Recent comments

Come on, Anonymous. Where is the courage of your convictions? Who do you really work for?

Nice rhetoric--carbon alarmists--how many focus groups did your allies pay to study to come up with that little line?

And, global taxation? Absurd. What a bunch of hogwash. Now, if you have mentioned the problem of enormous subsidies for global carbon corporations maybe we'd be able to find some common ground.

As for the carping about consensus, first of all Crichton a fiction writer after all is not exactly a credible source.

But, more importantly, just because a small percentage of scientists--many of whom are funded by the oil and gas industry--are denying the climate changes underway does not mean there is not scientifically reliable and credible evidence in support of the view that burning fossil fuels at the rate we are burning them is affecting our climate.

But, you don't have to be a scientist to just believe what your eyes would tell you is true, if you'd only open them. Centuries old glaciers and ice sheets are not just retreating but are disappearing at a very rapid rate. I don't take this as a matter of faith. I take this as a matter of plain common sense observation.

It may be your view that this is just part of the normal cooling and heating of the planet given the climate changes over the course of eons, but surely you cannot let your faith in the pundits propped up by Koch funding discredit what your own eyes must surely reveal to you.

The fact is that just as climates and micro-climates vary across the world and within states and even cities, how the climate changes will affect a particular place over the course of a year of seasons is difficult to predict, but there are sound scientific measurements of changes that have already taken place at a pace that far exceeds recent shifts.

I challenge you to name the leading weathermen and scientists who think climate change (dramatic changes in warming some places and cooling in others) is "total crap" who have not received any funding from the oil and gas industry (companies or their CEOs) through grants or donations to non-profit front groups.

Let's talk about your sources, anonymous.

You have clearly been brainwashed by FOX news and the other right-wing propaganda machines you plainly listen to routinely. The right of Americans to organize is inherent in the First Amendment's protection of the right to assemble and to petition the government for redress. The suggestion that working people organizing is "communist" is nothing less than an absurd charge straight from the darkest days of the McCarthy witchhunts. You were told lies in the 1950s, FunnyLady. And, just to pre-empt your likely ad hominen attack on me, you should know I give no ground to the totalitarian regimes you and your buddy Glenn Beck like to smear people with--my family fled not one, but two, communist revolutions for freedom in this country. And, that freedom dating back to our nation's founding includes the right of people to organize. Even the radical new governor, Scott Walker, conceded the following about Wisconsin's public servants, at least publicly: "Wisconsin’s state employees are second to none in our nation. Our citizens expect great service, and you have delivered. I know you will continue to deliver top‐notch programs for Wisconsin’s taxpayers." But, you are so closed-minded you cannot even admit this fact. A recent ranking of all the states in the U.S. ranked Wisconsin as one of the top ten "smartest states," an empirical analysis which is far more reputable than your gross generalizations that teachers do a "piss-poor job with the 3 Rs." But, the fact is that education in Wisconsin does suffer by having funding tied in part to property taxes, which is unfair to both students and property owners--whereas prison funding comes out of the general treasury without direct votes by citizens for expanded warehousing of people in penitentiaries. The idea that Wisconsin teachers, nurses, firefighters, EMTs, police, prison guards, and other civil servants are not taking responsibility for thier lives is both offensive and absurd. Similarly, the suggestion that they are getting a great deal by getting pensions for taking lower wages than many would get in the private sector and risking their lives on a daily basis to help their fellow citizens really shows how completely out of touch with reality you and your generic, uncreative, and thoughtless rhetoric are. And, I am sick of whiners too--people who have bought into the false divide and conquer politics of the right-wing that blinds one to the fact that people who work for a living should be united on common ground in calling for (and negotiating for) basic protections for the health of our children, parents, and spouses. But, I suppose you are one of those so-called "compassionate conservatives" who thinks as people get old and sick they should just be left to die on the streets so your taxes don't go up a dime and if their employer turns them out without cause at age 60, c'est la vie. Or, maybe you are one of those geniuses put up to protest by Koch-funded groups to say inane things like keep government out of your Medicare. Quite frankly, I don't know how you can sleep at night. But, I would imagine you sleep pretty well. Because, as they say, ignorance is bliss. --Lisa Graves