LSJ Blogs: People's Politics

Politics of Global Warming

I am again confused over both the peoples' and Congress' reaction to global warming.  How it is possible for people to totally ignore facts and react to histrionics is a far worse omen of things to come than the dangers of man-made global warming.

First a fact, one of the few in the twilight zone of the global warming "debate".  There have been temperature changes throughout history; during some periods the earth was cooler and others, clearly the earth was warmer.  Depending on when you start tracking the change, you can clearly "prove" that the earth is getting either cooler or warmer so care must be taken to look at a specific statistician's claims.  It seems to me we should leave the analysis up to the scientists rather than Mr. Gore or Ms. Pelosi before embarking on a potential runious public policy.

There have been a number of swings in the earth's climate in the past 1,000 years.  I choose this time period as it is about the time we have verifiable, measurable scientific evidence.  Since about 1000 AD, there have about seven major swings in the world-wide temperature starting with the temperature going up during the Medieval Warming Period, down during the Sporer cool, up during the brief climatic warming, down during the Little Ice Age, up and down again briefly, and up again now starting since about 1910.  The dates for all these events can be argued, but it is fact they occurred.  Other than the current warming period, I don't believe it can be argued that man-made green house gases caused any climatic change, but clearly there was change that occurred.  A reasonable person could assume, since past is frequently prologue, that it is likely that climate change will continue to be a state of nature and that there is precious little that we can do about it.  Trying to make sense out of what is being written about global warming is practically impossible due to the anti-people loonies, largely on the political left, that are beating a drum of this disaster that is about to befall us due to our own negligence.

It is easy to say that I am not qualified to write on this topic, as I am not an atmospheric or climatic scientist, since I am not.  However, it does not take a scientist to understand what is happening; I do believe we need scientists behaving as scientists rather than politically correct fund-raisers to tell us why the climate is changing and potentially what can be done about it.  Science is not an omniscient body, but it has a far greater potential for coming up with a solution than our politicians.  There is a methodology to it that can arrive at a surprisingly clear answers, if it is followed.

The reports of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are taken to be the font of truth on all matters climatic.  Remember this is the same United Nations that allowed Hussein to bilk money from the Oil-for-food program and put a Libyan in charge of the UN Commission on Human Rights.  We rightly think the UN is idiotic on a number of things, but on climate change they are infallible.   Does this make any sense to anyone?

Couple of other facts I find interesting.  Undeniably the temperature on Mars is going up now, and it has been doing so for at least the last six years.  At the same time there is hard scientific evidence that Triton and even Pluto are experiencing warming.  Is this due to man's activity on Earth?  Clearly not, only a left wing loon would believe that.  Is it more likely that some solar or cosmic force that we may not understand is impacting both Mars and Earth?  I surely think so.   Now I don't know what this means, but it seems to be a natural cycle of the universe of which we are a part.

A consensus of scientists' opinions is not fact, it is still opinion.  Until science can answer the questions of what is happening and why, which potentially could lead to a course of action, we should allow Mr. Gore to accept his awards and laugh at him, and his colleagues, in the hysteria, but not react at a policy level.  The Kyoto Protocols were an idiotic piece of work brought to us by that same UN that brought us 14 resolutions against Iraq with no action.  The United States should continue to reject it; again, consensus is not proof.

Any politician running on a platform of reducing the quality of life so that we can stop the coming devastation caused by global warming should summarily be laughed out of office.

Why I'm Still a Republican

I've said before that I think the 2 party political system as we know it will likely disappear, or at least change significantly, over the next 15-20 years.  So many voters, including myself, are issue-driven, with certain opinions that may not always align with traditional party views.  In the midst of a war that many are calling "unpopular" (is war EVER popular?), many Republicans are becoming more Independent, and according to Barack Obama, many are even crossing political lines in support of him.  I think many Republicans are asking themselves if they are still truly Republicans, and if so, why?

Of Buckleys and Bushes

The passing of uber-conservative William F. Buckley and the very competent report on Buckley’s life and oeuvre submitted here by uber-blogger Jeffery Ford call to mind Buckley’s famous claim that George W. Bush was not a true conservative. Mainly, Buckley differed with Bush on the president’s interventionist foreign policy and his profligate domestic spending, but it would be unwise to limit their disparity to those broad distinctions. Here are a few more detailed points of contrast between the late Mr. Buckley and the sitting commander in chief:

A Different View Of The Obama Campaign

We heard a lot of vitriol, and invective floating around last week about Barak Obama, and the never ending conservative vs. liberal shouting match. And, it seems we’re headed for more of the same this week.  But, I’d like to offer a calmer, somewhat more analytical view than we have seen, of Barak Obama’s campaign, why I think it’s succeeding.

Murder, Lies, and Videotape

I was upset at the trial and conviction of Claude McCollum at the time it occurred, because there seemed to be no evidence tying him to the tragic murder of Carolyn Kronenberg other than being a black guy who was seen on campus that morning.  The police interview of him at that time was Kafka-esque.  How did you kill her, they would ask.  I didn't kill her, he would reply.  But if you had killed her, how would you have done it, they asked, over and over.  After hours of this sort of questioning, McCollum said that if he killed her, he must have been dreaming or sleepwalking or something, as he had no memory of killing her.

Later, this was described as a confession.

Are We Really Being Represented In Congress?

Back during the 2006 election campaigns, I used to tell friends that if you looked up the definition of “do nothing congress” in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of Debbie Stabenow.  As we enter another election cycle, I as a resident of Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, can see a second picture in that definition today – that of Tim Walberg.l

Congress and the FISA Law

In another act that defies logic and calls for a willing suspension of disbelief, Congress, predominately the democrat controlled House, has refused to make permanent, or even temporarily extend, the law that allows the US intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on telephone conversations overseas.  These are the same people that eviscerated the capabilities of the intel community to recruit in the 80s and then were surprised that we didn't have the intel to stop the attacks of 9/11.  Actions have consequences.

As far as I can tell by reading the news reports, there is a fair degree of unanimity that some sort of action should be taken.  The hang up seems to be protecting telecommunications companies from lawsuits if they cooperate with the government--the democrats want to allow lawsuits while the republicans do not.  Now I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but if the reports are true,it is an example of idiocy at the highest levels.  The comments of Steny Hoyer and Ted Kennedy that the President's push to get the bill extended is purely "fear mongering" and that there has been no harm done by the laws lapsing are the height of irresponsibility.  There is no way for either of these fine gentlemen, nor even the intelligence community, to know what harm (if any) has been done as they have no idea what they didn't learn from missed opportunities.

I cannot see how making the FISA law permanent causes any harm in any way to America.  In fact, not passing the law and not having the ability to perhaps catch some intelligence that would stop another attack on the US, or any country, is ludicrous, but typical of our elected representatives.  They would rather show how much they hate President Bush than make any attempt to protect the country.  That even some of the democrats believe the law is reasonable but that allowing lawsuits against the companies whose cooperation is necessary is beyond my comprehension.  Listening to conversations by potential adversaries overseas does not significantly violate privacy of American citizens and is certainly worth the small risk.  The protection of Americans is the highest responsibility of the government, a responsibility for which the democrats clearly get a failing grade at this point.

The 7th Congressional District Race

Two years ago, long-time State Senator and first-term Congressman Joe Schwarz, a moderate, was defeated in the Republican primary by Tim Walberg.  Then, in the general election, Democratic candidate Sharon Renier, who spent only $55,000 to Walberg's $1.2 million, came within 10,000 votes (out of almost 250,000) of his total - 46% to 49.9%.

What the heck is going on in the 7th??  And what will it mean this year?

What’s Happening With Modern Republicans?

When I was a kid, Republicans used to regularly promise, during their campaigns, to get government off our backs.  That was a reference to smaller, fiscally conservative, less intrusive government.  That’s the philosophy that attracted me to the party in the first place.  Later, as the social conservatives gained more influence, the joke used to be that Republicans wanted to get government off our backs and into our bedrooms.  Today, it appears Republicans want government in our living rooms, and recreation rooms as well.

The Blog Anniversary Haiku

As the People’s Politics Blog celebrates her two-month anniversary, and as the spring cherry blossoms emerge across the Land of the Rising Sun, I thought I would honor some of the highlights of this campaigning and blogging season in that most traditional of Japanese fora, Haiku. Please enjoy.