immediate danger to our civilization and our way of life. Whether the study’s message will be received is another question, however, for the slow-motion catastrophe of global atmospheric warming has been paralleled by a disaster of a different sort: the gradual exclusion of science, and indeed factual evidence of any sort, from our national discourse. For a first example, let’s look at the contemporary Republican party, populated entirely by anti-science zealots; any member of the GOP who’s ready to admit the factuality of climate change will soon run afoul of the tea-party’s determining influence on primary elections. For a second example, let’s look at our national news media. When he-said, she-said stenography becomes synonymous with objectivity, then reportorial accuracy and analytical insight are irrelevant.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: idiots National Research Council Republican obstructionism scientific consensus
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Year 2, Month 5, Day 24: Just Put It On The Pile, OK?
USA Today notes a new report from the National Research Council makes the point that we need to act soon on climate change — and if we don’t, we’ll really be sorry about it:
A report released Thursday by a National Research Council committee cites “the pressing need for substantial action to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare to adapt to its impacts.”
Since the effects of greenhouse gases can take decades to come about, and then persist for hundreds or even thousands of years, waiting for impacts to occur before taking action will likely be too late for meaningful mitigation, according to the report.
Beginning emissions reductions soon will also lower the pressure to make steeper and costlier cuts later. “It is our judgment that the most effective strategy is to begin ramping down emissions as soon as possible,” said committee chair Albert Carnesale of UCLA.
A perfect hook for a letter about how stupid our Congress is. Sent May 13:
Sigh. That just-released report on climate change — the one that says the longer we wait to reduce greenhouse emissions, the worse things will get — you know the one? In a world where reason, factuality and expertise actually played a role in American politics, such a study would have a seismic effect on our Congress. Legislators would move to incorporate its recommendations into law, providing companies with governmental incentives to shrink CO2 footprints, providing states with funding to develop programs of their own, honoring individuals who developed new strategies for environmentally conscious energy usage. Why, if we lived in such a world, the NRC report could make an enormous difference in all our lives!
Unfortunately, in the world we actually inhabit, logic and factuality are political anathema — and the NRC study will likely join other similar studies in the Congressional dustbin. And the Earth gets hotter and hotter.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: denialists idiots Renewable Energy
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Year 2, Month 5, Day 16: Wish We Could Burn Stupid, Don’t You?
A denialist bloviator named Thomas Mitchell opines in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that renewable energy is a waste of time and, well, energy. And furthermore, SOSHALIZM!
Our legislators, in all their perspicacity and foresight, have said, “Let there be renewable energy,” and gosh darn it, there will be renewable energy whether we need it or not and no matter the cost to the citizens of Nevada.
It’s good for us, and we’re going to swallow a full dose of it and turn “green.”
Um…okay. Sent May 5:
Mr. Mitchell’s asperity on the rising costs associated with renewable energy would be justified — if the scientific evidence didn’t show conclusively failing to transform our global energy economy away from fossil fuels will be exponentially costlier in the long run. Two of the many things he’s chosen to ignore are that the U.S. heavily subsidizes petroleum with massive tax breaks for oil companies (which means that we pay more for our oil without realizing it), and that the environmental and health effects of burning coal are enormously expensive (which means that we pay extra for coal in the form of cleanup costs and medical expenses). Even if we don’t need renewable energy right now, it’s certain we’ll need it soon — and just because China burns coal doesn’t mean America gets to evade its responsibilities to future generations and to the world; that’s adolescent petulance, not thoughtful analysis.
Warren Senders