livendive

There is warming in the pipe that is already outside our influence. It's unlikely that any of our efforts will have a measurable effect in the 1-3 decades, so what warming is unavoidable must be accomodated. We can adapt our water supply, energy infrastructure, emergency plans (severe weather related), and expect some degree of population migration in the US (Phoenix is a stupid place for old people to live). Globally, there will be greater unrest as populations fight over diminishing water and food in many locations. Some places will benefit from global warming, but social norms and rigid trade and geopolitical relationships are likely to significantly retard adaptation efforts. Basically we're in a position where what's coming will be largely tolerable, at least in the US, it'll just be uncomfortable at points. The trick is applying the brakes to this train we're on...sure, it's not going to stop right away, but we're certainly better off trying to slow down than speed up. The extent of man's contribution to AGW from carbon emissions is not something I'm comfortable talking to. However the means of reducing those emissions are pretty obvious and beneficial even outside of AGW. Less pollution, less reliance on diminishing resources...these are nice improvements to hand off to our kids and grandkids. I can throw some less obvious suggestions out there at another point, but don't have time today. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Senator McCain skips a two-hour classified briefing on Benghazi so that he can hold a press conference to complain about not getting briefed. lol Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Only the black ones according to you Please cite where I have ever made such a statement. "In short, they vote for him mainly becasue he's black. Same with Obama." Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

- The Porsche 911 GT3RS 4.0 will put this car to shame. Too expensive? - The Nissan GTR will put this car to shame. But silly me, I forgot since they are not electric they must be immediately disqualified from any consideration? Which of these things is not like the others? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

What's with all the anger? And why in the world are you expecting a 4-door sedan to beat a le mans supercar in a race? It's a really nice grocery getter... Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Incoming brenthutch in 3, 2, 1... Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Of course, the election is over. That was your whole interest in the matter in the first place. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Preposterous! Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Correct, there's a whole bunch of bigots and racists too. Don't bigots include racists? In any case, both parties have their share of bigots. I suspect they represent a larger fraction of the GOP than the DNC, but in both cases I believe them to be a distinct minority. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Yeah, I don't think the entire party is comprised of religious freaks. It's a subset of the religious fraction that for some reason has a disproportionate influence on the party platform. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Same on all counts. If they divorce the whacko fraction of their religious base, embrace science, treat killing as a distasteful last resort, and try for some honest to goodness fiscal conservatism (without completely abandoning the truly needy), I'll be a proponent. Until then, I'll remain skeptical at best. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I know a lot of well paid professionals who voted for Obama. They (and I) do not want free anything. All you are doing is showing the same condescending tone that helped lose Romney the election. But that's fine - the GOP will continue to lose all the while that attitude persists. I know some middle-aged, heterosexual, gainfully employed, married white guys who find the Republican platform largely undesirable. Myself for one example. This guy for another. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Of course the energy independence will be in part because of increased renewable energy production and increased fuel economy in the transportation sector...those damned hybrids! Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago that certain Republicans were crying about how the Obama administration has been destroying America by handcuffing domestic oil production? Huh... Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

No queston G. Johnston was better than Mitty but a vote for Johnston was a vote for OBAMA. SO THAT's WHAT HAPPENED? Plenty of white guys but they just we're not organized enough to win the election. You need to stick together to win. The single reason to have voted for Mitt was to not let OBAMA to continue! Jeesh, not too hard to figure out. Didn't you think that you vote wouldn't count if you voted for Johnson? Yikes! Who do I need to stick with in order to "win"? And what part of "not one single reason to vote for him (vs against Obama)" was unclear? Romney never tried to sell me anything that sounded worth buying, so my vote wasn't his to lose. I happen to like individual liberty (thus the Johnson vote), so if it'd had been just Romney and Obama on the ticket, with no option to write-in, I'd have gone for Obama. Same poor economic plan, but less religous nonsense. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Romney gave almost zero specifics on how he'd make things better, his entire platform was "I'll cut taxes (however I see fit), cut spending (however I see fit), and I'm not Obama." The 47% comment and unwillingnes to release tax returns reinforced the perspective of him as an out of touch elitist, and the religous side of the party hung a social issue anchor on him. At the start of the primary season, I was willing to give Romney a chance to win my vote. I considered it a long shot, but the chance was certainly >0. He never gave me one single reason to think I should vote for him (vs against Obama), so I went with Gary Johnson instead. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

As anyone who's ever owned a car can tell you, changing the oil is a hell of a lot cheaper than changing the engine. According to the Pew Center, our highways have only grown 15% in the last 50 years, while traffic on them has increased 280% (and gas taxes for their repair have remained at a flat 18.4 cents/gallon since 1993 despite the effects of inflation on concrete, steel, labor, etc). Over 150,000 bridges in the US are either operating over design capacity or in need of serious repair, and 3,346 dams are at risk of failure, including 1200 with people living below them. I'm going to try to forget the 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated sewage leaking from pipes each year. Eww... Pay now, or pay later. It's just going to get more expensive. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I work for a subcontractor to the federal government. In the last 14 months, my project has laid off 64% of staff. My company and the company we contract to have been on pay freezes for 4 of the last 5 years. The one year we got raises (the year before last), the company average was 1.4%. I'll trade you my four years for your two. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

A related article from someone I consider reasonably moderate and pretty sharp, Fareed Zakaria. Edit to add: I'm also coming to agree with the premise of an infrastructure bank that loans money to projects involving public-private partnerships, but there also needs to be an understanding that while ROI is important, it is not the only relevant consideration. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

The alternative would be to suggest that a couple of people who own thousands of acres each should have more say in an election than hundreds of people living in an apartment complex. I don't know anyone who would make that argument, or at least not in mixed company. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Where do you live again? Oh thats right bankrupt california...good luck with that... Utah receiving $1.07 federal funding for every $1.00 it pays in taxes. California, on the other hand, is receiving $0.78 in funding for every dollar it pays in taxes. Difficult math here, but from the perspective of the federal budget, which one contributes more than it costs, and which costs more than it contributes? http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/united-states-federal-tax-dollars/ Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

This looks about right to me. He can win it without Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, or Virginia, but just barely. Any one of those would give him enough insurance to lose a Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, or Wisconsin and still prevail. Ohio would let him lose two or three of those. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

For an example of a country being smart with their oil, Saudi Arabia is investing some of the money from it in solar powered desalination, so they can use less of their oil while also becoming food and water independent before their reserves wane. By contrast, the US is about to pass them and become the largest oil producing nation on the planet, yet we're still consuming about 50% more than we're producing. We can get smarter now, or wish we had later. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I don't think there's a tremendous policy difference between the two candidates. I think Romney will slant slightly toward the wealthy and Obama slightly toward the poor, but both will stay pretty close to the middle. The biggest reason I'd prefer to see Obama win is the signal it will send to Congress. A 17% approval rating means they're doing it freaking wrong. If Romney wins, the last two years will be positively reinforced, and that's bad for all of us. I'd rather Congress reconvene with their collective tails between their legs and start actually trying to do their job. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Not completely unexpected on Veterans Day. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

According to this article. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)