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This is a Joke, Right?

by: Dean Barker

Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:08:26 AM EDT
So the NH Carbon Action Alliance is hosting a senate debate between Kelly Ayotte and Paul Hodes on climate change.

This must be some kind of a joke.

Kelly Ayotte, like failed senate GOP nominee John E. Sununu before her, chooses not to believe in science-based reality when it comes to CO2 emissions:

In August of 2009, the Concord Monitor reported that "Ayotte said that global warming is a 'real issue' and that scientific evidence has shown human activity could have contributed to higher temperatures." But last night, at a debate hosted by the Seacoast Republican Women, Ayotte sided with her GOP primary competitors and said "no" in response to a question asking whether she believed man-made global warming was proven.

How do you debate someone whose allegiance to DC corporate interests prevents her from seeing that up is up and 2+2=4?

This event should be scrapped.  I'm not being flip, either.  It is beneath the dignity of Paul Hodes and those others who care about the environment, such as the NH Carbon Action Alliance, to give a platform to people who intentionally choose to reject reality in order to get elected by a party that has become untethered from reason.
Dean Barker :: This is a Joke, Right?
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This is a Joke, Right? | 6 comments
The whole "no man-made climate change" thing (0.00 / 0)
confuses me. There must be a dog-whistle aspect I don't hear.

It seems beside the point. If one accepts that climate change is happening, crops and cities are threatened by it, worldwide economic disruption is likely - why does it matter whether it is man-made, a previously-unknown solar cycle, Zargon zeta beams, or water buffalo flatulence?

The solution will be man-made in ant case.

If it's not man made (0.00 / 0)
Then it's "natural," and we can't fix it. Nor should we! Who are we puny humans to question Nature?

And if we move into biodomes and become a totalitarian society a la Logan's Run, well, G-d wanted that too.


[ Parent ]
It must be inconvenient when a tree (4.00 / 2)
falls onto a conservative's house. Nature's mandate prohibits fixing the roof.
[ Parent ]
Koch, the major funder of Tea Party Express via (0.00 / 0)
the Charles R. Lambe Foundation grants to Americans for Prosperity has a bug about the Northeast Regional Cap and Trade program, which has been in effect for two years and resulted in NO increased energy costs to consumers, contrary to what was predicted.  The AFP talking points refer to Obama's Cap and Trade, but the legislation is still stuck in the Senate.  What I guess is really bugging is the energy situation in New England.  PSNH is asking for a rate increase on individual customers because competitors have come in and snapped up big customers at lower rates and, besides that, energy consumption has dropped 10% in a year because of the recession.  Also, while the talking points refer to energy shortages, the fact is that Quebec has been sending hydro power down since !999.  Then, while Maine was working on retrofitting boilers at Old Town to produce energy from biomass for Georgia Pacific, Koch arranged to buy out Georgia Pacific and not long after shut down the plant.  One excuse was that the prohibition on burning construction debris, which is half the cost of waste forest products or pellets, was an impediment to running the plant.  In Georgia, the purchase of Georgia Pacific by Koch also resulted in the shutting of a plant making tissue paper.  Not long ago, Koch announced they'd be building a plant in Spain.

Then there's the question of whether biomass is going to be able to be combined with coal, one of the main Koch fuels, in order to meet emission standards.  

What's the hang up?  It's my sense that the Kochs are people who transform a privilege (extracting resources from the earth for free) into an entitlement (right) in their own minds and then, when the privilege is restricted, they resent it and turn aggressive.  The Kochs just don't want to be told what to do.  Period.

Whether Palin and Ayotte and O'Donnell are real candidates or loss-leaders is debatable.  They seem to have been chosen mainly for their ability to distract.

Barack Obama mentioned Americans for Prosperity by name and Michelle was too busy to attend a ceremonial event with David Koch in New York for a reason.

And Bill Clinton is on message.  You can watch the Daily Show interview here  They don't embed on this site.

[ Parent ]
personally.. (4.00 / 1)
..I think it's a great opportunity to turn the tables and re-focus the question.

No doubt, there will be thsoe who disagree that climate change is man-made, or disagree as to the extent of the contribution of man in a combined man-made/natural phenomenon.

And ot be sure, there will be legitimate controvesry as to whether the most cost-effective and environmentally sound approach is to atetmpt to curtail warming, or adapt to it.

In all these questions, there are partisans on all sides, and among the overall electorate, no clear winning position.

So this issue needs to be reframed:  

Should corporations be permitted to foul the air and environment (REGARDLESS of one;s poosition on warming) without penalty and regulation?

When reframed, the vast majority of the ekectorate will support a progressive position that is consistent with efforts to curtail global warming.

I find it deliciously ironic that the entire notion of Cap-and-Trade is, at it's core, a libertarian approach to curtailing externalities that Democrats have by and large embraced and that Republicans are trying to reframe as a liberal, statist tax.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Adaptation sounds good (0.00 / 0)
but I doubt we can adapt to what is coming, and even if we can here in the US, moving people inland from the big ports as the ocean level rises into the NY subways and the monuments in DC, etc., the effect of drought will reverse our food surpluses (mostly surpluses of stuff that is really bad for us to eat) and we will wish we had worked on local agriculture and developing crops that can survive both drought and flood, plus variable seasonal temperatures, hailstorms, tornados, hurricanes, etc.  
I suspect even in the US hunger will be back as a desperate issue.  
It's not pretty, folks, no wonder they don't want to talk about it. James Hansen has been screaming bloody murder about his grandkids, and I am screaming in my head a lot too.  
[ Parent ]
This is a Joke, Right? | 6 comments

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