Congressman Markey suggests "global warming deniers to start their own country"

Smokey,
My point being, it doesn’t matter if the system is “rigged”. It’s only rigged because we have allowed it to be rigged. We can, and we must, un-rig this system. It not only can be done, it can be done quite easily if we just band together, ignore and disregard these feeble attempts to tear us apart (from climate to racism). Resist these distractions, stay focused and remove the rigging. Know your representatives and do your research, then vote. Get your friends, family and neighbors to do the same. We are all in this together.
At the end of the day, there is no rigging but what we allow. This is our country and we shall restore our freedom, for we are the people!

Maybe Congressman Malarkey should read this!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7933235/Commodity-spike-queers-the-pitch-for-Bernankes-QE2.html

squid’s, right. Well put.

GM: You are out of your league. Back to Poli-Sci class, the SDS or wherever you’re from. And out down the bottle or weed because, frankly, it’s kind of embarrassing.

GM wrote:
“Let’s step back for a second from the global warming issue and look at the way our society works in general. Say we have the following situation:
– there is a real and very serious crisis that requires taking action well in advance before its effect become apparent;
– it is of such nature that once those effect are there to see by all, it is too late to do anything to prevent it; the only way to prevent is significant sacrifices by the general population, which makes preventive action highly unpopular;
– not only that, the majority of people so not understand why we should be worried about it, because they are too scientifically (and generally) illiterate, and it is only a small group of scientists who understand it well
– those scientists are seen by the masses as belonging to the self-appointed intellectually arrogant “elites”
…snip…
So can someone explain to me what mechanism is currently present in our society that will make sure that action is taken on time in such a situation?”
Assuming you’re not just trolling and this is an honest question, you rigged it by saying the majority of people are too illiterate to understand the issue. That’s not true, if the science is done correctly, carefully, and transparently. The people may not understand the science exactly, but, in general, they understand when they are being told the truth. And then, action will be taken. Of course, the scientists must act like scientists, and not like activists.

[snip – funny indeed. but trolls will misconstrue this simple humor and make an issue of it, since they have no humor themselves ~mod]

phillychuck says:
August 8, 2010 at 9:18 pm
GM wrote:
Assuming you’re not just trolling and this is an honest question, you rigged it by saying the majority of people are too illiterate to understand the issue. That’s not true, if the science is done correctly, carefully, and transparently. The people may not understand the science exactly, but, in general, they understand when they are being told the truth. And then, action will be taken. Of course, the scientists must act like scientists, and not like activists.

I didn’t rig the question, this was part of the initial conditions. And it is very much true in real life – 1/5 of people in the world are completely illiterate and even in a developed country like the US, the level of scientific and math literacy is abysmal (and it’s not just those areas that are affected).
You can not claim that “the people will understand if they are told the truth” because we have many examples in which they were have been told the truth, it has been explained to them with great patience many times again and again, and they still refused to accept it, the best example being evolution. The majority of people in this country are creationists, and this is not because the scientists haven’t done their part in educating the public, it is because they are running against people’s religion.
And it is much worse if we define scientific literacy the way it should be defined, i.e. as a working understanding of the methodology of science, rather than just the ability to recite a laundry list of facts learned in school.
So yes, the people are ignorant and illiterate. And there is no mechanism to fix that in the system either

Markey is a typical product of his time, an ignorant politician with lots of power that has gone to his head. The truth doesnt matter and reality matters even less, all that matters is the excersise of power and influence combined with his own socio political ideology.
Markey has made his mind up, he knows in his own tiny mind that he knows everything, he exhibits the certainty of the idiot and as usual with that kind of politician he has allowed his base instincts to rule what is left of his rational mind.
Arrogance combined with a sense of self importance is a poisonous mixture and in a politician it is dangerous, the fact is that Markey is losing the argument to his hated enemies and he feels his efforts are being destroyed by his enemies. Such is his sense of self importance he is getting angry at those he perceives to be to blame, they become his enemies.
We in the western world have allowed our political classes too much power for too long, they have been allowed to remove themselves from the lives and wishes of ordinary people and they now exist in a kind of bubble sealed off from the reality we ordinary people face, these political classes now feel superior and born to rule, it is the usual result of a degenerating democratic life and it is happening right now.
The gap between ordinary people and the political classes widens, the political classes believe in their own self inflated importance and they are starting to feel that only they should be allowed to rule, only they have the keys to the future. We in the west have allowed our political representatives too much power for too long, we have allowed them to build their power bases and inflate their egos, they are simply following a well known psychological path.
Democracy is like a garden, it must be tended with the utmost care, plants must be trimmed constantly and weeds dug up, the work must never end. The political classes have become the out of control weeds and its time they were evicted or at least trimmed down to size, it always happens when a small group of people are left to their own devices in charge, they have formed a society that looks after their own interests first and they now look down on those they see as inferior beings.

Dear moderator, your point is well-taken. I thought the well-known “how many politicians would it take to screw in the light bulb” joke was not only humorous, but a fine exemplar of Congressman Markey’s baleful comedic stylings. Certainly, there was no harm intended on my part. As with Congressman Markey, I’m sure, I was only kidding.
REPLY: I agree with his decision, but no worries on your part. There are crazy people hanging on every word printed here, looking for some “gotcha” to exploit. -Anthony

What a typical ‘it’s a hot year up here this year in Mass, so the whole world is hot too!’
Go look at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html
to see the US picture. If you select ‘Year to date’ you will see the SE of the US is cooler this year, the NE is warmer, the rest is middling.
Mr Congressman, stop playing God and stick to the USA. The data for you is: ‘situation normal’.
Buster.

leftymartin: August 8, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Markey told high school students, from the World Wildlife Fund’s Allianz Southeast Climate Witness Program, gathered at Capitol Hill on July 10, 2008, that “in Somalia back in 1993, climate change, according to 11 three- and four-star generals, resulted in a drought which led to famine…
Name them Congressman.
Oooooh, you can’t.
Because it didn’t happen.