Perry deserves his own thread

[GoingDown]

Well, you are literally talking about tens of thousands of scientists versus a literal handful.

Oil and gas will run out eventually - period. I have nothing against nuclear or hydro - the French (the best in the world for nuclear power) get about 80% of their power from nuclear energy (state owned and run!!)

Today's solar power is very very efficient...and there are places where the wind always blows...we just need the ability (and we have it) to store that energy when the sun doesn't shine - one way to do it is using liquid salt thermal reactors. The solar arrays heat up salt melt it, (super hot) which boils water, etc., that gets so hot, that it radiates eanough heat to keep the water boiling going through the night.

Most scientists want to get their handouts from the government, and any scientist who dares to be skeptical not only loses government funding, but they get ostracized by the rest of the scientific community. I'm not surprised that there are so few of them left.

I am rather certain that your opinion about nuclear power is not shared by most of the people on the pro-global side of the debate. And it is why there will probably never be another nuclear power plant built in this country.

Ah, I was talking about the solar panels people are installing on their roofs in the Phoenix area. I have done some wiring for them, and let me tell you that converting from low voltage DC to high voltage AC is not an efficient process and provides very little energy for all the costs involved in manufacturing and installing solar panels on roofs. Not to mention the maintenance issues and the relatively short life span of solar panels due to the intense sunshine we get here in Arizona.

I will have to look into liquid salt thermal reactors and read about them. I am unfamiliar with them. They might be a possible solution to the problem, if they can provide a reliable (24 hours a day) and cost effective alternative to fossil fuels.

[IamOld]

You're right, because I guess then I'm in the minority on the global climate change side, because I think that the French have nuclear power spot on, and it is - WHEN DONE WELL!!!! - a very good option.

The melted salt is used in a few places (I believe) already.

Scientists...look they don't make a lot of $$...and - I apologize in advance - I will listen to a chap from Cambridge before I listen to ANY US (or other) politician. :-)

Well, what I could put on my roof is pretty simple, but like I'm broke :-) Had to cash a check at a supermarket day before yesterday for gas money to get home!!!

Most scientists want to get their handouts from the government, and any scientist who dares to be skeptical not only loses government funding, but they get ostracized by the rest of the scientific community. I'm not surprised that there are so few of them left.

I am rather certain that your opinion about nuclear power is not shared by most of the people on the pro-global side of the debate. And it is why there will probably never be another nuclear power plant built in this country.

Ah, I was talking about the solar panels people are installing on their roofs in the Phoenix area. I have done some wiring for them, and let me tell you that converting from low voltage DC to high voltage AC is not an efficient process and provides very little energy for all the costs involved in manufacturing and installing solar panels on roofs. Not to mention the maintenance issues and the relatively short life span of solar panels due to the intense sunshine we get here in Arizona.

I will have to look into liquid salt thermal reactors and read about them. I am unfamiliar with them. They might be a possible solution to the problem, if they can provide a reliable (24 hours a day) and cost effective alternative to fossil fuels.

[msm859]

I've never voted for a Republican in my life, and I'm not going to start with Perry. My issue is with this "belief" in global warming. It has become like a superstitious religion. Science is all about being skeptical and being open to argument and debate. I hate to see science being dragged down to the level of superstitious nonsense all because some people have a political agenda and want to use fearmongering to get it accomplished.

Whether global warming is truly happening or not should be up for debate, and even more so whether it is caused by humans or whether it is a natural phenomenon over which we have absolutely no control.

Ice ages have come and gone before on this planet, long before humans were even using oil and coal for energy. How do we know for certain that the natural forces which caused ice ages to retreat in the past are not at work now?

Perhaps we are at the end of one of the periods in between ice ages, and just like it is always hottest just before sunset, it would be at the warmest point just before a new ice age began. If you want to fear anything, fear an ice age. It would kill far more people than anything global warming could throw at us.

It should be up for debate. However, part of that debate has to be the consequences of being wrong - both ways. If I believe in it and am wrong but you act on my belief we spend resources reducing our carbon footprint -- making us less dependent on foreign oil, stimulating our economy and giving us a clean environment. If we listen to someone who does not believe and they are wrong the consequences could be catastrophic. Remember the Bush/Cheney 1% doctrine - if there is a 1% chance of a terrorists threat we will act. I say we act on the side of caution here and act. Just think were we would be if the last 10 years we had spent a couple trillion on becoming energy independent instead of these stupid wars?

[shark66]

Just think were we would be if the last 10 years we had spent a couple trillion on becoming energy independent instead of these stupid wars?

Oh yeah, absolutely. But you'd never get anything like that through Washington.

Step one should honestly be more drilling here, more hydro, more nuclear. There is *no* switching from fossil fuels overnight - it's a matter of decades.

Personally, I'm not buying the whole "global warming" thing as presented by HRH The Internet Inventor & The Crew, but I most certainly am against dependency on Middle Eastern - or any foreign for that fact - fuel...

Good luck to us all.

[Pandora]

okay.. did anyone else see the report today from NASA Scientists that stated we will be invaded by aliens (yes..THOSE aliens..little green dudes) due to global warming?

Oh.dear.lord - Frogger..I need that tin foil hat back I gave ya

War of the Worlds...here we come!



*jimminey christmas I cannot spell today*

[GoingDown]

Oh yeah, absolutely. But you'd never get anything like that through Washington.

Step one should honestly be more drilling here, more hydro, more nuclear. There is *no* switching from fossil fuels overnight - it's a matter of decades.

Personally, I'm not buying the whole "global warming" thing as presented by HRH The Internet Inventor & The Crew, but I most certainly am against dependency on Middle Eastern - or any foreign for that fact - fuel...

Good luck to us all.

If we did it this way, I would have no problem with it at all.

But it seems like the first thing they want to do is to begin with capping CO2 before we have anything practical and realistic to jump to. All this will do is make everything more expensive immediately. The economy is horrible now, but just think how much worse it will get if gasoline prices continue to rise and everything we go to buy at the store is suddenly skyrocketing in price? And think how much everyone will have to cut back on their spending if they have to pay more for electricity and other forms of energy just to cool or heat their homes?

That's my main concern. We don't yet have anything in place to use instead of fossil fuels, and it will take a long time to get there.

We have a huge nuclear power plant near Phoenix, but we have been told that in about 25 years it may have to shut down because there are pending lawsuits against its continued operation and necessary expansion. We have been told to expect rolling blackouts during the summers at that point. Ridiculous!

We also have a coal fired generating station at the Four Corners area that the EPA is trying to shut down because sometimes (rarely) its smoke drifts over to the Grand Canyon. We need this electricity.

And we have been trying to get approval to build a new dam and hydro electric plant along the Salt River to capture more of the snowmelt and storm runoff that otherwise gets wasted. Lawsuits have stopped this from going forward.

So, all I see is people saying that we need to cut back our standard of living, but they don't have any realistic alternatives to what we are currently using.

[IamOld]

Perhaps one day the Galactic Union will lift its "quarantine" on Earth's solar system, send in advisers first, and a fact-finding mission, declare the planet's rulers incompetent, and install an administrative authority for a "temporary time" to sort out the mess here, and for the good of us all.

Perhaps they'll rather reasonable and decent chaps who will like to drink tonic and martinis after dinner, and simply not comprehend why we humans can't get along like decent gentlemen/women, and will write long letters home about their time in the colonial (I mean) trusteeship service.

[Good script idea???]

okay.. did anyone else see the report today from NASA Scientists that stated we will be invaded by aliens (yes..THOSE aliens..little green dudes) due to global warming?

Oh.dear.lord - Frogger..I need that tin foil hat back I gave ya

War of the Worlds...here we come!



*jimminey christmas I cannot spell today*

[Pandora]

okay.. did anyone else see the report today from NASA Scientists ....[/I]

Ah.. now the word gets out hours later after the stuff hit... LOL - not from NASA but someone who works at NASA...

and people readily believe the news media because....? *rolls eyes* This is why I've turned off the news for weeks at a time - doesnt matter what station (CNN, HLN, Fox, etc) they all report the same nonsense one way or another. Sheesh - and here I was ready to make an alien invasion kit to go along with my zombie one

[IamOld]

Pandora - are you trying to say that you have something against the Provisional Trusteeship Authority of the Galactic Union?

[IamOld]

Oh - and here is the original NASA paper...I expect it was funded by the Bureau of Lesser Developed Civilizations of the Ministry of Foreign & Space Affairs of the Galactic Union :-)


http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1104/1104.4462.pdf

[banca rotta]

Fiscally Disciplined Country Texas To Spend $11 Million In Obama Money Rebuilding Rick Perry’s House

http://wonkette.com/408722/fiscally-disciplined-country-texas-to-spend-11-million-in-obama-money-to-rebuild-rick-perrys-house

"AUSTIN, Texas – While Gov. Rick Perry is criticizing Washington bailouts, state lawmakers are planning to use $11 million in federal stimulus money to help rebuild the badly burned Texas Governor’s Mansion."



So pretty much Obama/Dem "stimulus" money treated the Gov. to a new house.

I thought he was against the Obama stimulus.

[daylate]

The point of whether global warming is a fact or not is not the real issue. It is that Perry and others chose to ignore facts and just say it isn't so. I 'm not sure why any rational human being (perhaps my answer lies in the adjective) just outright says they don't believe in it. Saying it exists(which most scientists would agree) but what can we/should we do about it is what should be. As with many of our issues, I'm not sure that there are 100% perfect solutions (in fact I'm pretty sure there aren't). What I worry about is politicians like Perry who are unwilling to consider the issues and facts and try and solve all the problems by enhancing the rich and crushing the less fortunate.

As to the governor's mansion issue, Perry has also asked for Federal aid for the drought stricken in Texas. Seems like the boy wants it both ways. And buy the way, I think the aid should be forthcoming but it strikes me as hypocritical for a states rights guy to ask.

[msm859]

The point of whether global warming is a fact or not is not the real issue. It is that Perry and others chose to ignore facts and just say it isn't so. I 'm not sure why any rational human being (perhaps my answer lies in the adjective) just outright says they don't believe in it. Saying it exists(which most scientists would agree) but what can we/should we do about it is what should be. As with many of our issues, I'm not sure that there are 100% perfect solutions (in fact I'm pretty sure there aren't). What I worry about is politicians like Perry who are unwilling to consider the issues and facts and try and solve all the problems by enhancing the rich and crushing the less fortunate.

As to the governor's mansion issue, Perry has also asked for Federal aid for the drought stricken in Texas. Seems like the boy wants it both ways. And buy the way, I think the aid should be forthcoming but it strikes me as hypocritical for a states rights guy to ask.

It is also tragic that all these people like Perry who readily deny what the majority of scientist say, would agree with the Bush/Cheney 1% doctrine - if there is a 1% chance of a terrorists attack we will act. Well there is greater than a 1% chance that man is contributing to climate change and if we don't do anything the consequence could be catastrophic - worse then a terrorist attack. But, acting here does not serve their corporate overlords so too bad for all of us.