Global Warming

[ChainzCooper]

Who really cares? The Earth has been around for billions of years do you really think its going to, I don't know, explode or something in the next 100 because of some hot air? And if it does I'm not going to be around anyways so why am I concerned? Thats just stupid thinking. The Earth will get rid of us before we get rid of it, thats just common sense
Jordan

[Tom_Wescott]

Voting in 2008 was yet another 'lesser of two evils' situation.
Very few elections aren't that, but I think 2008 was definitely not that. It was a liberation from great embarrassement. Obviously Al Gore would have been a stronger, less “charged“ candidate for the Democrats, but, like I said, Obama revealed himself a fine president, much more efficient than Clinton or Carter.

Yes, but that's three years later. He had NOT revealed himself as efficient in 2008. As for Hillary, America is not ready for a female president, nor will it be for a long while. Nor is it a good idea. And certainly Hillary Clinton would NOT be the best choice. Nor Sara Palin.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[The Good Michael]

Bill Clinton was a great president for getting rid of the deficit the Republicans got us into. That was a monumental task. He also was good for foreign policy. I don't know what the beef is about him. Besides, the topic is global warming and it definitely is warmer in Astana the locals tell me. It only hit minus 40 4 or 5 times and has only been below -4 for about 80 straight days.

Mike

[mariab]

Quote Tom Wescott:
Voting in 2008 was yet another 'lesser of two evils' situation.
Very few elections aren't that, but I think 2008 was definitely not that. It was a liberation from great embarrassement. Obviously Al Gore would have been a stronger, less “charged“ candidate for the Democrats, but, like I said, Obama revealed himself a fine president, much more efficient than Clinton or Carter.

In the initial debates for the 2008 campaign I was liking Edwards, and I was preferring Hillary to Obama, who appeared as pretty inexperienced then. But the one thing that really bothers me about Hillary (and exactly the same about Bill) is her/their “shallowness“ (for lack of a better word). It's pretty clear that their having been in the administration for 8 years (and there's NO doubt whatsoever that they were in the presidency “together“) and their undeniable “star quality“ have spoiled them into often been superficially informed about the details. In this the Clintons very much remind me of ex German cancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Obama as a newbie was very clever to have gathered all kinds of capable consultants around him (something I doubt Hillary would have done so efficiently and modestly), he's a good orator, and he's doing the best he can under the circumstances for the health care reform. (Something that Hillary unsuccessfully attempted in 1994? Was it 1996?)
Obama's doing just fine in foreign affairs. His recent approach to the Egypt crisis was very clever. Also, I agree with German cancellor Merkel when she said that “foreign affairs is a piece of cake“ (when one has half a brain and a bit of presence).
It's home affairs which is the real onus. As or the crime issue, Obama can definitely walk the “fine line“, still, the problem is not so much the racial issues as the guns politics, which in the US it's at least as thorny an issue as the health care reform. When residing in the US, I happen to live in Chicago's South Side, where crime and guns is a very real issue. And nope, neither Obama nor the Mayor managed to change things efficiently in Chicago Hyde Park, although they did open some new schools and subsidized different projects in the 'hood. Problem is, we have a pretty severe global recession, so funding is being cut everywhere.

Quote C.D.:
Al and Tipper are in the process of getting a divorce. I am assuming that they are separated at this point.
Lots of people do in their age and situation, C.D..

[c.d.]

Hi Maria,

Al and Tipper are in the process of getting a divorce. I am assuming that they are separated at this point.

c.d.

[Tom_Wescott]

Voting in 2008 was yet another 'lesser of two evils' situation, but I really, really, really didn't want to have McCain in office. He's just too institutionalized. I certainly don't agree with Obama on everything, but I'm ALL for healthcare reform and he's a good orator. My biggest concern was how he'd handle himself in foriegn affairs and if he'd make a big deal out of his blackness and start being a president only for the black people. On the other hand, he should certainly start addressing the issues that white leaders are no longer allowed to discuss for fear of being labeled 'racist', such as the ridiculously high crime and poverty rate among black Americans and second generation Spanish immigrants. It's a fine line Obama must walk.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mariab]

“Then wife“? Haven't been following up. Anyway, who cares? Al Gore would have been a good president, obviously a much better president than Bill Clinton, and I'm referring to enviromental policies and to a non isolationist foreign policy, as in the decimation of redwoods of California and their resulting in mortal mud slides, the excavating for gas in Alaska, not signing the Kyoto protocol, maybe not bombing a pharmaceutical company in Sudan. (I'm NOT referring to the silly “scandals“.)

[c.d.]

Not to mention the lip lock that Al put on then wife Tipper at the Convention. Hoo Hah!

c.d.

[mariab]

Al Gore didn't become a good leader until he was out of office. Now I think I'd vote for him, but he's too smart to run.

This is weird. This quote could have come off my mouth.
(Although poor Obama's not doing too bad, considering, and I had profound reservations pertaining to him being too “green“ in 2008. “Green“ referring not to environmentalism in this case.)

[Tom_Wescott]

Al Gore didn't become a good leader until he was out of office. Now I think I'd vote for him, but he's too smart to run.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mariab]

Have no fears, Tom. No one on these boards will ever call you a bleeding heart liberal.

You cracked me up, C.D.! By the by, I think Tom once considered voting for Al Gore.

There's a possibility I travel to Iceland in late May (although I'm starting to suspect that the conference I was invited in, Music and Nature, might end up not taking place due to Iceland's catastrophic recession), and I've already secured a sponsor for snowboarding, but we can't organize the trip but at the last minute, due to uncertainty about the presence of snow. In Iceland! The winter in North Germany took up exactly 1 month this year. Last summer in Germany it kept pouring thick rain for 6 weeks non stop, resulting in major agricultural damage (and in the ground reeking like a corpse for weeks on end).
By the by, did any of you hear the one about the moon having reached its closest point to the Earth since March 1993 (and appearing 30% brighter and 14% larger than at its furthest point) supposedly having “influenced“ the recent earthquake in Japan? Apparently there have been statistics linking the moon's trajectory to earthquakes too, besides the tides.

[c.d.]

I am by no means a bleeding heart liberal, but it's quite obvious to me that global warming is a reality.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Have no fears, Tom. No one on these boards will ever call you a bleeding heart liberal.

c.d.

[Tom_Wescott]

I am by no means a bleeding heart liberal, but it's quite obvious to me that global warming is a reality.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[c.d.]

It's difficult to spread a message from a mud hut unless everyone goes to visit, and then they are using the fossil fuel.

Mike

Ah quit using logic to make your argument, Michael. Just listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity et al. They'll get you squared away and thinking right on this issue.

c.d.

[The Good Michael]

It's difficult to spread a message from a mud hut unless everyone goes to visit, and then they are using the fossil fuel.

Mike