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For Pete's sake, the guy was saying we should stop oil production to force people to use non-existent renewable energy.

Ever hear of geothermal? Solar? Wind? They all exist. And if they were given as much in subsidies as coal, nuclear power, and petroleum they would be producing a lot more energy.

Falcon

Um... no. No they would not.
Geothermal, while prevalent in some parts of the world, is not that big of a resource here. And most of the places where geothermal is available are national parks. Could you imagine the uproar if you tried to build a power plant at Yellowstone?
Solar is nowhere near efficient enough to power the country. It can be a nice boost, hardly economic, and government subsidies are not enough to help. For starters, government subsidies exist. There are also several tax breaks you can receive for "greening" your home, but it will never be enough to make it cost effective:

He found the cost for an installation ranges from nearly $86,000 to $91,000, while the value of the power produced ranges from $19,000 to $51,000.

I don't know about you, but I don't have an extra $91,000 sitting around to spend on something that will save me $51,000 over the next 20 years. Also, this study fails to consider the sunk costs. In other words, if I were wisely invest that $90 G's instead of blowing it on solar panels, it would grow. Take whatever money it would have made and add that to the loss. I'm not alone here. A very small percentage of Americans have $900.00 to spend, much less $90,000.00. Oh, and then there are cloudy days, night, snow covered roof tops, hail, shadows from when the sun crosses to the other side of your house and so on that make solar an even less economic proposition.
Now, if you are talking about massive power plants located in the desert, when then you have other issues. See, you green buddies at the Sierra Club tend to block most of these programs because, even though they could save the earth, they may endanger a turtle that lives in the sand. That pretty much stands for any of these green projects. Someone, somewhere is going to get their feelings hurt. And these someones tend to have lawyers. So, don't bitch at me. Call the Sierra Club!
Finally, Wind! Wow! This is a fun one. I'll start with this quote:

Another interesting point with wind systems is that fossil fuel plants normally run on standby to support the wind fluctuations that occur. So, not only do we see only 8 to 10% of a rated power output, but this is offset by the fossil fuel consumed an not delivered to the grid. The net result is that most wind packages deliver less then zero power, when you consider the wasted fuel at the fossil fuel plant.

Of course, as the Kennedys showed us, some people don't like the way they look. You remember Ted Kennedy, right? That big green liberal that BLOCKED wind power because it might disrupt the view from some of his mansions?

So, in to put it more succinctly, renewable energy does not exist, at least not to the point where it can completely replace fossil fuels. While all these other ideas do produce energy and will reduce our fossil fuel dependence for producing electricity, I believe the only viable solution is nuclear. Oh, your green buddies blocked that too!
Now the elephant in the room that I've ignored until now is that all the proposals yo

Lake County growers said that pickers' pay was not low -- up to $150 a day -- and that they had been ready to pay even more to save their crops. "I would have raised my wages," said Steve Winant, a pear grower whose 14-acre orchard is still laden with overripe fruit. "But there weren't any people to pay."

$12/hr isn't below the minimum wage in Florida ($7.25/hr)

Florida grows a majority of the nation's domestic winter tomato crop. Its workers earn about $12 an hour during the picking season for the hardest-working laborers, usually immigrants who receive no health insurance or overtime benefits. That equates to about 47 cents per 32-pound bucket. The new agreement's penny-per-pound increase only applies to the two participating farms.

Why would he want to do that? Carbon Credits is a gold mine for Gore and he is mining them for all he can.

I downloaded the FOIA.ZIP file and examined the 1,037 emails and other documents it contained. Gore claims that the emails are "all ten years old or older" and implies their contents are meaningless today. He lied or he is totally ignorant of the facts: http://www.examiner.com/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m12d9-Al-Gore-talks-Climategate-on-CNN-and-Slate-misstates-the-facts#video
Of the 1,037 emails over 10% were written in 2009. The most recent had the following header:

From: "Thorne, Peter (Climate Research)" (peter.thorne@metoffice.gov.uk)
To: "Phil Jones" (p.jones@uea.ac.uk)
Subject: Letter draft
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:17:44 -0000

which was sent only FIVE days before the files were posted on line.

One has only to read HARRY_README.TXT to understand what was going on and see how the manipulation, cherry picking, cooking and creating "data" out of thin air was taking place.

The "reviews" whitewash the actions of the CRU and its cooperating agencies, all part of a subagency of the UN,the IPCC, all government funded. The "reviews" in effect say it is:

• OK to ignore Freedom of Information Acts, or subvert their intent, or make plans to destroy the data if no other recourse is available.
• OK to intimidate climate journals into getting AGW articles "peer reviewed" by cronies after getting equally qualified academics with apposing views thrown off of the list of peer reviewers.
• OK to slander non-AGW academics, some with more expertise and academic standing than they have, like MIT Prof Richard Lindzen, and try to destroy their careers. BTW, you can read the tactics they discuss and choose in the emails.
• OK to publish articles in those journals that posit conclusions which cannot be verified or replicated because the data is withheld from the journal, and thus its readers, a specifically NON-academic attitude.
• OK to publish articles making unsubstantiated claims about the Amazon forests or the Himalayan glaciers, or other topics, using the un-reviewed rantings of Green Peace activists as your authorities.
• OK to make contracts with UN agencies guaranteeing "deliverables" (data) at "milestones" which will support the AGW theory the UN supports, because AGW can be used to justify redistribute wealth from rich countries to poor ones (dialectical materialism) in the form of "Carbon Taxes". (Manipulating Carbon Tax Credits is where Gore is making his millions.)

To see who is putting their money AND actions where their mouth is just compare the homes of two prominent politicians:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

Here is how Gore is putting his money where his mouth is:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/6491195/Al-Gore-could-become-worlds-first-carbon-billionaire.html

I remember the "Global Cooling/Nuclear Winter" hysteria.
I remember the Club of Rome hysteria (I fell for that one until I analyzed the BASIC program and realized the program was rigged to produce the same results regardless of the input, just as the AGW computer models do. Using the "Hockey Stick" methodologies one can get a hockey stick using red noise. Similar manipulations of models were used by Federal Agencies to justify dictating water usage in the Mid-West US.)
Now I am witnessing the AGW hysteria

The people who pushed the first two are the ones (and/or their students), pushing AGW, along with their friends in the Left Wing media. The "solution" in each is the same: adopt Marxism world wide and we'll all stand around in the promise land singing Kumbaya.

Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly out-sources the running of the "War on Terror" to Halliburton and Blackwater. After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts.... New Orleans's residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be reopened.... These events are examples of "the shock doctrine": using the public's disorientation following massive collective shocks - wars, terrorist attacks, or natural disasters -- to achieve control by imposing economic shock therapy.

Isn't it convenient how the most powerful quakes and tsunamis have hit countries like Iran, China, and Indonesia(because of its Muslim population)? More recently, there were quakes in Mexico and Chile. America has a stake for transforming all of the above nations from the inside out, invading their territories under the guise of "aid" and establishing a cancerous presence before rendering them docile with its culture before sucking them dry. Chile in particular was mentioned in Shock Doctrine as an example of a country who has thumbed their nose at America's financial control of South America to become independent and stable. There's been a lot of Tsunami FUD in San Diego lately, to build hype for the climate weapons and persuade its overwhelmingly Christian population to buy into the "end times" madness.

"Samsung has apparently fixed the issues with Avatar playing on their players with a new firmware, users seem to be able to play the movie correctly on the players that ran into problems after the new firmware release."

the problem is with blu-ray profile 2.0 features... if your player does not support "blu-ray profile 2.0", then you can't play media that requires it.

Or indeed in posts where you are telling people not to lie - such as the "don't harass the person employed to do your background check" bullshit.

Bullshit? Do your research: SF Examiner Article:

• "In June of 2008, Childs allegedly confronted an investigator looking into the matter, taking her photograph with his cell phone and harassing her when she showed up at his work area. "

Okay, I get your point about quoting supports in regards to music now. But for this point to be valid, the musician in question must actually be a supporter of the politician in question.

Well, not only is that the actual case at hand: "Henley, who has long been identified with liberal and Democratic causes," — says the summary.

Further, at least two out of the three links, with which you began this very conversation, claim the same thing in the very titles (emphasis mine):

• a_pattern_of_republicans_stealing_music_from_bands_who_don't_like_them
• mccain-caught-stealing-democratic-music

So, now that've agreed, that Republicans are Ok (at least morally) in mocking their opponents using the opponents' supporters art, let's move on to the more generic question of political speech vs. copyrights.

The author of the (in)famous "Hope" poster stole a photograph of a completely neutral party for his poster... But because it was for political speech, I think, he shouldn't suffer, although you would say, he should...

If free speech trumps copyright, then copyright does not exist.

Political Free Speech needn't endanger copyright. And that's what I'm talking about. We already distinguish different kinds of speech — advertisers, for example, are very limited in what they can say, compared to politicians — and, I think, political speech could include anything, be it copyrighted works or incitement to violence.

And I think political speech should not contain music.

That's a strange distinction... No music... Can the politician hum (an opponent's tune)? Reminds me of something:

• DONKEY: (singing) On the road again. Sing it with me, Shrek. I can't wait to get on the road again.
• SHREK: What did I say about singing?
• DONKEY: Can I whistle?
• SHREK: No.
• DONKEY: Can I hum it?
• SHREK: All right, hum it.

Donkey begins to hum 'On the Road Again'.

What about other forms of art? Can graphics by an opponent's supporter be used to mock the opponent? Or does this guy owe Shepard Fairey, in your opinion?

No, you can always quote your opponent.

My example was about quoting your opponent's supporters...

Free speech should not trump copyright

Not normally, but in case of political speech — yes, I think, it should trump everything. This thread has some good examples already. Here are more — all of them mock Obama and the Democrats using the artwork of Shepard Fairey, himself a copyright thief in your book.

Once you put any limit (however seemingly reasonable) on political speech, you are on a very slippery slope...

(That said, I'm wondering, where the heck is the copyrights-are-evil brigade, that's so quick to denounce "MafiaAA" on this forum — for their attempts to enforce copyrights. I wonder, if the said brigade are holding their fire (rather than tearing you apart), because this is about RepubliKKKans...)

Quote your opponnant, quote his supporters, the issue is the same. I find it humorous that you would use such a transparent ruse to wiggle out of a discredited position. Do you expect people not to notice?

Political speech can not trump certain things, such as direct incitement to violence, slander or libel, or copyright (if copyright is to work as all as outlined in the US Constitution) and of course the devil is in defining 'political speech.'

The 'copyright is evil' brigade don't exist except in certain people's imaginations. The issue is more complex and nuanced than that. But keep up that whining martyr complex, I'm sure it will earn you converts to the party.

No, you can always quote your opponent.

My example was about quoting your opponent's supporters...

Free speech should not trump copyright

Not normally, but in case of political speech — yes, I think, it should trump everything. This thread has some good examples already. Here are more — all of them mock Obama and the Democrats using the artwork of Shepard Fairey, himself a copyright thief in your book.

Once you put any limit (however seemingly reasonable) on political speech, you are on a very slippery slope...

(That said, I'm wondering, where the heck is the copyrights-are-evil brigade, that's so quick to denounce "MafiaAA" on this forum — for their attempts to enforce copyrights. I wonder, if the said brigade are holding their fire (rather than tearing you apart), because this is about RepubliKKKans...)

Which would make it satire rather than parody.

And so, you would support considering such political mockery intellectual property theft? I'd say, GP found an excellent example of why political speech should be exempt from all free speech restrictions — including copyright claims.

(Ironically, the author of the (in)famous "Hope" poster is a thief (and a liar) himself :-)

Yeah, like you never get extremism with Christianity, do you? If you want to be a bigot, fine, knock yourself out, but don't try to dress it up as anything other than bigotry.

Christian anti-abortionist sets off nail bomb

Repent Amarillo - fundamentalist intimidation

Wikipedia: Northern Ireland conflict

This is a good time to read "Fallen Angels" by Larry Niven. Here is a snip of the book description in Wikipedia:

Set in an unspecified 'near-future' (one of the main characters has childhood memories of the Exxon Valdez disaster) in which a radical environmentalist movement, joined with a coalition of religious groups, has gained control of the US government and imposed draconian luddite laws which, in attempts to curb global warming, have ironically brought about the greatest environmental catastrophe in recorded history - an ice age which may eventually escalate into a Snowball Earth.

Oh and the book was written in 1991. Prescient? Hopefully not.

Global warming is far from proven. Global mean temperatures have actually been decreasing in the last years after we hit a solar minimum. The Northern Hemisphere is freezing and Australia seemingly came out from the so called permanent dry as severe floods have traversed the area. Then again numbers from the people who promoted global warming at East Anglia have been "massaged" and are suspect at best, a fabrication at worst. Nice things to ponder before sinking the economy further by funding massive investments into useless (or even dangerous) projects.

Sorry. Not Global Warming. Climate Change. The first moniker was so patently ludicrous it is better to say something nebulous instead. As if climate hasn't been changing since like, forever.

Not at 10-20 a week: http://www.examiner.com/x-12767-US-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m3d17-Hawaii-considers-making-it-legal-to-ignore-birther-requests-for-presidents-birth-certificate

I played a lot as a kid, but mostly the RPG's and I'm pretty sure it helped my reading in the long run. My school had me pegged as reading at a college level by grade 5, and I'm pretty sure I didn't pick that up at school.

I guess "YOU SPOONY BARD!" could be considered college level...

This is just another extension of crap being pulled by politicians, like the FSC in cigarettes. To save "some" people's lives they endanger the rest of us (nevermind that the cherries fall out and therefore not really safer, it is about control) and allowing that to happen as we can see is opening the door to telling us what we can eat. We are going to be forced one day to eat rat burgers, ala Demolition Man before to long.

Open carry deters armed robbery in Kennesaw
Captain Jerry Quan, the Commander for Precinct One, where the Wafflehouse is located, confirmed Matt Brannan's story as one in which the open display of a pistol deterred a well armed robbery crew.

It just happened, and not the way you described. Jim Bunning is currently reviled by lots of people for trying to enforce the Paygo system. The bill did not have a way to pay for continued unemployment benefits, and he held it up until someone came up with a way to pay for it. His explanation was legit, or seemed to be, but all of the coverage is "Bunning is a dickhead."

Bunning's explanation:
http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsCenter.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=21648539-d0e8-4c3b-6078-362af45228d7&Region_id=&Issue_id=

News coverage:
House Moves to Repay U.S. DOT Workers Furloughed by Bunning Filibuster
Crazy Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning throws a curveball at helping poor, struggling Americans
Seven states hit hard by Jim Bunning's delay on unemployment benefits

Thanks for the detailed reply. I don't have time to do justice to the whole thing, but I did read it all.

Yes, scientists is every field inevitably have to deal with miscalibrated sensors. They inevitably happen, they inevitably exist. And someone who wants to look for them they will find them. If someone wants to make a list of them, to publish, they can do so. However a rather obvious point is that when miscalibrations happen the error can go in either direction, and that the two possibilities are generally statistically equal.

Miscalibrations are not necessarily symmetric about the true calibration. For instance, I believe car speedometers are designed to favor going out of sync in the positive direction and often times are purposely set to report a higher than actual speed. A spring-based scale will become miscalibrated as the spring wears out and will start reporting heavier weights. I'm not claiming to know why these temperature sensors are miscalibrated but you can't just assume it all balances out. The example of urban heat islands would be a miscalibration that tends positive since cities tend to expand and grow (and thus cause more sensors to become miscalibrated) more than they tend to shrink (thus causing sensors previously calibrated for that environment to show lower readings).

I did a search trying to find what you're referring to, and the closest I could find is some Siberian records were lost during the collapse of the Soviet Union. That is very unfortunate, but it hardly discredits the data we do have.

I think I read it in an article similar to this one after the "Climategate" stuff:

According to the report, UK’s Hadley Center purposely excluded data from Russian stations for no other reason than the fact they did not show warming. The IEA says that Hadley only used data from 25% of the available Russian stations thus omitting 40% of Russian territory. Those stations that Hadley did choose to use were in urban areas where the Urban Heat Island effect is likely to come into play and skew temperatures warmer.

By your own logic, to dismiss those findings out of hand is to assume that the scientists behind the report are corrupt or incompetent.

I think an important thing is to completely separate science and politics. To completely separate scientific matters from political matters. ...

Whether Global Warming is real is a scientific question.

What, if anything, we should do about Global Warming is a political question and an economic question.

Precisely. However, Global Warming research organizations are unabashedly political. That's part of what puts their claims into doubt. On an individual level, Global Warming scientists who I've seen interviewed are not of the "I'm doing this for the sake of research" variety but more likely to be of the "I'm doing this to show the world that we need to take action" variety.

First principles, 1 2 3. (1) It is undisputed that the levels of CO2 (and related gases) are rising at a substantial rate.

Okay, granted.

(2) There is no dispute that that fossil fuel burning and related human activities are overwhelmingly responsible for those increases.

Well, technically there is dispute, but whatever.

(3) It is undisputed first-principles physics that CO2 (and related gases) do trap infrared radiation - they do trap heat.

True.

From trivial facts and first principle physics, the effect at issue is real. It exists. That part of the fighting needs to go away.

But note that even if granted, your first principles are not enough to say that t

“A new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928 and its peak is still four years away, after a slow start last December, predicts an international panel of experts led by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Even so, Earth could get hit by a devastating solar storm at any time, with potential damages from the most severe level of storm exceeding $1 trillion.”

I think the increased usage of porn has played a role. The more guys get off, the lower their sperm count becomes, but it does improve motility and decrease genetic fragmentation, according to this study.

So if you want better but fewer sperm, start whacking.

No, but the government IS behind making all cigarette smokers smoke FSC, and it seems to make them MORE dangerous as the cherries fall out of the ends! Do your cigarettes seem to be going out for no reason, do you cough more lately, or have other symptoms??? Check out FSC and get ready to be pissed! To prevent several hundred people from dying by burning the house down, eveyone who doesn't roll their own (millions in America) is going to smoke have to smoke carpet glue!

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-11705-NY-Holistic-Body--Spirit-Examiner~y2009m7d12-Are-the-new-FSC-firesafe-cigarettes-making-smokers-sicker-than-ever

The way it is supposed to work is that technically responsible people write requirements that when followed correctly lead to acceptable results. This is what ISO-9001 is all about. It does not mandate "you must do procedure X"; it mandates that you must have a system that defines what processes you employ, and how you verify that they have been followed. In theory, your process could be throwing darts at paper target, and by retaining the target as an "artifact" you can show you followed your process. In the real world there are "best practices", and a lot of meetings and reviews and "artifacts".

The organizational issue is having a group of people who understand the processes and independently evaluate the results. If the the results are not acceptable they say so, and the problems are fixed. This requires:

1. Technical domain competence

2. Independence

3. Authority

Obviously, the evaluators are at odds with the people doing the project, because there job is to stop things from being completed. They are the spoilers.

When the evaluators are part of the organization, it is easier for them to be underfunded and ignored. It is also hard to get the best people to do this work, because it tends to be low status and also tends to pay less.

The best solution is to have an independently funded group with a separate chain of command that reports outside the regular channels: like the NTSB being outside the FAA. Their major weakness is lack of authority, because the FAA can, and does, ignore them. Typically it takes a spectacular high fatality preventable accident for change to occur.

An example in a different area is public prosecutors in our legal system. They are (supposedly) independent and follow the law, not the dictates of any particular group. (In practice, not so much. At the local level then are aligned with law enforcement, which is why cops are almost never caught or conviced of crimes.)

Now some real world failures from today's news. Literally today.

Toyota They used pressure tactics and out maneuvered the regulators. This whole discussion is about the failure to have technical expertise on the part of the regulator.

Nuclear Regulatory Commision In Vermont it was just revealed that tritium leaks were unreported starting in 2005, although leaks were also reported later. The plant operator lied. The NRC has a relative small number of inspectors, and they count on operators to follow all the rules and self report. I guess they also believe in the Tooth Fairy.

FDA The diabetes drug Avandia is responsible for hundred of heart attacks per month. This has been systematically under reported in the medical press and critics have been pressured and given the run around. The FDA knows about it, and had a review/whitewash session last year. During the Bush years the revolving door and payments from drug companies to "independent" research groups became a lucrative way of life. So hundreds of people die every month http://www.examiner.com/x-32805-Norfolk-Healthy-Living-Examiner~y2010m2d23-Major-Medical-Alert-Diabetes-drug-Avandia-responsible-for-monthly-heart-attacks-and-heart-failures. Who cares when Big Pharma is raking in the cash.

SEC/Bank of America/Merrill Lynch The judge just approved a $150 million fine for B of A for lying to stockholders about their merger with Merrill Lynch. The judge called the settlement "paltry" and "half baked justice", but had to approve it under existing law. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010

If a ball falls down it is because of gravity.
If it bounces back up it is because of gravity.

Actually, a ball bouncing up are due to Newton's laws of motion. When the ball hits the ground, the ground pushes back. See Law 3:
Whenever a first body exerts a force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force F on the first body. F and F are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
And since the ground is pushing back, Law 2 applies:
A body experiencing a force F experiences an acceleration a related to F by F = ma, where m is the mass of the body. Alternatively, force is equal to the time derivative of momentum.
So, you see, gravity has nothing to do with it.

If comet flies into the solar system it is because of gravity.
If the comet slingshots around jupiter and permanently exits the solar system it is because of gravity.

This would deal more with Kepler's laws of planetary motion, angular momentum as well as gravity. See, if it were just gravity, the comet would simply fall into whatever body applying a gravitational force to the object. But there is much more to consider than just gravity.
As for it slingshotting out... well, that seems happen when momentum is greater than the force gravity exerts on the object. In other words, if the comet slingshots around jupiter and permanently exits the solar system it is NOT because of gravity, but in spite of it. ...And your last one:

If the tide rises it is because of gravity.
If the tide recedes it is because of gravity.

That's like saying, "if the day gets bright, it's because of the sun. If it gets dark, it's because of the sun." In other words... Um.... No. No one would say that. Tidal forces are due not just to gravity pulling on an object, but gravity from two different bodies pulling on an object. See, one body can not cause tidal forces. So, to say that it's caused by gravity is a gross oversimplification that no one would make. They may say that tides rise because of gravity, but they would say that they fall because of gravity. They may say something like "tides fall because of LACK of gravity" but that's not true either. It would be that tides fall because of a lack of gravity from the object that caused them to rise.

But to relate this back to AGW, see, we are hearing the very contradictory argument that you are saying is bunk. I've heard scientist say that AGW will lead to warmer temps. I've also heard that AGW will lead to colder temps. In the summer, we hear a from the first group. In the winter, we hear from the second. Hell, right now, I've heard both camps at the same time. I've heard that the lack of snow in Vancouver is due to AGW while also hearing that the snow in 49/50 US states is also due to AGW. I've heard that the increase in snow is because warmer air holds more moisture, resulting in more snow. (However, it appears that it is actually colder than it was this time last year, debunking that claim).
Here is a Vancouver's no snow is caused by AGW article:
http://www.examiner.com/x-5738-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m2d12-Global-warming-comes-up-again-due-to-unusually-warm-Vancouver-Olympics

Here is an article that claims that the recent snow storms are because of AGW:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1962294,00.html

So, there you have it! Two serious articles claiming that AGW both causes more snow and less snow... IN THE SAME YEAR! See, it's not us AGW deniers making shit up.

Let me give you an example of another ridiculous argument I've actually read:
1) Global warming causes oceanic conveyor to stop because it melts the ice caps
2) This causes the area near the poles to become mu

The moon is more important too, being that it shines at night. The sun only shines during the day when it's light out anyway

Reminds me of the time that "Bill Nye the Science Guy" gave a show/workshop in Waco, Texas and mentioned how the moon doesn't shine on its own, but reflects the sun, and quoted the Bible as saying the moon was a light. Several people stormed out, and he even got heckled. Story here.

declaring that Mary is not a virgin is technically a criminal offence in Ireland

Citation please.

I believe the PP is referring to the Irish Defamation Law, which includes a section that makes it a crime to say or print anything that a religion considers "blasphemy". Saying that "Mary wasn't a virgin" is contradicting the official dogma of the Catholic Church, and as such could be considered blasphemy.

Also the difference is that global warming has been studied for 40 years

I don't think global warming was being studied 40 years ago. I think they were seeing a different trend. This link is from the examiner but contains links to Time and Newsweek, both of which comment on what science was predicting. Yes, Al Gore says that it was clear 40 years ago. Al Gore says a lot of things.

Good grief, the old "they used to say it was going to be an ice age" canard! I didn't think anybody tried using that anymore since it's been debunked so often. It's well known that the majority of scientists back then predicted that the increase in CO2 would result in warming - you can check that information by just looking at the published papers. The whole ice age thing was something that the media put together - I guess to sell magazines. People who get their science information from the media really need to be removed from any decision making position.

Also the difference is that global warming has been studied for 40 years

I don't think global warming was being studied 40 years ago. I think they were seeing a different trend. This link is from the examiner but contains links to Time and Newsweek, both of which comment on what science was predicting. Yes, Al Gore says that it was clear 40 years ago. Al Gore says a lot of things.

because Globbal warming studies have been looked at by many different scientist and many studies have been done that show that all the data we have points to global warming being influenced by C02 emissions.

ALL the data? That's a big claim. Do you have a scientific paper that says that, or are you saying that?

As for C02 emissions, I'm not sure how many people debate that the global climate is effected, in some way, by C02. The question is whether or not man releases enough C02 that it actually effects nature. It appears it's up to politicians to convince us of that... something they appear to be quite willing to do...

Obama Policies Will Bankrupt USA Tsarkon Reports
(Note: We are not a GOP-sters, Republicans or affiliated with any parties, and as George Washington warned against parties We do not believe in parties and, unlike most people, We evaluate every issue on a case by case basis and do not defer to the judgments of politicians who are corrupted and untrustworthy as a group.)

Obama is controlled by the same people as Bush see The Obama Deception documentary [youtube.com]

Yuan Forwards Show China May Buy Fewer Treasuries, UBS Says [bloomberg.com]
Anemic Treasury auction effects felt beyond bonds [reuters.com]
The Sherminator Kicks Some Wall Street Ass [dailybail.com]
China Angry That Fed Is Deliberately Destroying The Dollar [bloomberg.com]
China suggests switch from dollar as reserve currency [bbc.co.uk]
What are the reserve currencies? [wsj.net]
Anatomy of a taxpayer giveaway to investors [ml-implode.com]
Geithner rescue package 'robbery of the American people' [telegraph.co.uk]
Geithner just put only the rich in Titanics lifeboats [examiner.com]
Geithner Plan Will Rob US Taxpayers [cnbc.com]
A False Choice [viewfromsi...valley.com]
Bargain-hunting house buyers wearing on sellers ajc.com [ajc.com]
Time to Take the Steering Wheel out of Geithner's Hands [alternet.org]
Socialising and Privatising [freeradical.co.nz]
Fannie, Freddie to pay out bonuses [politico.com]
Fitch Raises Prime Jumbo Loan Loss Estimates Sharply [researchrecap.com]

Chinas central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund [ft.com]

- Russia on an new world reserve currency: It is necessary to work out and adopt internationally recognized standards for macroeconomic and budget policy, which are binding for the leading world economies, including the countries issuing reserve currencies - the Kremlin proposals read. [en.rian.ru]

- President Barack "The Teleprompter" Obama is deeply connected to corruption. Rahm Emanuel, his Chief of Staff, is radical authoritarian statist whose father was part of the murderous civilian-killing Israeli terrorist organizati

Irelands Blasphemy law will extend to the internet if given a chance.

I recently started a blog Abstract Beliefs that some may find interesting.

Wanna know where god came from? How about what should be obvious contradictions in religion that require as much effort to apply suspension of disbelief as what you use when you see a fictional movie?

To have religious leaders communicating in the openness of the internet, can be a very good thing, so long as they don't censor what they might oppose (The catholic church exonerated Galileo in the early 1990's - lots of good it did him).

Its time to properly address the issues and errors of our philosophies..... Imagine open source religion.

There is open source religion, its called a bunch of arrogant atheists, grouped together on electronic machines spewing their hatred for something they don't care about, just wanting to destroy it for their own selfish pleasure.

Irelands Blasphemy law will extend to the internet if given a chance.

I recently started a blog Abstract Beliefs that some may find interesting.

Wanna know where god came from? How about what should be obvious contradictions in religion that require as much effort to apply suspension of disbelief as what you use when you see a fictional movie?

To have religious leaders communicating in the openness of the internet, can be a very good thing, so long as they don't censor what they might oppose (The catholic church exonerated Galileo in the early 1990's - lots of good it did him).

Its time to properly address the issues and errors of our philosophies..... Imagine open source religion.

the headline says:

INTERPOL Granted Diplomatic Immunity In the US

The actual article says: "these privileges are not the same as the rights afforded under "diplomatic immunity," they are considerably less. "Diplomatic immunity" comes from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states that a "diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State." That is NOT what the International Organizations Immunities Act is.

The headline seems to be wrong.

Well, there are laws against stealing data from computer systems.

There have been a lot of people claiming they were stolen, so maybe she assumed that was the case. But emails are stolen all the time - often revealing information that Boxer is all too willing to use (without comment on how it was obtained), so long as it supports her agenda. But all of a sudden now she's concerned about unauthorized access to some other country's computers.

There was a claim of responsibility by the whistle-blower among the files.

The emails were sent to the media before they got out in public.

Plus, there are plenty of suspects.

And if you appreciate science, I found an interesting analysis from an expert (get it - he's an expert, so you can't question it without *years* of advanced study) which basically proves that it had to be an inside job.

Thankfully it is not nearly the level of Bias on MS "Text my blackberry please" NBC.

I'm not sure what you mean by "thankfully" - you're saying you want MSNBC to start promoting political protests like Fox News does?!?!?! This sort of thing is bad for *everyone*.

It has been a while since any party held a true loyal majority, like during the of times Reagan and FDR. Meanwhile the independents and swing voters keep both well under the dedicated 50% that is so cherished by fanboys from both sides.

Interesting reads:

Climategate emails.

Obama: 46%
Sarah Palin: 46%

"It could also lessen the life of the computer. A computer that is shutdown at night would likely last longer than one crunching numbers every night."

Very true. A computer fan spinning at 100% 24/7 is far more likely to suffer a early death due to dust and hair, as you can see from these photos:

Dust in computer

What can happen to the Computers of Pet Owners; with Dirty Pictures

Computer Killers – Pet Hair, Dust and Cigarette Smoke

If the computer is shutdown or in low power the fan isn't spinning so it's not sucking in dust and dirt.... or bugs

if the fan fails the computer will usually power off at a certain temperature not burn and die. replace the fan and its good to go. also schools are usually cleaned everyday so there would be lest dust then in your house which i doubt you clean everyday.

"It could also lessen the life of the computer. A computer that is shutdown at night would likely last longer than one crunching numbers every night."

Very true. A computer fan spinning at 100% 24/7 is far more likely to suffer a early death due to dust and hair, as you can see from these photos:
Dust in computer
What can happen to the Computers of Pet Owners; with Dirty Pictures
Computer Killers – Pet Hair, Dust and Cigarette Smoke

If the computer is shutdown or in low power the fan isn't spinning so it's not sucking in dust and dirt.... or bugs

First, it isn't clear how Al Gore would instantly become a billionaire if cap and trade becomes law. Second, you really think one man is more influential than several, already, multi-billion dollar industries?

It's quite clear how he would become a multibillionaire. He started a company that does nothing but buy and sell carbon credits. He'd be the founder and owner of the biggest company on the carbon credit version of Wall Street. I also never said he was more influential than multi-billion dollar industries. However he is one of the most influential people in the world in terms of environmental policy.

While this may be true, they already are the completely dominant force in commerce and so they'll make even more money if they don't have to retool anything.

Incorrect. The cost of doing business in the developed world is more expensive than in the undeveloped world. The western factories are steadily losing ground to the Daewoos and Tatas of the world. Their profits (adjusted for inflation) are shrinking. They have a few choices: compete from a position that is inferior in the long term, level the playing field by getting rid of wealth destroying laws like western income taxes and minimum wages (which the economically ignorant would never let happen), or use the fear of the scientifically ignorant to pressure the developing nations to level the playing field the other way. These are the same mega-corps that promote ideas like mandatory worker health benefits, minimum wage, and complicated tax accounting rules. Sure it costs them money, but it costs their small scale competitors a greater amount (in relative terms), so they win. If the American corporations didn't want greater regulation and global environmental treaties, why did they give record amounts of money to the Obama campaign? It certainly wasn't because he wanted to make the US a capitalist country again.

What? Are you counting yourself and all the other posters on slashdot?

No I'm counting world renowned scientists:
Astrophysicist Dr. Sallie Baliunas
Statistician Stephen McIntyre
Professor Habibullo Abdussamatov
Geologist Astrid Lyså
Prof. Roy Spencer, NASA scientist
Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT
a few dozen here...including an IPCC member.
and these 32 000 guys.
That should be enough people to show there is no "consensus" on global warming.

What cooling? The temperatures may be slightly cooler than the absolute peak, but to say there is a cooling trend is simply not true.

The "trend", as you call it, is a decade long...so far, and it's projected to last another few decades. How long was the warming that proceeded it? Twenty five years? I find it interesting that you quote a man (James Hansen of GISS) who was forced to retract falsified evidence that had claimed that the 2000s were the hottest decade in recorded history. And whose revised (i.e. more truthful) report showed that the world has cooled since the 1940s, while at the same time CO2 production skyrocketed. Additionally, wasn't he implicated in the CRU data manipulation? Yeah, he was. He's a trustwo

Science, religion, what's the difference, it both requires faith to believe in the world they propose.
How strange that every green technology has some american scientific with research "proving" that trees are dangerous to the environement, that gasoline is green, that coal is clean, that unpolluted water will affect the ocean population that air cars are worst than gasoline cars...

Science will be used by anyone to try an convince you off any bullshit they want, if you forget details, discard information you will come to any conclusion, like this one.

Of course data manipulation NEVER happens in science
like this article point out pretty well

especially not regarding climate change or fuel...

If this development is any indication, then we'll be there soon enough.

It depends on the situation, but a lot of the laws out there do demonstrably make you less safe. Careful note: this does not include seat belt laws or helmet laws on motorcycles. Opponents of these often cite examples of these safety measures causing more harm, but statistically speaking, they vastly improve safety. Anecdotes are not data.

What is data is that child seats are crap. While seat belts clearly won't work for very young children, child seats make no difference for kids much over 2 years old. NHTSA's data was to compare child seats against using nothing at all . They are also only tested in head-on collisions, and fail hard in side collisions. They're also very hard to setup correctly, and any safety benefits they might have disappear when they're not.

The data also supports that going over the speed limit isn't as dangerous as many make it out to be. You should drive at whatever speed everyone else is driving, no matter what the speed limit is.

Most states have laws specifying that speed limits should be put at the 85% speed (the speed that 85% of the people are driving), but I think we can all list counterexamples of that in our respective areas, especially in small towns that like their speeding ticket revenue. Further, there are many circumstances where even very fast speed is safe. On an empty 3-lane highway with a car in good condition (especially tires), there's not much that can go wrong even at 150mph. Of course, doing the same at rush hour is very dangerous.

If you're driving through snow, you drive wherever the snow has been worn down by other drivers the most. If that happens to be straddling two lanes (assuming you can even see the line, which you probably can't), then so be it. Your tires will have their greatest traction there, so that's where you should be.

The most dangerous driver is the one that feels safe. Cell phones aren't so much a problem in themselves as the fact that the driver felt comfortable enough to use a cell phone. Safe drivers are paranoid. Sure, that guy might have his turn signal on, but is he really going to turn?

A common statement made by female SUV buyers is that it makes them feel safer. That's exactly what we don't want.

They are natural psychopaths.

Show me where the clinical trials for the vaccines went wrong and how everyone else who looked at the efficacy of the flu vaccine missed it.

Check out the following articles and there references contained therein: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2009m10d14-Medical-research-of-the-flu-vaccine-zero-statistical-difference-in-death-rate, http://www.naturalnews.com/023902.html, http://www.whale.to/vaccine/ott.html, and http://www.whale.to/vaccines/gbs.htm

To understand what lies behind this, watch the following talk: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6890106663412840646&hl=en#

Obama Policies Will Bankrupt USA Tsarkon Reports
(Note: We are not a GOP-sters, Republicans or affiliated with any parties, and as George Washington warned against parties We do not believe in parties and, unlike most people, We evaluate every issue on a case by case basis and do not defer to the judgments of politicians who are corrupted and untrustworthy as a group.)

Obama is controlled by the same people as Bush see The Obama Deception documentary [youtube.com]

Yuan Forwards Show China May Buy Fewer Treasuries, UBS Says [bloomberg.com]
Anemic Treasury auction effects felt beyond bonds [reuters.com]
The Sherminator Kicks Some Wall Street Ass [dailybail.com]
China Angry That Fed Is Deliberately Destroying The Dollar [bloomberg.com]
China suggests switch from dollar as reserve currency [bbc.co.uk]
What are the reserve currencies? [wsj.net]
Anatomy of a taxpayer giveaway to investors [ml-implode.com]
Geithner rescue package 'robbery of the American people' [telegraph.co.uk]
Geithner just put only the rich in Titanics lifeboats [examiner.com]
Geithner Plan Will Rob US Taxpayers [cnbc.com]
A False Choice [viewfromsi...valley.com]
Bargain-hunting house buyers wearing on sellers ajc.com [ajc.com]
Time to Take the Steering Wheel out of Geithner's Hands [alternet.org]
Socialising and Privatising [freeradical.co.nz]
Fannie, Freddie to pay out bonuses [politico.com]
Fitch Raises Prime Jumbo Loan Loss Estimates Sharply [researchrecap.com]

Chinas central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund [ft.com]

- Russia on an new world reserve currency: It is necessary to work out and adopt internationally recognized standards for macroeconomic and budget policy, which are binding for the leading world economies, including the countries issuing reserve currencies - the Kremlin proposals read. [en.rian.ru]

- President Barack "The Teleprompter" Obama is deeply connected to corruption. Rahm Emanuel, his Chief of Staff, is radical authoritarian statist whose father was part of the murderous civilian-killing Israeli terrorist organizati

Taleban offered a hotel for OBL. Before that it was SUdan.

You believe in fairy-tales. If you buy the official 911 story, then yje US should have attacked Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

I think they should have invaded Israel - as the home of "Al-Qaeda".

Well here's another clue for you all. The Walrus was Paul.
http://www.examiner.com/x-2086-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2009m4d17-Breaking-News-Algerian-daily-confirms-Mossad-training-camps-for-alQaida?cid=email-this-article
http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/943.html

Just begin your day, each morning, with the admonition: "Everything you know is wrong."

that the aliens wont get too upset at us.

-They want to be able to force you to purchase a data plan with certain WiFi phones.

A friend mentioned to me the other day that he's read somewhere that AT&T is planning on forcing data plans on any account that has a SmartPhone/PDA. According to him, if you don't call them and put the data plan on there willingly, supposedly they're just going to add it on themselves.

A quick search on Google seems to back this information up although, according to these sources, it should have started in September:

AT&T to force data plans with all smartphones starting next month

AT&T to Require Data Plan for Smartphone Users

True, I'd say a lot of people that have smartphones probably use data, but I know people who have phones on their account that aren't even in use and are simply there to hold their phone number (they have it forwarded to another phone for instance) and don't use the data. They could probably try to switch the phones over to a simpler one for this functionality, but if they're stuck in the middle of a two year contract that can be problematic as well.

I wonder why I selected Montana as my example?

The ATF issued a statement to Montana FFLs reminding them of their obligations to the Federal Government under their licenses. I expect a test case to come from a non-licensee, if one ever comes, and for that non-licensee to end up in a Federal prison.

The manufacturer's curb weight of the Bel Air was 3,615. The published curb weight of the Malibu was 3,436. A mere 179 lbs is probably not the weight differential you were expecting.

link shamelessly stolen from up this page

You may find this somewhat surprising, but the weight differential between older cars and newer cars really isn't all that much:

The manufacturer's curb weight of the Bel Air was 3,615. The published curb weight of the Malibu was 3,436. A mere 179 lbs is probably not the weight differential you were expecting.

link

What's really happened is newer cars have their weight distributed in different patterns than older cars. Whatever we're saving on uni-body vs. a body on frame construction we're putting right back in with a dozen airbags, miles of wiring, power windows in each door, sound deadening, etc.