Get Ready for the Largest Tax Increas in History

LoisLane wrote:

sparks wrote:

The countries that do the best job of producing clean,renewable energy in the 21 st century will be the countries that prosper. Since there is only a finite amount of fossil fuel in the world and an ever increasing demand for the energy it produces, it's price will continue to rise. The denialists like OhhMama and Lois Lane conveniently ignore that detail when they make claims about huge tax increases or financial burdens. Unfortunately, we are falling behind in the developement and manufacture of solar,wind and battery technology and the jobs they create. I am hopeful that with the change of leadership in Washington, the US will start to close the gap between us and the Europeans.

http://www.dailytech.com/Arizona%2BLooks%2Bto%2BOutlaw%2BGlobal%2BWarming%2BLegislation/article15523.htm

Unfortunately for the human race, Arizona legislators cannot outlaw Global Warming itself, all they can outlaw are attempts to fix the problem. I'm not even surprised that politicians would pass such a moronic bill, after all, during the 20th century, legislators all across the country passed laws forcing public schools to teach the fairy tale known as Creationism to American students.

LoisLane wrote:

http://www.dailytech.com/Arizona%2BLooks%2Bto%2BOutlaw%2BGlobal%2BWarming%2BLegislation/article15523.htm

Hopefully this isn't an indicator of the states scientific literacy. And the article is also written by Michael Andrews, a dishonest hack. But this part was interesting...

Quote :

A recent report challenging AGW theory showed significant support with 31,478 U.S. researchers and scientists, many of whom hold Ph.D's, signing a statement that they believe that man has not played a part in the current warming trend.

I knew of the NIPCC, but I hadn't looked at is so closely. So the thirty thousand skeptics finally admitted AGW is a real phenomenon. Sw33t...

Quote :

Led by physicist S. Fred Singer—best known for his denial of the dangers of secondhand smoke (the paragon of honest science, obviously - h)—they argue the reverse: "Natural causes are very likely to be the dominant cause" of climate change.

The NIPCC goes on to contend: "We do not say anthropogenic greenhouse gases cannot produce some warming. Our conclusion is that the evidence shows they are not playing a significant role."

In other words, even skeptics, deniers, contrarians—pick your favorite term—agree that global warming is real, or so it appears from the recent three-day conference in New York City put together by the Heartland Institute (yes, the "smoking is good for you" Heartland Institute, a bastion of free-market thinking on the perils of junk science and government economic regulation. They just disagree—even amongst themselves—whether it is man-made.

On the one side sits Patrick Michaels, the recently resigned state climatologist of Virginia who ascribes global warming to fluctuations in the sun's energy output aided and abetted by human activity. In his conference dinner address, Michaels said: "Global warming is real and people have something to do with it."

On the other side is astrophysicist Willie Soon of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. He lays the blame on the sun for all the agreed-on warming. And meteorologist William Gray of Colorado State University in Fort Collins believes the sun will soon reverse its effect. "We should begin to see cooling coming on," he predicts. "I'm ready to make a big financial bet."

That's at least a step in the right direction. Too bad their report is still crap. Ah well... Baby steps.

"AGW theorists"... I did get a giggle out of that. I wonder if he refers to doctors as "germ theorists" or people who recognize that the earth is round as "spherical earth theorists".

sparks wrote:

Unfortunately for the human race, Arizona legislators cannot outlaw Global Warming itself, all they can outlaw are attempts to fix the problem.

Well put. That's really what it boils down to, isn't it? More head in the sand, "if we ignore it, it'll go away" nonsense. The citizens of Arizona deserve better.

Oh, and the 31,000 "signatures" aren't signatures supporting the report, it's just the years old and still thoroughly debunked Oregon Petition added, I'd imagine, to give the report some sort of legitimacy. Just like when the Discovery Institute releases their surveys "thousands of scientists think evolution is just an evil trick of Satan."

Ohhmama wrote:

Obama can't solve the issue of global warming- especially when countries like India or China refuse to do their share.

Actually, China is ahead of us in the implementation of "green" energy projects.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/business/energy-environment/03renew.html?pagewanted=1&hp

Quote :

UNHUANG, China — As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower.

[...]

While the House of Representatives approved a requirement last week that American utilities generate more of their power from renewable sources of energy, and the Senate will consider similar proposals over the summer, China imposed such a requirement almost two years ago.

This year China is on track to pass the United States as the world’s largest market for wind turbines — after doubling wind power capacity in each of the last four years. State-owned power companies are competing to see which can build solar plants fastest, though these projects are much smaller than the wind projects.

It's time for us to act. No other country bears more responsibility for AGW then we do... and we're the country that hasn't "done its share" to address the situation.

Don't know if any of you have seen this yet, but I found it amusing, so I figured that I'd post it.