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Global Warming Past The Point of No Return
mad_goldfish writes "The UK's Independent is running a front page story today on a scientific report claiming that global warming is now unstoppable, after measuring changes in the level of ice in the arctic." From the article: "The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a 'tipping point' beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically. Satellites monitoring the Arctic have found that the extent of the sea ice this August has reached its lowest monthly point on record, dipping an unprecedented 18.2 per cent below the long-term average." Either way, someone wins a bet.
You know, I've heard from hundreds of people who think that everybody thinks Saddam was linked to 9/11, but I've yet to meet a single person who actually thinks that what you think they think.
... and the cycle of people merely talking around each other continues...
Here's how it goes:
George Bush (or one of his asshole flunkies) says something along the lines of, "Saddam supported terrorism, and 9/11 taught us just how horrible that can be."
Then some talking head or columnist says, "there go those Republican assholes again, trying to link 9/11 to Saddam in the minds of Joe Sixpack."
Then some red-state Joe Sixpack says, "I'm glad we took Saddam out, because he was supporting terrorism. Hooray for George Bush! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drive my SUV while smoking a cigarette and talking about my oil investments on a cell phone as I cut people off in traffic."
Then some modern, caring, sensitive liberal hears that (without listening very closely) and says, "Joe Sixpack actually bought into the lies of the Republican assholes who are trying to link Saddam to 9/11, and that's total bullshit!!!1!!!one!! Buck Fush! I'd complain about it more, but I want to go buy one of those 'Darwin' fish for my car, so I can show everybody how incredibly witty I am while pissing off backwards creationists."
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Oh, and, btw, lots of people thought that Saddam was involved. Maybe much less today, but polls showed that a large majority believed that at the time.
A near-unanimous majority believes that the Iraqi government trains and supports terrorists. In an August 2002 Gallup survey, 86% said they think "Saddam Hussein is involved in supporting terrorist groups that have plans to attack the United States."
That's one poll. There are tons of others.
Now, are we to believe polls? That's something else. Anecdotal evidence might also be biased due to location and demographics of the sample. You can conclude whatever you want, do you hold more faith in your anecdotal evidences or polls? I can't answer that question for you.