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Gore’s Bold, Unrealistic Plan to Save the Planet - TIME

But doing it in 10 years? If the earlier, personal solutions to global warming — drive a hybrid, put in better insulation — were far too little, Gore’s goal seems far too much. Less than 28% of our power currently comes from carbon-free sources, and the vast majority of that is hydroelectric and nuclear. High-tech renewables account for less than 3%. Wind and solar are growing far faster than fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas, but considering that we don’t even know if economical carbon capture and storage will ever be possible, it’s hard to see how Gore’s target is remotely attainable. This isn’t negative thinking, or fiction put out by the oil industry. This is reality.

I’m confused. Gore wasn’t talking about economical carbon capture, he was talking about using existing renewable energy technologies. And the science doesn’t care if it’s achievable. You don’t get to adjust the facts to fit what we think we can do.

He’s right. A number of scientists, though not all, warn that the world has a decade at most to reverse the growth in greenhouse gas emissions, or risk catastrophic climate change. But here’s the fact that keeps me up at night: Gore and his allies could be right. We may simply be technologically and politically incapable of doing anything about it. Maybe we’ve already run out of time, and we just don’t know it.

First, in no area of scientific theory will all scientist agree about anything. Second, the fact that they disagree does not avoid the fact that one side is right and one side is wrong. There is an objective reality out there that’s happening now regardless of our opinion of it. We use evidence, observable data, to decipher who’s right and who’s wrong.

I watched Larry King where they had a full panel of commenters saying how ridiculous it would be to produce 100% of our electricity from renewable resources in 10 years. None of them were scientists. Geraldo Rivera was one of the commenters if that tells you anything.

Here’s a few things we need to realize.

Your opinion does not matter. Climate change is happening or it’s not happening independent of your opinion. This is not religion, you do not get to pick what you want to believe based on what you’re comfortable with. The wind does not care what you think of it and not believing in it just means your picnic is over sooner than you thought. Or, if it’s a tornado, your house is destroyed and the wind is neither happy nor sad about it. It is completely self-less, without purpose or meaning of any kind, and your opinion of it has no effect on wether it happens or not.

The economy is not part of the climate change equation. There is no constant in the equations governing climate change theory that represents the economy or money. Climate change does not give a crap what Wall Street thinks is economically possible/comfortable.

It would be way more convenient if climate change were not happening, not our fault, or if we could do nothing about it.

People are offended when you tell them their lifestyle is killing the planet. The planet doesn’t care if you’re offended.

Nobody talks about the science, the facts, the observables when people talk about climate change on TV. Everyone talks about what they believe or hope or think is possible, but never what we know. What you believe is irrelevant.

Fact: Global CO2 levels are rising.
Fact: Humans today produce billions of tons of CO2 annually.
Fact: The CO2 we produce does not go away to never never land.
Fact: Historically, CO2 levels and temperatures are linked.
Fact: Global temperatures are increasing.
Fact: Burning fossil fuels for energy is not sustainable indefinitely.

That’s what we know. These are each undisputed facts.

I think it turns out that we are the posterity we have left this problem for. Sticking your head in the sand and humming won’t work on this one.

Sign the Move On petition to show your support for Gore’s call to action.

Some friends of mine were responsible for putting this on the ballot. It’ll totally pass.

The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco has just recently submitted signatures to city election officials “hoping to place on the ballot an initiative that would rechristen the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant as the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.”

makes me a bit nauseous.

YouTube - McDumb As Bush

Sam Harris posted the results of a poll he conducted exploring the differences in belief between atheists and Christians. A lot of it is not surprising. Some of the more surprising results were things that we agree on.

Atheists tend to think they’re a bit smarter.

Christians tend to think they’re more intuitive.

Thankfully, not many Christians seem to agree with Pat Robertson that Katrina was punishment from God.

One thing I found somewhat surprising, Christians seem to be ok with the idea of luck, although a bit more reluctantly. I wonder what they think God is doing when good people have bad luck?

To me, this sign is very comforting. I mean, no matter how badly I misspell a word from now on, at least I can be comforted that I did not screw up as badly as this woman.

Also a good reason for me to avoid writing signs. At least she didn’t misspell English or America I guess.

Huckabee had some interesting comments on the Huffington Post aboutThe Next Republican Revolution. I think he’s plugging his new book. Still, surprising to hear a Republican saying big government is not necessarily bad government.

Republicans need to be Republicans. The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it’s this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it’s a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says “look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it.” Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it’s not an American message. It doesn’t fly. People aren’t going to buy that, because that’s not the way we are as a people. That’s not historic Republicanism. Historic Republicanism does not hate government; it’s just there to be as little of it as there can be. But they also recognize that government has to be paid for.

If you have a breakdown in the social structure of a community, it’s going to result in a more costly government … police on the streets, prison beds, court costs, alcohol abuse centers, domestic violence shelters, all are very expensive. What’s the answer to that? Cut them out? Well, the libertarians say “yes, we shouldn’t be funding that stuff.” But what you’ve done then is exacerbate a serious problem in your community. You can take the cops off the streets and just quit funding prison beds. Are your neighborhoods safer? Is it a better place to live? The net result is you have now a bigger problem than you had before.

So it’s the revolution of common sense returning to the Republican party?

Do you think he’d be saying this if the Democratic primary had been over in February? I think the prolonged Democratic primary had helped move the country a bit to the left.

There’s a celebration in the Castro as I type this because of the California Supreme Court ruling to allow gay marriage. But there’s also a constitutional amendment on the ballot in the fall and I was looking around trying to find out what’s required to pass a constitutional amendment with a voter referendum in California. I did not find the answer but I did run across some interesting proposed referendums.

Treatment of Farm Animals. Statute. Requires that an enclosure or tether confining specified farm animals allow the animals for the majority of every day to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around.

Funny that we need a law. I guess it failed. Who would vote against that? People are bastards. It’s not even all day, just most of the day.

Wealth Tax. Constitutional Amendment and Statute. Imposes one-time 45% tax on value of property exceeding $40 million of a California resident or held in California by nonresident. Imposes one-time tax (between 26.5% - 44.3%) on property exceeding $5 million when resident dies or leaves California. Imposes additional 17.5% tax on total incomes of taxpayers with income exceeding $150,000 if single, $250,000 if married, increasing to 35% if incomes exceed $350,000 if single, $500,000 if married. Requires State to acquire majority shares of specified corporations to influence environmental practices.

Wow, that’s pretty harsh. So what, they’re just supposed to cough up $20 million dollars? Must be those socialists. Gotta love em. I love the fiscal impact statement.

Unknown state and local revenue reductions — potentially in the tens of billions of dollars annually — due to changes in taxpayer behavior.

Like getting the hell out of California. So what, then the workers could rule as we buy up their property for half price? Just make sure you don’t make any money. The land of opportunity to make $150,000/yr and that’s it. Making it big will be penalized.

I did Barack’s astrological chart.

Name: Barack Obama
August 4 1967
Honolulu, HI

Sun is in 11 Degrees Leo.
More than a bit of a showoff, you love to be the center of attention! But others do not usually mind because they tend to enjoy your genuine warmth and affection. Very spirited and willful, proud and self-important at times, you demand your own way. You are quite honest, however, and the respect of others is very important to you. You never compromise yourself and you pursue your goals with persistence and dedication. Your regal presence and demeanor draws you to positions of leadership and authority. But beware of being overly hardheaded, domineering, ostentatious or patronizing or you will lose the goodwill and admiration that you enjoy. Very theatrical, you live life on a grand scale wherever and whenever possible. Your strength and energy vitalizes those who come in contact with you.

Moon is in 26 Degrees Cancer.
For the most part, you are very strong and secure emotionally. You intuitively know what to do to make others feel comfortable, loved, accepted and needed. You naturally enjoy feeding and taking care of others. Be careful that your mothering does not turn into smothering. At times, you tend to feel that those to whom you are attached can never do anything without your assistance and support. Extremely sensitive by nature, it hurts you deeply whenever anyone criticizes you. You have an almost desperate need to be loved and wanted and needed by everyone with whom you come into contact, and you go out of your way to be accommodating to them.

Mercury is in 23 Degrees Cancer.
Your emotions tend to rule your thought processes. You have difficulty seeing life objectively. You have an excellent memory, especially about things to which you have formed an emotional bond. You prefer ideas and thoughts that are known and familiar, and therefore tend to dislike fads or radical ideas. The beliefs and traditions of your family and culture are very important to you. Your thinking becomes quite unclear when you are emotionally shaken — try not to make major decisions when you are upset. Let things calm down first.

Venus is in 13 Degrees Virgo.
You express your love and affection through selfless service to people or causes. You have a tendency to underestimate yourself and doubt your self-worth. This is very demeaning and should be avoided — learn to love yourself as well as you do others. Your standards of perfection are very high — you are attracted to relationships based on duty and responsibility. You are supercritical of yourself and others and, at times, prefer to be alone rather than deal with any imperfections in yourself or in those with whom you might relate.

Mars is in 08 Degrees Scorpio.
Your likes and dislikes are strong and intense, never casual or superficial. You are known for your persistence and willful obsession. Once you have decided on a course of action, you are unstoppable. Your emotional actions tend to be extreme, although you try to keep them muted. You are not quick to anger, you do slow burns. And you tend to release your anger as sarcasm or irony. Beware of your tendency to hold grudges and to be vengeful. When you do fight, or release your internal tensions, you do so body and soul — you become totally passionate and your outbursts are awesome to behold.

Jupiter is in 14 Degrees Leo.
You must be proud of all that you do in order to grow and develop. You enjoy being totally honest and aboveboard and you revel in the admiration and respect you receive from others due to your high- minded, upright way of life. Make sure, though, that your natural tendency to boast and show off is based on your actual accomplishments. Don’t fall prey to self-exaggeration or arrogance. You truly do like outrageous spectacles and grand jolly times and will go out of your way to make them a reality.

Threat Level

Indian Train

Ahh, Portishead. Yes, it’s a new album. Yes, it’s good. Yes, it sounds a lot like they’re last/other album.

“Hillary Clinton enthusiastically picked a filly named Eight Belles to win the Kentucky Derby and compared herself to the horse. Eight Belles finished second. The winner was the favorite, Big Brown. Eight Belles collapsed immediately after crossing the finish line, and was euthanized shortly thereafter.”

Wright gave a speech to the NCAAP, it’s actually pretty good. He’s actually a pretty good speaker and even funny sometimes. He speaks four languages. Who knew.

So I was reading the news and there was talk about Wright giving a controversial speech which caused Obama to disavow his comments. Is this it? This can’t be it? There are people who are offended by this speech? Who are they? When was the last time they left their house? How can someone being offended by a speech who’s theme is different, not deficient? Because they didn’t think some of the differences noted were PC enough?

News flash! As a general rule, white people don’t have rhythm, not like black people. This is not news if you’ve ever been to a predominately white concert and a predominately black concert. True, some white people can dance and some black people can’t, but by and large white people can’t dance and black people have way more rhythm. It’s not deficient, it’s just different. What’s the problem? Please remove your head from your Bible for a moment and look around.

I love it.

Amazing. Planned obsolescence. 99% of the stuff we produce ends up in a landfill within 6 months. WTF, that’s complete insanity, if not immoral. For every 1 trash can full of stuff we throw away, 70 trash cans full of waste was created to make that stuff. The US has 5% of the world’s population but uses 30% of its resources and creates 30% of its waste. If everyone in the world consumed and wasted at the rate of Americans, we’d need 5 planets. We only have one.

It seems we are the problem.

There’s a better quality version at the StoryofStuff.com

My face wash from the Body Shop contains reproductive toxins. WTF!

I’ve heard of this place in the ocean where all of our plastic supposedly goes but I’d never really seen pictures of it so I wasn’t sure it was real. These guys thought the same thing so they got a boat and went out there and made a pretty good documentary about it. Gross. My favorite quote, “I think we’ve really fucked up and we’re all gonna burn in hell for this.” Made me laugh.

Garbage Island - Part 1 of 12

Just try and live without plastic though. Discover Magazine had several articles this month about plastics, one about how the chemicals in some plastics cause feminization and another, “Think you can live with out plastic?”

The answer is basically, you can’t. Plastic is everywhere. Your clothes are plastic. Your mouse is plastic. Even your paper milk carton has a plastic lining. 7 billion pounds per year and that’s just polycarbonate. Every single piece of food you buy comes in plastic, possibly leaching hormone-like chemicals into your food. It really is every single piece of food too, think about it. Cereal, meat, cheese, canned food, chips, everything. Fruit is about the only thing that doesn’t come in plastic, and a lot of people will put that in a least one plastic bag when they buy it. Wait, Pasta Roni does not come in plastic, it just has a cardboard box and the special seasoning pack has what looks like kind of metal lining. It probably has plastic though. Everything else comes in plastic though, except fresh fruit and veggies, .. and eggs depending on the cartoon.

One thing I can do about it is not use plastic bags anymore. I bought this small little reusable bag that fits in my coat pocket and it’s great. It’s way stronger than the plastic or paper bags you get from the store and it’s not a pain to carry it around. It stays in my coat so I have it when I need it. It’s made of nylon, but at least I only need one. That’s plastic bags down, now I gotta figure out how to not get all this other plastic.

The very best thing about Barack Obama - Mark Morford

This is the great revelation: We still got it. The collective unconscious, the deep sense of inner wisdom, that intuitive knowing that borders on a kind of mystical proficiency, where millions of people can actually look beyond rhetoric and media spin and merely feel the presence of something great in the room? Yep, still there. Who knew?

The Washington Post has a nice little interactive map of the Electoral College. You can play around with giving each state to either party and view the results.

Interestingly, Obama and Clinton are exactly tied in the number of wins for states that the Post considers swing states. Both have won 5.

Swing State Tally

New Hampshire - Clinton
Virginia - Obama
Ohio - Clinton
Florida - Clinton
Minnesota - Obama
Iowa - Obama
Missouri - Obama
Colorado - Obama
New Mexico - Clinton
Nevada - Clinton

If you start with the swing states option except giving South Carolina to Barack, then the only swing states Barack needs are Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. The Republicans can win all the typical battleground states and still loose.

If you start with the swing states option, then give Obama all the swing states where he has won the primary, he wins the electoral with 288. If you do the same for Clinton, she wins with 299.

So what’s going to actually happen? Here’s what I settled on for my prediction. Basically it’s Obama taking all the swing states minus Florida, and I gave Obama South Carolina since it’s 55% black and 90% of them voted for him in the primary.

Since there’s no born-again christian running, hell Barack has talked more about religion than Mc Cain so far, I could see Obama taking a couple of those southern states as well, the ones where Huckabee won the primary. The Pat Robertson voters may just stay home out of spite since there’s no anti-abortion candidate.

It would be nice if Florida and Ohio didn’t matter at all this time. Those states have gotten a bit narcissistic after the previous two elections.

And forget Rev. Wright, this has to be the most disturbing youtube video of this campaign.

The Sound-bytes

The Speech

It’s hard to imagine another politician giving this speech let alone delivering it with such grace. It was truly moving.

On one hand, I don’t really disagree with Jeremiah Wright’s comments. While the majority of Americans may subscribe to the Christian faith, our domestic and foreign policy has never been very “christ-like” or even Christian. It’s unlikely that Jesus would have been a capitalist, yet our culture worships it. His sole act of violence was to kick the capitalists out of the church, wasn’t it?

But this is not the first time we’ve heard preachers talking about the ways in which God should/has/would damn us. Rev. Fallwell famously claimed evidence that God has damned us for gays, pagans, abortionists and feminists in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. When a white minister talks about the ways God damns us, he gets invited to the White House and conservative talk shows.

It’s amazing to watch. He’s actually doing it, leading by example, finding away above the divisive politics he’s against. With speeches like this Barack is helping us steer from sound-byte politics, returning us to speeches and ideas and ideals, perhaps like it was before we had sound-bytes. Get your toast, while it’s hot.