Comments on: Denialism and Customer Service

By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:05:06 +0000

I talked to another loser today who said we are going to have a good year in business because the country is going to vote all the Democrats out of office. Let’s see the Republicans do “Retro Magic” in 2011!

By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:31:49 +0000

Perhaps the word I was looking for was “conflates” rather than confuses.

By: llewelly

llewelly — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:27:56 +0000

I dropped that particular subject and went on to the business matter at hand. I was frustrated to be dealing with yet another person who confuses science with political persuasion.

Confused? Not really. Most of the Republican party has decided to reject scientific findings and persecute scientists who make them. If you accept evidence that doesn’t seem to fit their political goals, you are, by their definition, politically opposed to them. Like it or not, they have deliberately made science a political persuasion.

By: NewEnglandBob

NewEnglandBob — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:47:43 +0000

The Republicans controlled congress from 1994 until 2006 and dismantled economic controls, instituted voodoo supply side economics, cut taxes causing huge deficits and coupled with a Republican lunatic president from 2001 – 2008 who started two wars, alienated the rest of the world and dismantled environmental controls and ignored science but the right wing nuts blame Obama and the Democrats for the failed Republican policies that the Democrats are trying to fix for the last year with no help from “just say No” Republicans. I would think that these right wing nuts are hilarious except they actually believe their dementia and delusional paranoia.

By: a daughter's mother

a daughter's mother — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:41:41 +0000

If we succeed in melting all the polar ice, sea levels rise 250 feet. That drowns a whole lot of rich folks. Unfortunately, many of them could get away to keep on polluting, while a whole lot of island nations disappear. Makes Katrina look like a hiccup. But the same socio-economic pattern holds.

Has anybody thought about how rising CO2 levels are contributing to global stupidity?

By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:15:52 +0000

It does, Deen, it does help. I am glad I started blogging where I don’t always have to be polite.

By: Deen

Deen — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:47:58 +0000

@Allison: Even in the Netherlands we seem to have fewer AGW deniers than the US seems to have. Oh, we have our share of them, alright (and wouldn’t you know it, it’s really only the right-wing politicians who voice their “skepticism”). But for the most part, when you live in a country where many of our major cities are already below sea level, most people want the people who build our dikes and dams to rather be safe than sorry.

@Mike: I hope the rant helped some Must be truly frustrating at times to always have to stay polite.

By: khan

khan — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:34:02 +0000

A note of libertarianism/randism runs through what you experience.
“I would be successful and rich if the gummit wasn’t holding me back.”

By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:33:52 +0000

Does this mean you are back in the States or are you still in Palestine?

Good points, Allison, I had been listening to a debate in the Senate two years ago and the Republican Larry Craig was so insistent that the United States not make any moves on mitigating the effects of carbon until India and China do something.

It’s a failure of leadership.

By: Allison

Allison — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:48:38 +0000

This is a little off topic, but bear with me.

I just came back from a conference in Thailand, which is in the region that is home to 89 percent of all people worldwide who experience natural disasters. It’s no wonder that there is no global warming skepticism voiced there. Millions of people’s lives are at stake.

As I listened to the discussion, it was clear to me that only we in the rich world have the luxury of “doubting” global warming. We have the resources to mitigate disasters and to fund subsequent recovery. We are least like to be harmed by it. So we have the luxury of polluting to our heart’s content. Our fellow human beings in developing contexts contribute little or nothing to the problem, will bear the majority of the effects and will be helpless to rebuild lives in the aftermath.

We in the rich world — oil drill technicians, naturopaths and churches included — are fiddling while the match that will burn Rome is being lit …