COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Huckabee Should Enjoy His Fifteen Minutes



...because this guy is not going to hack it.  He does not have enough sense to have a staff person to keep him appraised of current political events.  Toast baby, smoking singed toast.

December 05, 2007
The Wolves at Huckabee's Door
Rick Moran American Thinker
The most recent LA Times poll has former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee moving into second place nationally, trailing Rudy Giuliani 25%-17%.

Rather than rejoice, Huckabee should start bobbing and weaving. He is now target #1 of other Republicans running and the media. And the assault has already begun:

As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again.

The convict went on to rape and murder at least one other woman.

Confidential Arkansas state government records, including letters from these women, obtained by the Huffington Post and revealed publicly for the first time, directly contradict the version of events now being put forward by Huckabee.



[T]he confidential files obtained by the Huffington Post show that Huckabee was provided letters from several women who had been sexually assaulted by Dumond and who indeed predicted that he would rape again - and perhaps murder - if released. In a letter that has never before been made public, one of Dumond's victims warned: "I feel that if he is released it is only a matter of time before he commits another crime and fear that he will not leave a witness to testify against him the next time." Before Dumond was granted parole at Huckabee's urging, records show that Huckabee's office received a copy of this letter from Arkansas' parole board.

The woman later wrote directly to Huckabee about having been raped by Dumond. In a letter obtained by the Huffington Post, she said that Dumond had raped her while holding a butcher knife to her throat, and while her then-3-year-old daughter lay in bed next to her. Also included in the files sent to Huckabee's office was a police report in which Dumond confessed to the rape. Dumond was not charged in that particular case because he later refused to sign the confession and because the woman was afraid to press charges.

The rapist, Wayne Dumond, subsequent to his release, raped and suffocated a woman. This is the nightmare of all governors and perhaps singling out Huckabee for special treatment would be unfair - except he has apparently denied any knowledge in helping Drumond when in fact, one of his close friends was pushing for the inmate's release as was Steve Dunleavy, a New York Post columnist.

Then there's the little matter of Huckabee missing the news of the year - the release of the NIE on Iran:

The Politico's David Paul Kuhn was among a group of reporters who had dinner with Mike Huckabee in Iowa tonight. According to a transcript posted by Jonathan Martin, Kuhn asked Huckabee about the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, and it was news to Huckabee:
Kuhn: I don’t know to what extent you have been briefed or been able to take a look at the NIE report that came out yesterday ...

Huckabee: I’m sorry?

Kuhn: The NIE report, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it —

Huckabee: No.

Kuhn: Have you heard of the finding?

Huckabee: No

Yikes! One would hope that as president, the Huckster would pay a little more attention to what's going on in the world. Both incidents show that the long knives are out for Huckabee and that if he wants to survive long in the rarefied atmosphere the frontrunners inhabit, he better get up on his hind legs and fight back.


46 comments:

  1. Blogger is going through one it's hissy fits this morning.

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  2. Huckabee v. Clinton, the media's dream ticket. It will come down to who has the dirtiest Arkansas laundry.

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  3. Mr Bush did not know of the NIE until last week, Mr Huckabee not until next week ...

    Ignorance is bliss, some say.

    As long as the Huckabee magick lasts until New Hampshire.

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  4. Huckaberry is BushII on steroids, domestically. If you don't like the Bush policies, you'll despise Huckaberry.

    Know some dudes from Ark. that just hate his freaking guts for bringing compassionate conservatism / socialism for Jesus down on them with aplomb.

    In other news, It's Not 1929, but It's the Biggest Mess Since.

    ...

    "What's important to understand is that, contrary to what you heard from President Bush yesterday, this isn't just a mortgage or housing crisis. The financial giants that originated, packaged, rated and insured all those subprime mortgages were the same ones, run by the same executives, with the same fee incentives, using the same financial technologies and risk-management systems, who originated, packaged, rated and insured home-equity loans, commercial real estate loans, credit card loans and loans to finance corporate buyouts.

    "It is highly unlikely that these organizations did a significantly better job with those other lines of business than they did with mortgages. But the extent of those misjudgments will be revealed only once the economy has slowed, as it surely will.

    "At the center of this still-unfolding disaster is the Collateralized Debt Obligation, or CDO. CDOs are not new -- they were at the center of a boom and bust in manufacturing housing loans in the early 2000s. But in the past several years, the CDO market has exploded, fueling not only a mortgage boom but expansion of all manner of credit. By one estimate, the face value of outstanding CDOs is nearly $2 trillion.

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  5. FOX lady says that Jeb Bush is on Mr Romney's short list of VP prospects.

    Go Huckabee, for the next forty days and forty nights!!!

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  6. For Shame, Bro!
    You don't punish the kid for the sins of the parents!
    Free College, free tuition, free healthcare, for all illegals!

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  7. Kuhn: I don’t know to what extent you have been briefed or been able to take a look at the NIE report that came out yesterday ...
    Huckabee: I’m sorry?

    Kuhn: The NIE report, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it —
    Huckabee: No.

    Kuhn: Have you heard of the finding?
    Huckabee: No

    Yikes! One would hope that as president, the Huckster would pay a little more attention to what's going on in the world.
    ---
    No Problemo:
    A gentle shove on Akmarashad's forehead, and sharp,
    "DEMONS OUT!"
    Will do the trick.

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  8. Electricity's been out here due to flooding.
    Where do I find your response to my post about
    Rudy=Bush on immigration, 'Rat?

    ReplyDelete
  9. (for me to peruse TOMMORROW!)

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  10. Brother:
    ...oh, and Amnesty, to be granted either by W or Rudy!
    ---
    The better to finish off this experiment in democracy sooner, rather than later.

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  11. Border Security - FIRST!

    Then decide what to do about those already here. The President does not control that process, or we'd already have "Comprehensive Reform"

    I think that Rudy would secure the frontier, the other major contender is a true Boner. We'd get neither security or reform.

    As to what next, with the 20 million already here, a Congressional decision.

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  12. NIE’s Upshot: War Is Out, but Iran Is Dangerous
    By Mort Kondracke

    The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran ought to be greeted with cheers and bipartisan agreement on vigorous carrot-and-stick diplomacy to get Iran to open its nuclear program to international inspections.

    Instead, Democrats tried to use it to accuse President Bush of lying about and hyping the Iran threat — and Bush claimed that it changed nothing about U.S. policy.

    Of course, it changed everything, both politically and geopolitically.

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  13. Desert Rat: Mr Bush did not know of the NIE until last week, Mr Huckabee not until next week ...

    New York reporter Seymour Hersh stated that the report had been circulating inside the US government for the last year, but was bottled up because Vice President Dick Cheney was dissatisfied with its conclusions.

    At a Tuesday press conference, US President George W. Bush denied knowing that US spy agencies had learned Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons, in particular when he warned Americans that Iran was on the verge of launching World War III.

    In a report issued last November, Seymour Hersh exposed the White House efforts to conceal a report regarding Tehran's nuclear program after receiving information of 'a highly classified CIA assessment which revealed absolutely no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.'

    According to Hersh, Washington countered the CIA assessment with an Israeli claim, based on a 'reliable agent', that Iran was working on a trigger for a nuclear device.

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  14. Desert Rat wrote (two threads down):

    "The major contributors to "Global Warming" are China and India, not the US."

    Rat, this is just flat out wrong, as in it's a false statement. In fact the US is the worlds largest emitter of CO2 with China being second and India being considerably further down the list.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

    You then go on to write:

    "This is not the 70's or 80's. US autos and inddustry is exceptionally clean, by world standards, by regulatory actions, already.

    Should we ground the airplanes?

    Coal fired electrical plants in China, dung burning in India, the great brown cloud that hangs over South Central Asia, the greatest worry.

    Should the US restrict itself, while the CO2 count continues to rise, or should we force China and India to cease their economic development?

    Which would take a war, which would put nuclear ash into the stratosphere."

    Which is a step in the right direction in that you acknowledge there is a problem and implicitly admit that a free market laissez faire approach cannot address the problem. Good first steps.

    There are many difficult issues to be addressed with the central conundrum revolving around how you encourage developing economies to move forward in a less destructive manner then ours did as we developed at the same time not killing the economies of the already developed. There will certainly be an economic cost to addressing the problem but such is the situation we find ourselves in.

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  15. No one, ash, is going to bite the bullet of economic dislocation, certainly not the US consumer, the engine of world economic progress. Nor the Chinese or Indians.

    The "problem" is not going to solved, if there is a "problem", by Government. In the US any Government that tried would be tossed out by the people.

    The Canadians should stop cutting down trees, for paper pulp and lumber? Not likely to happen.

    The US should ground it's commercial airlines?

    The Chinese should stop building power plants?

    None of those are going to happen.

    The enviorment is already a non laissez faire issue in the US, but let's stop loggiing in Canada, first, before taking foolish steps in the US.

    Let's stop the dung burning in India, first, before taking foolish steps in the US.

    Before a single US aircraft is grounded, or job lost to a problem that is but a hypotheses, not a fact.

    The sun's cycles having more to do with temperature on the earth than men.

    Even if it is man, causing the change, we are a part of nature, so the change would be part of natural evolution.

    Just like over grazing causes famines amongst range animals or population pressures cause the lemmings to commit mass suicide.

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  16. Here comes Mitt's "Faith in America" speach, at the Bush Presidental Library.

    Any minute, now.

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  17. Mr Bush41 calling the Romney family a "point of light".

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  18. Interesting, not very contraversial speach, seemed to me.

    Do not think it'll change how folk think of him or religion, much.

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  19. Free Trade to be blamed for the Mall shooting in Omaha.

    If only that foreign built rifle was still in China. Doubt an unemployeed High School dropout could have afforded a US manufactured weapon.

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  20. National Review:

    As for the U.S. military preparing for a nuclear weapons extraction raid on Pakistan, this would be quite a stretch even under the best of circumstances. A recent analysis done for my center details just how mixed the results of such a raid would be, even if the U.S. forces had the full cooperation of the Pakistani government. It was completed by Tom Donnelly, a hawkish supporter of the Iraq war. His bearish conclusion is captured in the title of his study, �Bad Options: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Live with Loose Nukes.� The chances of a successful U.S. raid, even with Pakistani government backing, he argues, are not even slim.

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  21. Roger that on the Whacki-Paki. What was the word, used by the Latvian friend of our?
    cluster-something-or- the-other. If it is cluster-fuckable, we would super-size it with that escapade. The mother of all cluster-fucks. You can take it from there...

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  22. Well, the WSJ is going to crap over this one:

    Cars travel farther on a Mid-Range Blend of Ethanol than on straight gasoline!

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  23. Oh. Don't forget to click on the PDF File.

    It was a very impressive test conducted by N. Dakota U., and Mn State.

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  24. An Indian woman dries cow dung cakes, a bio fuel used for cooking in Allahabad, India, Thursday.

    Developing nations at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali demanded rapid transfers of technology to help them combat global warming, while a report warned that some of Asia's biggest cities could be threatened by rising sea levels.

    India's fuel of choice
    Not to clean a burn, for a "bio-fuel"
    Wood is bio-fuel, too, but there's not much of that, available. Peat is a "bio-fuel", too.

    So, to stop dirty burning dung, what is the replacement, if not electricity or natural gas? Which is not affordable for the masses, in India.

    That's what I've been touting, rufus, blends of ethanol and gasoline that do not require new infrastructure or vehicles.

    But the CO2 discharge is still pretty much the same, regardless of the fuel blend used.

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  25. "There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution."

    Much as I like Romney, surely this is non-sense.

    Where's Duncan Hunter?

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  26. Retiring after his term is finished, in '08.

    While the Government does not have a "religious test" many voters do.
    Mr Romney will fail that test in the view of many of the GOP faithful. His speach today not is not going to convince those that believe he is a nonChristian cultist to change their minds.

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  27. Rat, you'll notice in the Tests that these cars, whenning running the "Optimum" Blend get quite a lot better CO2 results than when running straight gasoline.

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  28. I thought Romney gas a Brilliant Speech. Sometimes, I'm just incredibly impressed with the man.

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  29. Man! Whenning running - Gas a speech (?)

    I think I need to go eat breakfast, or something. :0

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  30. Dammit, I'm going to go down dignified, without a
    Robot at my side....
    Provide!
    Provide!

    Robots for Old People

    The withered hag, with pail and rag, was once the princess Abishag, the picture prided of Hollywood, provide, provide...

    Some relied on what they knew, others only on being true,,
    What worked for them might work for you....


    xxxxxxxxxxxxx

    We'd want the muzzies to explain their 'faith' in more than platitudes.
    Do you believe in beheading,etc....

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  31. The witch that came (the withered hag)
    To wash the steps with pail and rag,
    Was once the beauty Abishag,

    The picture pride of Hollywood.
    Too many fall from great and good
    For you to doubt the likelihood.

    Die early and avoid the fate.
    Or if predestined to die late,
    Make up your mind to die in state.

    Make the whole stock exchange your own!
    If need be occupy a throne,
    Where nobody can call you crone.

    Some have relied on what they knew;
    Others on simply being true.
    What worked for them might work for you.

    No memory of having starred
    Atones for later disregard,
    Or keeps the end from being hard.

    Better to go down dignified
    With boughten friendship at your side
    Than none at all. Provide, provide!

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  32. Some have relied on what they knew;
    Others on simply being true.
    What worked for them might work for you.

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  33. No damned Robot is gonna change my Depends!

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  34. 'successfully sinister"


    The author of Evil Genes discusses cultural blind spots, starting with a personal anecdote regarding her adopted sons, both Balkan Muslims. She noted that they have never even thought to look at Islam critically, as they do with other religions. Similarly, Westerners have a blind spot when it comes to their belief in the inherent good of each individual:

    It's fashionable in the West today to assert that every culture has its blind spots, and so culturally speaking, everything is relative. But what many Westerners are unaware of, unless they have also spent time in a totalitarian state, is how much more free Westerners are to study their blind spots, to write about them and to publicly attempt to put a spotlight on them.
    One blind spot Westerners have is the widespread assumption that everyone is innately good -- or at least capable of being reasoned with. Neuroscience, however, is beginning to provide proof that the dogma of innate rationality and decency is deeply flawed -- at least in a small percentage of people. Instead, it appears that both environment and genetics can occasionally combine to shape people who are naturally duplicitous, amoral and completely incapable of being reasoned with.

    When we reflect on these findings, they make sense. After all, was Hitler trustworthy when he suavely insisted he was a man of peace? Could you reason Ahmadinejad out of his firm belief that there are no homosexuals in Iran? Is Russian President Vladimir Putin being honest when he insists he has nothing to do with his enemies' oddly common tendencies to die horrific deaths? Is Hugo Chavez really attempting to give himself extraordinary rights to control every facet of Venezuelan politics for purely altruistic reasons, as he likes to imply? Will Chavez's next step be the elimination of the press that helped spearhead his recent electoral loss?

    "Successfully sinister" individuals exist, it seems, in every society. These manipulative individuals often do not have the charm, phenomenal memory or ruthlessness of a Hitler, Putin, Ahmadinejad or Chavez. Instead, they show their nature on a more banal scale: the malevolent department head who terrorizes his underlings, or the long-suffering mother who has been poisoning her children.


    This is an extension of our discussion on Tuesday, and another interesting look at Oakley's research. Not every individual, she postulates, is born either inherently good or a tabula rasa on which environment engraves the cultural values of good and evil. That challenges some of the assumptions on which modern Western culture rests, and calls into question how society can protect itself.

    It also calls into question the concept of free will.

    from a discussion at Captain's Quarters

    Maybe Rufus was right when he said it's in their genes...

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  35. Be Careful Out There:

    IDIOT SIGHTING:
    We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a "large" enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and said, "Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower." I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4. He said, "NO, it's not." Four is larger than two.."

    We haven't used Sears repair since.

    IDIOT SIGHTING

    My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter. She said, "you gave me too much money." I said, "Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back." She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said "We're sorry but they could not do that kind of thing." The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and 75 cents in change.

    Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.

    IDIOT SIGHTING

    I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: "Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing
    anymore."

    From Kingman, KS .

    IDIOT SIGHTING IN FOOD SERVICE:
    My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceburg lettuce.
    From Kansas City

    IDIOT SIGHTING:

    I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?" To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?" He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask."

    Happened in Birmingham , Ala.

    IDIOT SIGHTING:

    The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!"

    She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS

    IDIOT SIGHTING

    At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving the company due to "downsizing." Our manager commented cheerfully, "This is fun. We should do this more often." Not another word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

    This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.

    IDIOT SIGHTING :
    I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her system would not turn on.

    A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.

    IDIOT SIGHTING

    When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "its open!" His reply, "I know. I already got that side."

    This was at the Ford dealership in Canton , Mississippi

    STAY ALERT!

    They walk among us...
    and the scary part is that they VOTE and they REPRODUCE!

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  36. Rat

    good stuff...back to the matter at hand, Anything Huffington reports holds ZERO water with me.

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  37. desert rat said...

    "No one, ash, is going to bite the bullet of economic dislocation, certainly not the US consumer..."

    I think you are wrong, again. History is full of examples of people biting the bullet for environmental gains. The Black Plague and the sanitary legislation it led in is just one example. The U.S. has numerous regulations aimed at preserving and improving the environment and they come with an economic cost. And you are wrong too with your assertion "
    The "problem" is not going to solved, if there is a "problem", by Government". It is the government, that thing by and of the people which usher in the legislation.

    and your assertion that "In the US any Government that tried would be tossed out by the people." is most likely horrible political advice- the opposite is most likely to be the case.

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  38. You claimed a laissez faire approach could not address the problem, now telling us that we do not have a laissez faire approach, now. Which is true, but the problem of smog was self-evident, in LA. So the folk supported clean air remedies through regulatory solutions. Which have succeeded.

    The Plauge caused by the Little Ice Age, if one beleives the History Channel, ash. That period not affected by human activity, but sun cycles and volcanos.

    After the western world lost half of it's population, then the cost/benfit analysis for the survivors of the Black Death changed.

    But until there is REAL CAUSE for that analysis to change, in today's world, nothing else will.

    There is no sell off of SUVs, they are not being abandoned on the sides of the roads.
    Property values in the soon to be "new siberia" of northern New York may be an indicator, or it maybe a local phenom, caused by a lack of jobs, economic opportunity and high State and local taxes.

    How are property values in Canada holding up? Are they cratering?

    When folk come to believe that the Northeast will have weather fit for the latitude, that would be indicitive of popular acceptance of the CO2 threat. But if property values in eastern Canada are solid, then the people there do not believe there will be any major climate change.

    People voting with their checkbooks and feet.

    The lack of car pooling still is Ms T's pet peeve. If folks will not car pool, obviously they are not ready for any real major change in their energy consumption patterns, which would required to effect the CO2 levels, worldwide.

    Tell my wife she has to give up her Tahoe for a tonka toy and she'll castrate you. Promise.
    Her friends, they feel the same.

    Just look at the Comprehensive Immigration Reform, there was a piece of unpopular if needed piece of legislation.
    Went absolutely NO WHERE.

    Big John McCain saw the light, all the politicians did, even if belatedly, like Governor Spitzer in New York.

    The CAFE Standards, not changing for "light trucks", even now. Because of the immense popular support for the status que.

    We'll need more than computer models to move public opinion.
    By the time the evidence is in, if there is any evidence of human causation, it'll be to late.

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  39. Funny, that the "left" favors pre-emption of the weather, but not evil men in radical regimes.

    The "right", just the opposite.

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  40. Niether side ever wanting to do a cost benefit analysis for that pre-emption, just knowing that their opinion is sancrosect

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  42. The hieght of hubris, to believe that man can effect the weather, even more so, to think that if we did, that we can then turn it back to how it was, before.

    Never happen, because the Government cannot "fix" something that the Government did not cause.

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  43. Hey, Doug, Bernie Ward is in the slammer for child porn. Took him away in handcuffs! Check out Drudge. Couldn't happen to a bigger slumbucket.

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  44. Well, looked at Drudge, but this is what caught my eye ...

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Housing markets from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Stockton, California, will crash and suffer price drops of more than 30 percent before the housing crisis is over, a report from Moody's Economy.com said on Thursday.

    On a national level, the housing market recession will continue through early 2009, said the report, co-authored by Mark Zandi, chief economist, and Celia Chen, director of housing economics.

    The report paints a worsening picture of the hard-hit housing sector, which is in the midst of its worst downturn since World War II.

    While activity will stabilize in 2009, it will not be until 2010 before a measurable improvement in sales, construction and pricing will emerge, the report said.

    House prices are forecast to fall 13 percent from their peak through early 2009. After accounting for incentives home sellers are offering buyers, effective declines peak-to-trough will total well over 15 percent, the report said ...

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