Earn Money as a Climate Change Skeptic

An evangelical friend of mine thinks Global Warming is a conspiracy of scientists to make a few bucks and control our lives. There may be some truth to that. Some people are angling to make money on carbon credits. Some bureaucrats like to use the power of government to act like a mini dictator.

But the flip side is that there's also money in global warming denial. Want to make a quick $10,000? Write articles undermining the IPCC report on global warming. Become a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry.

Noam Chomsky claims in this speech (linked at the time stamp for those that don't want to watch it all) that the American Petroleum Institute has openly expressed that they are impressed with the health insurance lobbying efforts to screw over the American people and the success they had with that. They state openly that they plan to use the same model to undermine public opinion on global warming. These plans are being propagated by CEO's that know what scientifically minded people know. Global warming is occurring, it is likely the result of human activity, and there is significant risk that it could lead to massive death. But we have systemic constraints. They are obliged in the economic system we are in to maximize profits and this is how you go about doing it, even though that means potential catastrophe for our grandchildren.

A Soldier From Wikileaks Video Interviewed

Worth a read. It's here. Also his letter of apology to the people affected by the incident here. From the interview:

You had another nine months or more still to go in your tour then?

That’s right. It was a pretty long time with having to deal with the emotions, not only of that, but of many other days. What happened then was not an isolated incident. Stuff like that happens on a daily basis in Iraq.

Are there other incidents that took place in the following months of your tour that bear this out?

Yes. Our rules of engagement were changing on an almost daily basis. But we had a pretty gung-ho commander, who decided that because we were getting hit by IEDs a lot, there would be a new battalion SOP [standard operating procedure].

He goes, “If someone in your line gets hit with an IED, 360 rotational fire. You kill every motherfucker on the street.” Myself and Josh and a lot of other soldiers were just sitting there looking at each other like, “Are you kidding me? You want us to kill women and children on the street?”

Goldman Sachs

Some seem to think the American people are really making out nicely since Goldman Sachs paid back their loans with interest to the American taxpayer. If you think they're helping the economy and the average American read this.

Why Worry About The Earth?

Bob Dutko thinks earth day has turned in to a "religion". Bunch of silliness. Good that he sees religion as silliness. He took calls to see if his listeners agree.

His first caller says "My daughter made a great point. Why are we worrying about this earth that God is going to destroy anyway? We should be worrying about saving souls." Bob agrees enthusiastically.

Second caller: "We should do what little we can, but the earth is the Lord's. He'll take care of it."

Third caller: "I told the screener (Jan) a joke that we should really just leave all our lights on and cars idling since this is all so silly. All this man made global warming stuff is a hoax. They just want to control our lives."

Fourth caller: "My son said Happy Earth Day to me just jokingly knowing it annoys me. I was about to wash out his mouth with soap. It's all ridiculous. The devil uses these fancy techniques to trick us just like he does regarding dinosaurs and denial that the earth is 6000 years old."

Fifth caller: "It's just people trying to make money. They want to sell carbon credits, etc." Bob disagrees strenuously (and surprisingly rudely). It's religion, not money.

Sixth caller: "Sure, I may grow a garden and conserve electricity, but that's for financial reasons, not because I'm some sort of environmentalist."

We're screwed.

The Democratic Deficit

80% of Americans don't trust their government. Why is that? I think that's because the government really doesn't care what the public thinks, but in fact serves their real constituents, that is, the special interests and corporate lobbyists. Contrast policies with public opinion.

Not many people know that it was a mere 33% of the population supported the invasion of Iraq without UN authorization. Of course our government did it anyway with bipartisan support.

There was a lot of frustration with the war. The Democrats swept into power in 2006 first and foremost due to public opposition to the war and the perception that the Democrats were against the war. Despite that policies remained unchanged.

Bush gave us a banker bailout. This poll indicated it was supported by 7% of the population. The contempt for public opinion here is pretty striking.

Obama was recently rebuked by Congress for some light hints that suggest the US frowns on Israeli settlement construction, though Obama isn't forbidding the construction. This despite the fact that Americans opposes settlement construction by a margin of 49 to 22% with the remainder undecided.

Americans for a long time have supported a public health care option, whether single payer or otherwise. See here and here. This view has been disregarded for years. In fact Kerry wouldn't even talk about it in 2004 because a public plan was "politically impossible." That's true. It only had overwhelming popular support, but that's not what makes something politically feasible. Now Obama has given us a half assed solution. Mandated purchase of rip off private insurance.

Obama's record on war and civil liberties mirrors Bush as I've already outlined. This is contrary to the desires of those that worked hardest to get him elected. Naturally they feel betrayed.

Cheney slipped up a while back and let us know how this really works.

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

The public is utterly irrelevant to our current politicians. It's no surprise that the public distrusts government.

George Will on Intelligent Design

Here's an important point made by George Will regarding intelligent design in 2005.

The problem with intelligent-design theory is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable: Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet—a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.

I just heard someone put that quote to Bob Dutko on the radio. Bob's response is "But you don't mind that abiogenesis is taught in the class room." Is abiogenesis taught in the biology class as if it were true? I doubt that. Unfortunately Bob's opponent was not a type of person that seemed like he was expecting a debate and he wasn't good at pressing his points.

Apparently Will's comments resulted in a Nightline interview where he squared off against Cal Thomas. The transcript and audio are here. Dembski also replied here. He says ID is testable because you can test if Darwinian mechanisms can explain something like a bacterial flagellum. I suppose in the same way my theory that Zeus casts lightning bolts is testable because you could disprove it by looking at static. So the Zeus theory was positively scientific until Ben Franklin came along.

The Pentagon Papers

So I'm reading Glenn Greenwald's article on how when Obama considers the extensive crimes of the Bush administration he believes we need to look forward, not backward, and we need to forget about prosecuting any of the powerful people. However those that illegally revealed those crimes because they were secret? Obama thinks it's worthwhile to prosecute them. Even though they happen to be impoverished.

He mentioned Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. I know the Pentagon papers are extremely important, but I have to admit I don't know much about them. I didn't even know the name Daniel Ellsberg.

Wouldn't you know it there's a documentary about him that looks pretty good called "The Most Dangerous Man in America". And wouldn't you know it there's a screening in Detroit. And wouldn't you know it, it's showing tonight. Funny how things work out. The trailer is below. Looks pretty good. I might be there.