The Virginia General Assembly borrows a page from George Orwell
George Orwell | Wikimedia Commons
In the novel 1984, the author George Orwell invented a new word. It was called Newspeak, and here is the Wikipedia’s explanation of what it is:
“This suits the totalitarian regime of the Party, whose aim is to make any alternative thinking—”thoughtcrime”, or “crimethink” in the newest edition of Newspeak—impossible by removing any words or possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom, rebellion and so on. One character, Syme, says admiringly of the shrinking volume of the new dictionary: “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly — an in North Carolina, too — appear to have followed that lead. I call their genre “GOPspeak.” In devising a bill for a $50,000 study of rising sea levels along the Virginia’s coast, they deliberate rewrote it to avoid terms that are apparently too politically charged — such as “sea level rise” or “climate change.”
From a story in The Virginian Pilot by my old pal Scott Harper, one of the best reporters anywhere:
State lawmakers ran into a problem this year when recommending a study on rising sea levels and their potential impacts on coastal Virginia.
It was not a scientific problem or a financial one. It was linguistic.
They discovered that they could not use the phrases “sea level rise” or “climate change” in requesting the study, in part because of objections from Republican colleagues and also for fear of stirring up conservative activists, some of whom believe such terms are liberal code words.
But wait, Scott’s story gets even better. One lawmaker, Del. Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, told the paper that “sea level rise” is a “left-wing term.”
At each stage of the studies, the state has altered its verbiage, said Laura Mc-Kay, state director of coastal zone management programs [for the Department of Environmental Quality].
At first, McKay said, the studies were about “climate change.” Then they were changed to “sea level rise.” Now they are about “coastal resilience.” And while the studies themselves are slightly different, McKay said, political sensitivities played a role.
“It’s kind of silly,” she said. “But the reality is, some of the phrases just really send people screaming. We want to use language that doesn’t alienate people.”
I can see a great future for GOPspeak. Soon, bills about guns won’t refer to as guns, but “self-defense implements.” They could label birth control “chemicals that thwart God’s procreative plan.” As it is, they’ve already been trying for years to redefine abortion as “murder,” whether it follows a transvaginal ultrasound or not.
Got any other suggestions for GOPspeak? If so, I’d love to hear them. This could be great fodder for a future column.
June 11, 2012 - 5:52 PM
GOP-Idiots
It doesn’t get dumber than this.
Are you freaking kidding? Democrats wrote the book PCspeak. Notice the article doesn’t even come up with one example of so-called GOPspeak because there is none. The ones they usedleftwing in origin. I’ve done a post with a bunch of them before, but here are a few.
pubic investment = spending
climate change = excuse for extortion
person of color = black person (oddly ‘colored person’ is now racist)
government revenue = tax hikes
immigrants = illegals
tax fairness = screwing the hell out of the achievers
affirmative action = screwing achievers
diversity = no whites
Poor Dan can’t think of any of these invented by conservatives, so he’s enlisting help. Good luck with that column. Of course he ignores the obvious column of leftwing examples.
Environmental regulations in GOPspeak = job killers
The rich in GOPspeak = job creators
Equal Opportunity in GOPspeak = Socialism
Social Progress in GOPspeak = Marxism
President Obama in GOPspeak = The Food Stamp President
Estate tax in GOPspeak = Death tax
Homophobia in GOPspeak = Family values
Anti-choice in GOPspeak = Pro family
Politicians who “regret” gutting social safety nets in GOPspeak = Compassionate Conservatives
“It doesn’t get dumber than this.”
If only that were true. Just think of the poor suckers who vote for them.
“I can see a great future for GOPspeak. Soon, bills about guns won’t refer to as guns, but “self-defense implements.” They could label birth control “chemicals that thwart God’s procreative plan.” As it is, they’ve already been trying for years to redefine abortion as “murder,” whether it follows a transvaginal ultrasound or not.
Got any other suggestions for GOPspeak? If so, I’d love to hear them. This could be great fodder for a future column.”
Perhaps the GOP is just following the examples provided by liberals. Liberals are the pioneers of re-branding efforts. Funny you mention “climate change”, however it wasn’t long ago this was known as Global Warming. That is until they realized it was hard to sell the term with snow on the ground. Climate change is much more inclusive.
Let us not forget the dreaded “Stimulus”, I believe the liberals now prefer to reference it as “investments”.
100% co-pay free birth control is referred to as “access” to birth control. Ignore the fact that most with insurance already had access with a co-pay and those less fortunate had “access” through clinics and Planned Parenthood.
What is the correct term for “War on terror or terrorists” now?
And the list goes on.
Robin Barnhill
Unfortunately, it does get dumber than this. If you visit this blog on a regular basis and read posts by Suzie, pammala, Bob, Jeff Doto, Lake Claytor, SharonN, and Pistol Pete amog others, the “dumbness” becomes simply overpowering.
No need to “think of the poor suckers” Art, Suzie keeps us well advised of the far right wing mindless chatter. It is all she has and like P.T. Barnum, she counts on fooling enough of the people.
Oh please, elected officials! At least feed us peons some intelligent duplicity.
One example that’s now a classic: torture = “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
And the oceans keep rising and all we care about is what to call it…
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.shtml
Most of the ones you listed aren’t coined phrases HIllary. They are just some you made up.
Can somebody think of some real ones for Dan. No? That’s gonna be a mighty short column.
Big Momma:
6.“I can see a great future for GOPspeak. Soon, bills about guns won’t refer to as guns, but “self-defense implements.”
We’ve seen that before. What jumps to my mind: Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act.
That was the grossly mislabeled “assault weapons” ban of 1993.
The Patriot Act was a mislabeled lie too.
I remember working to help his brother Ken get elected…Ken Stolle was also at one point the Sheriff of Virginia Beach. To see Chris play politics with this is sad…because if the sea levels do rise any, it will severely impact his district…the military and tourism industries, and of course the citizens he is supposed to represent. Now…as to the cause of it ask…that can be debated…but the impact gets diminished when nit picking language as some sort of covert conspiracy.
By the way, Dan…I cannot post a comment on my Android phone unless I load the full website first. Using the mobile suite results in some password error even though the box is checked and info it’s filled out. I’ve had this problem on numerous RT blogs and it still hasn’t been fixed…been going on at least two weeks now.
OJ,
I get the impression these folks would deny sea levels were rising even if they were standing in ankle-deep water on Pacific Avenue. The fact that they won’t even allow the term “climate change” in a bill indicates that such denial has taken on a religious fervor. And this is certainly not the first time science has been at odds with politics or religion.
With regard to the issue about posting to the Droids: I am sympathetic. Michael Howdyshell is having the same trouble. So is Kristen (iPad).
Friday I sent our IT folks an email about this. Here it is:
———————
Folks,
I’m getting complaints from a variety of blog readers that they cannot post to Dan Casey’s blog using their mobile devices. The last time I was hearing this with any regularity was a little more than a month ago.
Here’s what’s happening:
1. When they try to post from a mobile device, they enter their nickname, their email address, the blog comment, and then they click a box that says, “Click this box to prove you’re human.”
2. When they hit the post button, the screen comes back and says, “Sorry, the password was incorrect.”
And so they give up trying to post a comment.
They are telling me this is happening on Droid devices (I tested it out on my own Droid phone and that’s exactly what happened) and iPads.
Thanks for your help with this.
———————————
I haven’t heard back yet. But as soon as I do, I’ll post something on the blog.
Here’s one for your list Dan:
tax cut= handouts to the “job creators”.
And just for kicks, it would be fun to have Suzie redefine her
“pubic” investment!
Dan, no problem here on an iPad or iPhone?
I think I figured out Suzie’s secret identity based on her/his post above. Suzie = Bill White
Potato, patahto these law makers better start rolling their pants legs up.
Quick somebody get a Suzie a droid phone!
Yet another total, pot calling kettle issue. Both major parties and their minions have their own vernacular and it is totally to present their bias without it feeling like bias.
Yes, “The Patriot Act” sounds so much better than the spy on Americans act. “No child left behind” sounds so much better than look out another unfunded and impossible to meet mandate. “The 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act” sounds so much better than repeal Glass-Steagall and rape the nation. “The 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act” sounds so much better than derivatives this suckers! “The 2001 Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act” sounds so much better than the end is coming soon so take the last ounce of progress the middle class has made. “The 2003 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act” sounds so much better than you’re going down fools! And last but not least “The 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act” sounds so much better than lie back and take it like a man, so I can look like I did something important as I made it all worse. Yep, real wordsmith’s! The whole bunch.
“I want my country back” = I hate democracy
“No socialized medicine” = hands off my Medicare
“If ballots don’t work, bullets will” = we win or you die
“We came unarmed…this time” = we win or you die
“Job creators” = pay us to give you jobs or you won’t have them
“Tax incentives” = another way to say pay me to give you jobs or you won’t have them
“Fair Tax” = make it easier to maintain and grow my wealth and harder for you to gain any
“Flat Tax” = another way to say make it easier to maintain and grow my wealth and harder for you to gain any
“Main Stream Media” = The unfiltered by right wing queens version
What is this “climate change” thing? Is that the new Global Warming? Is Global Warming now out of favor?
Thanks, Dan…I’ve sent complaints on a couple of blogs now. I didn’t have these troubles when I was still using a Blackberry…but at least I can load the full page version of the site and post that way with no troubles…it’s only when using the mobile version of the blogs for some odd reason. Thankfully copy/paste on the Droid is much easier than my BB was…
Congratulations to Donut Miser. He came up with the first example on the board that Dan could use. Interestingly, without these advanced interrogation techniques, 0bama would never have been found, and Idiot Boy could never have swiped credit from these great military men.
The workaround is to click on the link (can’t remember the exact wording, but I think it’s at the bottom) to view the full desktop version of the page.
From there, you can post.
This is the height of stupidity. The facts are the facts and they don’t care who believes or doesn’t, how those facts are labeled or how much publicity they get.
Mankind is having a large impact on the environment, largely to nature’s disadvantage. In 1999 the world’s population was 6 billion. Today it is around 7 billion. You cannot feed, house and clothe that many more people w/o adversely affecting your surroundings.
The knucklehead Stolle can call it whatever he likes, but his district will be under water before mine will.
I get the impression these folks would deny sea levels were rising even if they were standing in ankle-deep water on Pacific Avenue. The fact that they won’t even allow the term “climate change” in a bill indicates that such denial has taken on a religious fervor. And this is certainly not the first time science has been at odds with politics or religion.
Let’s think logically. Does anybody really believe sea levels will rise three feet as these loons project because people drive their cars?
We need to get a state lawmaker to introduce an omnibus clean-up act for the entire state code. It would proposed to change all sorts of language under the Virginia code.
“Acid rain” would be banned, of course, in favor of “Low PH precipitation” because the former is a liberal term.
So is “mountaintop mining,” which should heretofore be called “cost-effective coal extraction.”
None of Sandi’s are legit. They’re all made up like Hillary’s. I am going to have to back off giving Donut Miser credit. Seems “enhanced interrogation techniques” was coined by none other than the leftwing media. From wiki:
Some in the US press have been hesitant to call enhanced interrogation torture because as Paul Kane of the Washington Post explained, torture is a crime and nobody who engaged in “enhanced interrogation” has been charged or convicted.[76] The New York Times terms the techniques “harsh” and “brutal” while avoiding the word “torture” in most but not all[77] news articles,[78] though it routinely calls “enhanced interrogation” torture in editorials.[79] Slate magazine terms enhanced interrogation the “U.S. torture program.”[80]
Following NPR’s controversial ban on using the word torture[81] and Ombudsman Alica Shepard’s defense of the policy that “calling waterboarding torture is tantamount to taking sides”,[82]
So to date, we have ZERO examples of so-called “GOP-speak”. Let’s hear more about that column, Dan. ROFL.
Mankind is having a large impact on the environment, largely to nature’s disadvantage.
Man can no more affect the vast earth than an ant can push a boulder.
“Interestingly, without these advanced interrogation techniques, 0bama would never have been found, and Idiot Boy could never have swiped credit from these great military men.”
I didn’t know Obama was ever in hiding. I thought he was in White House the past 3 years.
Orrrrr….did Screwzie make a MISTAKE?
Also, pubic investment probably refers to Screwzie’s Brazilian wax jobs.
Rising sea levels = Water sport enhancement.
People who don’t think we’ve had an effect on the planet don’t get out much.
“Man can no more affect the vast earth than an ant can push a boulder.”
Look! Screwzie agrees with George Carlin.
Someday they will have a museum piece to the crowning achievement of educated idiocy. Till then we have a relatively living example in Suzie. “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble…” but at least she has beams awesomely stupid like the north star.
Contra,
It wasn’t a mistake. If it was a simple case of mistyping a “b” instead of an “s” (and ending up with “Obama” instead of “Osama,” then she would not have replaced the “O” with a zero like she does every time she spells the president’s last name.
Thus, I have to conclude it was deliberate.
“coastal resilience”
I know you guys just want to hate on something but could this
be maybe “beach erosion”?
The U.S. Corps of Engineers has been dredging sand from the ocean
to maintain Va. Beach for many years.
Without their work VA. Beach would be about 3 feet from boardwalk
to water.
Rob Thomins,
“Coastal resiliency effort” is the GOPspeak for “beach replenishment,” which must be banned because it (quite factually) creates an impression that the beach is disappearing, and it may lead the speaker-thinker down a thought path that logically ends with the verboten term “sea level rise.”
I have it on great authority from sources in Richmond that the next round of GOPspeak efforts will be applied to that big uranium mining project in Pittsylvania.
Specifically, the terms “radioactive,” “radiation,” “uranium mine,” and “uranium mine tailings” will be banned from state law because they are left-wing buzzwords.
All references in state law to the mine will be replaced with the term “Coles Hill Energy Security Project.”
“Uranium miners” will be re-termed “resource recovery specialists.”
#29 SUZIE, Dan WANTS made-up ones.
A commenter wrote, “Congratulations to Donut Miser. He came up with the first example on the board that Dan could use.”
What the commenter fails to see is that a Republican administration concocted this “newspeak” to justify the use of torture, which is against the law under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, also known as the United Nations Convention against Torture. The United States became a signatory of this convention in 1988. As such, George W. Bush, Richard B. Cheney, and others should be brought to trial for crimes in violation of this convention.
“Man can no more affect the vast earth than an ant can push a boulder.”
Spoken like a true ideologue and replete with blissful ignorance.
We can and do affect every aspect of earth’s ecosystems, on a macro and micro scale. Lemme give you a little tip: Rush is wrong about this. I know he frequently makes this claim because it fits with the sensibilities of his audience who generally have their minds made up for them because their brains act like Read Only computer chips.
Geez, if you cut down a tree in your front yard it changes the dynamics of the ecosystem in profound ways. Everything we do has an impact. That shouldn’t even be the starting point of the argument. Take saintbridge’s comment:
“Mankind is having a large impact on the environment, largely to nature’s disadvantage.”
I don’t think so. Nature doesn’t care a bit. It will do what it will do in some complex and unpredictable way. The question is what the consequences will be for life as nature reshuffles the deck. Nature will deal with it callous indifference; there will be winners and losers. Always has been, always will be.
A commenter wrote: “Seems ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ was coined by none other than the leftwing media.”
Partially true, but it was also used by so-called “fair and balanced news” media, as well as Richard B. Cheney himself, when even he admitted that he wasn’t certain that intelligence garnered from torture led to the Bin Laden killing:
http://youtu.be/HVAGihO_2lg?t=1m22s
Seriously I’ll chip in some money if we can get Suzie one of the defective Droids that will block her posts.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful meadow, surrounded by loblolly pines and assorted shrubs and grasses. Then a man came along with a bulldozer and cleared away all the trees and grass and more men came along and constructed a house. Years passed and the house was occupied by a series of dwellers, the latest of which is me.
Pop quiz: What happened to the meadow?
Answer: A man put a house in its place.
So much for man not being able to have an impact on the earth.
Extra credit: Did you hear the one about Lake Erie catching on fire?
Go home. Work on your tinfoil hat and try again tomorrow.
“lead the speaker-thinker down a thought path that logically ends with the verboten term “sea level rise”
Uh, ok I don’t exactly know what that means, could be thoughtspeak.
I do know this: Sand comes and goes on the coast. Beaches erode
thru natural oceanic currents. Sandbars form then they leave.
Dry land builds up in areas while leaving others, (Tangier Island).
Efforts in Va Beach to create a beach is just one example of Man’s
efforts to tera-form. Without these efforts the oceans and seas would
find their natural levels which is not static it changes.
Unfortunately this ever changing landscape does not suit the
tourist industry, so we try to create a static never changing
environment to accommodate sun-bathers with money.
It has nothing to do with rising sea levels it is about RAISING
property value
Rob,
It’s true that some beaches erode, and others get naturally built up. All of the sand that gets carried away from Rehobeth Beach, Del., seems to end up in Wildwood, N.J. Ever been to the beach there? Last time I was there you could walk out a quarter mile and the water still wouldn’t be much past your knees.
It really doesn’t mean jack except is terms of how close the water is getting to manmade structures.
Something tells me, though, that if sea levels were FALLING (and perhaps the RWers will soon claim they are) said erosion wouldn’t be of much concern.
It would be a concern if their $1,000,000 boats were suddenly
high and dry. He He
Sand does indeed shift and move with time, eroding from one place to be deposited in others. Willoughby Spit in Norfolk, basically the Oceanview community, is a sand deposit that was left after a major storm back in the 1930′s, if I remember right. Now, practically every usable square foot of land is covered by structures. If nature made it, nature can take it away.
Barrier islands usually bear the brunt of storm erosion and impacts, hence by the Outer Banks are constantly rebuilding and shanging the alignment of NC 12 after every major storm passes.
Rob is definitely right…natural processes of the oceans upon beaches are not conducive to a flourishing tourism industry, nor to property values of high-dollar parcels located along or immediately adjacent to the water. Work by the ACE to replenish sand at Virginia Beach keeps tourism alive and property values up, because there is something useful on the other side of the boardwalk (aka seawall).
It will be a never-ending process to rebuild the beaches every few years as storms erode the sand and shift it further north…where the waters carry it thanks to the Gulf Stream. If ocean levels rise in any measurable fashion, it will only make the issue worse.
If sea levels were falling, Atlantic Ave in Virginia Beach would become 2 blocks inland of new development…
Someone should convince the property insurance companies that the oceans are not rising. They are raising their premiums and getting out of insuring beach property.
:Specifically, the terms “radioactive,” “radiation,” “uranium mine,” and “uranium mine tailings” will be banned from state law because they are left-wing buzzwords.”
“cancer” = “Cell-growth rapidity enhancement”
http://plan.risingsea.net/Virginia.html
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=2&oq=virginia+beach+sea+level&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS485US485&q=virginia+beach+sea+level+map&gs_upl=0l0l0l9283lllllllllll0&aqi=g4&pbx=1
On NPR I heard some of the people working on this project. People in VA Beach take the sea rise VERY seriously.
Perhaps we can even rename the state legislature:
The Virginia Jargon Assembly.
Coastal resiliency effort” is the GOPspeak for “beach replenishment,” which must be banned because it (quite factually) creates an impression that the beach is disappearing, and it may lead the speaker-thinker down a thought path that logically ends with the verboten term “sea level rise.”
Oooops sorry. “Coast resilience” has already been spoken for. Some leftwing environmental nutcase outfit uses that name.
http://coastalresilience.org/
Poor Dan. He has this big column planned and can’t find a single example of GOP-speak. LOLOLOL.
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/did-we-evolve-from-aquatic-mammals/pas3p8v
No problem with the sea level rising. Humans will just evolve back into aquatic mammals.
Just maybe the GOP not only wants to try to change the language itself into something that they want to try to have us poor soul into believing their own shadeless,delusional views. It is only what part of loony ville they are trying to push.
The funny part is they really want us to really believe what they are selling.
#52 Only suzie would claim that it’s nutty to work with communities to plan for and attempt to mitigate destruction to people’s home and businesses from many causes peculiar to the coast. Something that every single community leader with half a brain along the coast is already doing, including conservative leaders.
Or probably she didn’t bother to read the site she linked to.
Here’s some actual legislation with real GOPspeak [courtesy of Republican representative Robert Hurt as sponsor or co-sponsor]:
☻H.R.49
Latest Title: AMERICAN ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND PRICE REDUCTION ACT
What it really does: Opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve to drilling.
“Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement a competitive leasing program for the exploration, development, and production of the oil and gas resources on the Coastal Plain of Alaska. Amends the ALASKA NATIONAL INTEREST LANDS CONSERVATION ACT OF 1980 to repeal the prohibition against leasing or other development leading to production of oil and gas from the Arctic National.”
☻H.R.97
Latest Title: FREE INDUSTRY ACT
What it actually does: Excludes toxic chemicals from being called Air Pollutants.
“Amends the Clean Air Act to: (1) exclude FROM THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM “AIR POLLUTANT” carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, or sulfur hexafluoride; and (2) declare that nothing in the Act shall be treated as authorizing or requiring the regulation of climate change or global warming.”
☻H.R.153
Latest Title: ENSURING AFFORDABLE ENERGY ACT
What it actually does: Takes money away from EPA enforcement of regulations on emissions.
“Prohibits any funds appropriated or otherwise available for the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from being used to implement or enforce: (1) a cap-and-trade program; or (2) any statutory or regulatory requirement pertaining to emissions of one or more greenhouse gases from stationary sources that is issued or becomes applicable or effective after January 1, 2011.”
☻H.R.704
Latest Title: SAFE FOR AMERICA ACT
What it really does: Eliminates 50,000 diversity visas available annually for immigrants.
“Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the diversity immigrant program.”
http://hurt.house.gov/index.cfm/cosponsored-legislation
Most legislation put forth by Republicans is labeled with a misleading bill name in GOPspeak – they are experts at the ‘smoke and mirrors’ game
I like the term “climate change”, I find that it does so practically every day even every hour.
I have no problem with the term “sea level rise”, it often happens twice in 24 hours.
The real problem is with those who continue to ignore historical changes in nature that over time can create the likes of Greenland, or in short time can destroy a city.
Man’s problem is the belief that we might add to or subtract from God’s work by our mere presence. Were we not here the tides would still ebb and flow at varying levels, volcano’s would add and earthquakes would subtract land masses. Entire species would become extinct and new life would form.
Those who believe that man’s actions are the ultimate predictor of nature are like those who believe the sun revolves around the earth. We are here to be good stewards; not to live in fear of accepting and using all the gifts provided to us.
“newspeak” is only for the ignorant who choose to believe it…
“Those who believe that man’s actions are the ultimate predictor of nature are like those who believe the sun revolves around the earth.”
Unreal. What a straw man. Nobody, anywhere, who has expressed a belief in man-influenced global warming has EVER said they ALSO believe human actions are “the ultimate predictor of nature.” That’s total BS.
And bonus, he likened the climate change crowd (the scientists) to the people who believed centuries ago that the sun revolved around the earth (the religionsts).
Mike O, do a little reading in history, please. You’ll see that the scientists were the ones proclaiming the sun DIDN’T revolve around the Earth. And the religionists were the ones claiming it did, and citing the Bible as the authority for that. The religionists locked up the scientists for that so-called “heresy,” you know.
You know? (Actually, it’s likely you don’t.)
“Man’s problem is the belief that we might add to or subtract from God’s work by our mere presence.”
Anyone who looks out their window while driving more than 2 blocks from their house can figure this out, and God has nothing to do with it.
I invite you to pour some Drano in a glass of water then drink it. After all, nothing humans can concoct can mess with the purity of God’s creation, right? Water scoffs in the face of Drano!
“We are here to be good stewards; not to live in fear of accepting and using all the gifts provided to us.”
Part of good stewardship is knowing what we should and should not do to the earth. This is not difficult to figure out.
Of course we “can” freely loot the earth at will, and fracking will render our water undrinkable and earth’s crust unstable, and cracking the floor of the ocean will kill off and mutate that which we get from the sea, but hey! Whatever! God’s gonna make it all good!
#58 mike O posted, “We are here to be good stewards; not to live in fear of accepting and using all the gifts provided to us.”
Did you mean accepting “gifts” like the sciences which prove the existence of evolution, global warming, and carcinogens in the air? “Gifts” like contraceptives? Like the morning after pill? Like artificial insemination? Like “using all the gifts” of my mind to determine what is right for my family and my body, and the “gift” of intellect to understand the destruction of the environment is not being a “good steward”?
Do you mean those types of “gifts”? Oh well then, I agree.
YIKES…
Did I hit an uber-nerve???
Dan,
RE: “Nobody, anywhere, who has expressed a belief in man-influenced global warming has EVER said they ALSO believe human actions are “the ultimate predictor of nature.””
Instead of quoting from the uber-libs (which there are many) I will use one from a repub. As follows:
” Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it was more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame. The Earth may become “unliveable”…
That sounds like a pretty strong (but silly) “prediction” to me…
also to
Kristen,
Are you kidding me??? You are “predicting” mutations from the sea? I’ll skip paying $15.00 for the movie and wait for Netflix…
I should leave that alone but I must add that many “scientists” predicted that the atomic bomb would destroy the earth; many “scientists” believed that we would have another ice age (before the global warming movement) just to name a couple other “nutty” suggestions…
An intelligent being might conclude that “scientific” analysis such as “global cooling” and/or “global warming” would incur deeper thought on why these types of alarmist theories occur (think the likes of Al Gore’s carbon footprint and bank account).
I suggest that you not be taken in by this “BS” (in Dan’s words) and “think” for yourself.
We are not the reason for our existence, we exist for a reason…
“Dan,
A) RE: “Nobody, anywhere, who has expressed a belief in man-influenced global warming has EVER said they ALSO believe human actions are “the ultimate predictor of nature.””
Instead of quoting from the uber-libs (which there are many) I will use one from a repub. As follows:
“Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it was more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame. The Earth may become “unliveable”…
That sounds like a pretty strong (but silly) “prediction” to me…”
B) . . .I must add that many “scientists” predicted that the atomic bomb would destroy the earth; many “scientists” believed that we would have another ice age (before the global warming movement) just to name a couple other “nutty” suggestions…
mike O,
Withe regard to “A”, read some history, and science, and read some current events, please. What do you think this is, the Mark Levin show? Where he allows every boot-licking idiot to say what he wants, but hangs up on any guest who doesn’t genuflect to the memory of Ronald Reagan while at the same time forgetting everything Reagan stood for?
1) The fact that some professor said whatever (unsourced thing) he said in no way states (or even implies) that the body of climate science believes man is the only, or even the dominant, driver of climate change. What a sad argument you’re mounting, if you’re basing it on that. If you based your judgment on that you are off your gourd. Get back on it, man!
2) As to “B,” no half-reputable “scientist” anywhere has ever predicted that an atomic bomb would “destroy the Earth.” (Two were dropped in Japan in ’45, btw, and they did not “destroy the Earth.”) If anything, the predictions were that widespread nuclear WAR, involving thousands of atomic bombs, would destroy CIVILIZATION.
Heds up, there is a difference between someone predicting the destruction of the Earth by an atomic bomb (your lie) and the destruction of human civilization in the event of a nuclear war that caused the launching of thousands of nuclear bombs.
If you do not believe that the unleashing of all the nuclear arsenals on Earth would destroy CIVILIZATION, state your reasons for why that is so. But look up the definition of CIVILIZATION first (and don’t tell us that dictionaries are a liberal plot).
Then, finally, for my own peace of mind about the state of education in Virginia, tell me and the rest of us that you recognize the difference and that you blew it on that one. Or that you were educated (or dropped out of school) in another state. Otherwise, we may begin fearing that our kids will end up as dumb as you.
mikeO, you’re going to have to do better than tell us we’re wrong then drop the God card.
As for “mutations from the sea”…basic science teaches us mutations don’t happen in one or two years. Read up on what the fisherman have been pulling out of the Gulf since the BP disaster.
Maybe North Carolina will become the laughingstock of the comedy shows. Virginia needs a break.
“Lawmakers passed a bill that restricts local planning agencies’ abilities to use climate change science to predict sea-level rise in 20 coastal counties. The bill’s supporters said that relying on climate change forecasts would stifle economic development and depress property values in eastern North Carolina.
The bill has sparked outrage in some circles. It was ridiculed earlier this month on the television show “The Colbert Report.” Despite the controversy, it has repeatedly cleared every hurdle in the GOP-led legislature. In the Senate on Tuesday, the only comments were a few brief remarks in favor of the measure as a victory of common sense over alarmist research.”
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/jun/13/nc-senate-approves-law-challenges-sea-level-scienc-ar-2353298/?referer=None&shorturl=http://bit.ly/LjWicC
No Mike, I think you hit the “Goober-nerve”, as in that’s all you got? We are all sick of seeing such swill under God’s banner.
#63 So, Mikey, you believe that all creatures now look exactly like they did when “God made them”?
Evolution hasn’t yuet reached the Republican party base. That group is stil dominated by Cro-Magnon man and Neanderthal Man.
You have got to love the party of ‘the President is an unqualified, Kenyan, Muslim, terrorist’, “If ballots don’t work, bullets will” and “We came unarmed…this time”, being concerned over “alarmist” language!
“Scientific” evidence is often determined by the political agenda and world view of those providing the funding for the research.
If I receive a grant to prove that the polar bear population has declined over the past 20 years and I want to be able to continue to receive those funds, what do you suppose my “scientific” research will show? Follow the money.
All of this time and money wasted (how much does it cost to fund a 20 year study of polar bears?) trying to prove something that really does not matter in the grand scheme of things. Remember the “horribly tremendous negative impact” the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was going to have on the environment? Fact is fish and other marine life is thriving BECAUSE of man’s progress.
What about the caribou population along the Alaskan oil pipeline?
Meanwhile environmentalist are trying to force oil companies to blow up and remove old oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico which in turn will destroy the magnificent coral colonies and marine habitat that these “terrible man made atrocities” support. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The truth is that ALL of God’s creation, including man, adapts to environmental changes and will continue to do so until the fulfillment of time.
“All of this time and money wasted (how much does it cost to fund a 20 year study of polar bears?) trying to prove something that really does not matter in the grand scheme of things.”
I have a hard time stomaching a very religious person saying that a lot of resources are being wasted on something that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Think about it.
“The truth is that ALL of God’s creation, including man, adapts to environmental changes and will continue to do so until the fulfillment of time.”
While this is true, it neglects that we aren’t being the best of stewards of our planet and there really is no excuse for it.
I sincerely hope the phrase “God smacked” will someday apply!
Dan,
Sorry to hit a nerve I was only responding to your comments. You stated “Nobody, anywhere….”
I just gave one example that somebody, somewhere actually did…
Maybe I was unclear on the time reference to “bomb” (I did mean “before” one was actually detonated). With study, you will find that Edward Teller (Manhattan project) did express the speculative possibility that an atomic bomb might “ignite” the atmosphere because of a hypothetical fusion reaction of nitrogen nuclei. (I assume you will acknowledge Teller as at least a “half-reputable scientist”)
I don’t know where, in my post, that you see any argument that “the unleashing of all the nuclear arsenals on earth” would NOT have a devastating impact on civilization (but hey, I am ok with straw man arguments if people feel the need)
I hope you now find some solace in the state of VA’s excellent universities.
You may apologize as you see fit… especially for the “dumb as you” comment (which I found very gratuitous)
What ever happened to the widening ozone hole scare? That’s as real as the rising sea level scare. And the radon scare. And the alar scare. And the bogeyman scare.
Seeing the operative word here? Democrats have gotten to where they are by scaring uneducated people.
We do understand the climate is supposed to cool for a decade or more before it resumes warming again. Or should I say “changing” again? We need to somehow scare up billions of dollars to prevent the climate from changing. if we could only stop driving automobiles, the climate would no longer change. Every day would be the same weather. I hope they’re all like today. 80 degrees low humidity.
@75… Why blame dems? Anyone will kick around a political football for political gain. If the repubs thought they could make more hay with an environmental issue they would.
I can speak to the radon scare with some experience and expertise. I once spent some time measuring radon levels as service to home/buyers and sellers who had become convinced that a clean bill of health was necessary part of the transaction.
Here’s genesis of how a scare works. First scientists publish information on a new phenomena. Second, it gets picked up by the media which then speculates on the horrible consequences of the phenomena. Then, an enterprising business steps in, markets the horrible consequence as reason to purchase their risk mitigation service. Don’t underestimate the power of good old capitalism and marketing as a way to make specious claims authentically scary. You don’t need politics, all you need is chance to make a buck and television or radio ad.
Course at some point, politicians get involved, but I can’t fault the federal government for investigating a public health issue. Basically, they published guidelines for people who have such concerns and make information available.
Course.. you always want to believe that such thing come directly from the political party you like to disparage, but the truth is little more complex.
You know what though? I bet Rush wishes he still had Radon mitigation adds on his show.
I can speak to the radon scare with some experience and expertise. I once spent some time measuring radon levels as service to home/buyers and sellers who had become convinced that a clean bill of health was necessary part of the transaction.
Did you search for poltergeists and fairy dust while you were at it?
The truth is that ALL of God’s creation, including man, adapts to environmental changes and will continue to do so until the fulfillment of time.”
While this is true, it neglects that we aren’t being the best of stewards of our planet and there really is no excuse for it.
Comment by John Wilburn — June 13, 2012 @ 3:59 pm
This isn’t “true”. MikeO is completely wrong.
http://earthrenewal.org/rainless_2.htm
” Distinguished scientists estimate an average of 137 species of life forms are driven into extinction every day, or 50,000 each year. ”
Just in the Amazonian rainforest. Clearly some of “God’s creation” isn’t faring too well.
I’d say the ignorance on here is astonishing, but I’m way past being astonished. And Mikeo, it’s no nore acceptable by your draping it in the ever-useful God cloak. Read something.
Suzie:
“…And the radon scare.”
Ooh, tell us about radon!
Suzie:
“Democrats have gotten to where they are by scaring uneducated people.”
It all pales in comparison to scaring little children with hell.
Kristen, it IS true that everything and everyone does adapt or make an effort as part of nature, but not everything fully can or will, so yes species do go extinct. I wasn’t agreeing with his broader naive viewpoint.
@78…
No, unlike poltergiests, fairy dust and rational thought from an ideological trolls, there is actually plenty of radon to measure. The stuff does exist, and some places it exists in relatively high levels. One of the discoveries that set up the whole mess was a nuclear plant worker who set off radiation contamination alarms going “into” a plant. He carried the contamination from his home, which set atop a natural granite formation that produces large amounts of radon.
If you think radon doesn’t exists, that’s yet another example of willful ignorance. The issue is if elevated radon levels are significant threat to human health. Maybe? I dunno and I’m certainly not too concerned about the stuff in my own basement.
mike scott, I’ve seen granite countertops’ radon measure 4.0 under a glass dome. The big difference in what level of radon Canada says is important and what level we do is suspect. The guy I most frequently contract for radon remediation said he’s never measured his house, but he also smokes so isn’t giving the radon a chance to give him lung cancer anyway.
#81 Yep, one could make a long list of the things right wingers try to scare people with.
@84.. yeah.. at some point it’s really difficult to determine at what level something does harm. Most of the health guidelines seem to extrapolate values of what might be harmful to be on the safe side, but statistically it very difficult show it.
Statistics applied to long term radon exposure spit out a certain probability of cancers. But, if you do an epidemiological study in locations where radon is very high, you don’t see increased cases of lunch cancer. That doesn’t rule out the stuff as a cause, but compared to smoking it doesn’t seem to be that worrisome.
I have no idea why the word “lunch” is in my last post…but it was about that time..
I looks like an autocorrect from “lung”.
Kristen,
Re: ” Distinguished scientists estimate an average of 137 species of life forms are driven into extinction every day, or 50,000 each year. ” Just in the Amazonian rainforest…”
Interesting numbers… when I “read something” like science magazines they estimate about 6.5 million species found on land and 2.2 million (about 25 percent of the total) dwelling in the ocean depths. If we are destroying them at the rate you suggest we would have destroyed all of them in less time than America has been in existence. (but hey, what does math mean?)
Further, if these species can’t adapt fast enough whose fault is that? Lol…
I bet if you were in the jungles of Africa and couldn’t make a spear to protect yourself the lions would care less if you were the last of your species… they would just see you as the first meal of the day…lol
“Further, if these species can’t adapt fast enough whose fault is that? Lol…”
I suppose if someone shoots you and you die, it’s your own fault for not adapting to living with a bullet in your head. lol
As for your “math”, I’ll venture a guess that species on earth weren’t being decimated as fast 200 or 2000 years ago, before we really got busy looting the planet. The “rate” has increased. lolz
KRISTEN…
NEWS FLASH…
I just “read something” that stated that there were 10,000 species of bacteria on a healthy human being…
DON’T shower tonight you might kill something, and then you would feel really bad… RIGHT??
See how crazy this stuff gets???
Or maybe bacteria only counts as 1/3rd of a species… shouldn’t they have the right to live too???
“but hey, what does math mean?”
It means you are ASSuming that the extinction rate has been at a constant for the last 200 years.
mike o,
Were you on here, in the winter of 2010-11, claiming that it was a fact global warming wasn’t happening because we got slammed with some deep snow? Just wondering. . .
#91 First tell us which species of human bacteria is endangered, mike 0, then we can talk.
Crickets.
Isn’t it funny how quickly some Creationists turn into Darwinists when it suits the purpose of their argument?