Yesterday Mitt Romney changed his views on climate change. In a talk in Pittsburg, he declared: My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us. In June in NewContinue reading “Romney flip-flops on climate: Will Limbaugh approve?”
Category Archives: politics
What makes Americans unhappy?
It's not just the recession, as this fascinating graphic — based on a Gallup poll of "subjective well-being" taken daily — shows, based on a statistical resampling of results by Princeton economist Angus Deaton. Here's the logic, from Ezra Klein's great WonkBlog: There are some big changes that seem to make sense: a big dropContinue reading “What makes Americans unhappy?”
GOP candidate stumbles over Kurt Cobain
Having gotten attention with a contrarian admission that yes, global warming is a matter of science and fact, alleged GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman again played the rebel card at the Tea Party debate this evening with a bizarre reference to Kurt Cobain. "I don't think anything should be off the table except maybe someContinue reading “GOP candidate stumbles over Kurt Cobain”
A Republican compares climatologists to doctors
A nice piece in the Columbia Journalism Review's science writing blog — The Observatory — looks at the reluctance of the Republican field to utter the word "climate" in their most recent debate. If none of the presidential candidates mentioned climate, it is likely because they have already made it abundantly clear that they areContinue reading “A Republican compares climatologists to doctors”
The “peculiar, newsworthy,” Republican style of illicit sex
The New York Times has many famous columnists, and one funny one: Gail Collins. Which brings us to sex. What is it with Republicans lately? Is there something about being a leader of the family-values party that makes you want to go out and commit adultery? They certainly don’t have a lock on the infidelityContinue reading “The “peculiar, newsworthy,” Republican style of illicit sex”
“Mission Accomplished,” eight years later
From Dan Froomkin, exiled from the Washington Post to Huffland: Ironically, Obama’s announcement [of the killing of Osama bin Laden] came eight years to the day after Bush famously and prematurely declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq after landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. Looks like Mike Lukovich sees the same irony:
The top 400 pay less, so you can get their trickle-down
According to the ever-factual Think Progress, back in the halcyon days of my youth, the top 400 taxpayers in this country paid nearly half the taxes in his country. And yet lived well, I imagine: Now ordinary folk pay more, they pay much less, and yet despite all the alleged increased trickle-down we're still miredContinue reading “The top 400 pay less, so you can get their trickle-down”
GOP backs “skeptic” scientist who mirrors Hansen’s data
Look familiar? The blue line in the above graph represents the global temperature dataset gathered by James Hansen and his team at GISS/NASA over the last twenty years. Hansen has presented this chard and this data countless times at countless talks on countless occasions around the world. The black line represents a "skeptical" scientist's interpretationContinue reading “GOP backs “skeptic” scientist who mirrors Hansen’s data”
Metaphor watch: Cliches get Obama in trouble again
As Matt Iglesias (channeling Paul Krugman) points out, the fact that the Obama administration used misleading, overused metaphors to describe the problems afflicting the American economy has a lot to do with the wide-spread but false perception that their efforts to revive the economy made it worse. Here's Krugman: I still don’t know why theContinue reading “Metaphor watch: Cliches get Obama in trouble again”
Texas state climatologist: Fossil fuels are evil
From an interesting Q & A in an MIT alumni pub with John Neilsen-Gammon, the former Texas state climatologist: Slice: What do you think is the single most effective thing we as a country could do to address the problems posed by man-made climate change? Nielsen-Gammon: Acknowledging that potential problems exist would be a greatContinue reading “Texas state climatologist: Fossil fuels are evil”
Kit Stolz 