Pic Of The Moment: Climate Change Update: Three Headlines From Oct 13, 2014

[EarlG]

NASA: Earth Just Experienced the Warmest Six-Month Stretch Ever Recorded

Last 100 Years' Sea Level Rise Unmatched In Geologic Record Of Past 6,000 Years - Guardian

Paul Ryan skeptical on climate change

Follow @demunderground

[ffr]

1. And to 28%, his comments make them feel better about denial.

Time to vote whomever the Democratic candidate is for these districts into office.

Any Democrat. Any Independent, for that matter.

We, as a society, cannot go on with these bullies running the operation. VOTE THEM OUT!

Three weeks to a huge shift in ideology.

[SoapBox]

2. Ryan...

I would so like to kick him in the ass.

[mindwalker_i]

7. That might mess up his smile

[tclambert]

3. If we fight climate change, it might cost the Koch brothers some money

and the oil companies, and the coal companies. Can't have that, now can we?

[Cryptoad]

4. We all know that pic is a big lie

God Had not even created the Earth 6000 years ago, geeez!

[Frustratedlady]

5. I hope he owns expensive beachfront property.

It will be fun to watch him maneuver around in hip boots in his old age. He'll still be swearing there is no such thing as climate change.

What a stubborn dork!

[olegramps]

20. I would gladly throw him an anchor.

[valerief]

6. Fighting climate change doesn't help him financially. And he could give a shit

about the rest of the world.

[blkmusclmachine]

17. ^This.^

[procon]

8. and the reality is

The majority of the population in the US will never read Slate or the Guardian, so their confusion will be reaffirmed yet another sceptical news story doubting climate change. For the rightwing crowd, they see Paul Ryan as a really "smart" guy who thinks just like they do and agrees with them that global warming is a lie.

[AlbertCat]

9. We've had climate change before ... the benefits do not outweigh the costs

Ask the dinosaurs!

or a Neanderthal.

BTW.... was there even money during the last climate change?

Aqua Buddha has no brain.

[savalez]

10. Can someone please tell me

why Republican politicians have backed themselves into a corner on climate change? Why the denial? How does it benefit them? Thanks.

[vlyons]

16. Because they don't want to pay any taxes!

From where do you think the money to switch from carbon fuels to renewable energy will come? Exxon and the rest of the carbon fuel industries don't want to spend THEIR MONEY investing in renewable energy. What's left is to raise taxes on somebody. The saving grace will be when the insurance industry starts setting premiums so high to cover the cost of paying out to cover weather catastrophes, wildfires, water depletion etc.

[Frustratedlady]

23. Yes, but it is just like delaying work on our roads, bridges and other infrastructure...

The costs continue to climb and will end up costing more in the future than if the projects were done now...particularly with the unemployment/economy. They think their taxes are burdensome now, wait until a few bridges collapse or we have a monstrous earthquake. More deaths and more money. I realize they don't care about the deaths (unless they are family members), but taking care of the environment now will save money in the future.

My biggest fear is the water supply. I don't trust the Kochs or their ilk and shudder to think that the darned XL pipeline could be approved. Not only water supplies would be affected, but our farmland/food supplies. God help us.

[vlyons]

24. of course it's economically stupid

They are the new age Luddites, standing in the way of new technology. All they care about is money money money. They are all sociopaths, every one of them.

[raouldukelives]

31. Because they are beholden to Wall St. Not the American people, its lands or its legacy.

They have spent the last 50 years gobbling up money from corporations & lobbyists asking them to not pay any attention to the crazy scientist in the corner. At this point, I don't think they even know of any other way to exist. Lick the hand of corporations, bow & scrape to the market gurus and mortgage the future of every species for an extra vote, a more expensive glass of wine, a fancier suit and a comfortable retirement.

Actually, I think we have a whole lot of people living that way. Who couldn't give two shits about the effects the actions they take have on the real world. Of course, they believe the real world is skyscrapers, corporate perks, air conditioning, asphalt and concrete. While in reality the real world is out there in between all that and it is dying, fast, because of lots of little hand licks and very few ass kicks.

[alterfurz]

11. One-Note Paulie...

[ffr]

27. I'd like to talk back to him in that same kind of gesture.

And why do I picture him as a 4 y.o.?

[niyad]

28. why are you insulting 4 y.o's???

[ffr]

32. I know, that was a stretch!

[TinkerTot55]

12. Paul Ryan vs. U.S. Military Analysts?

Pentagon: Global Warming Poses ‘Immediate Risk’ To National Security

by Emily Atkin Posted on October 14, 2014


In terms of U.S. defense strategy, climate change is a “threat multiplier” that can worsen national security problems such as terrorism and infectious disease spread, according to a new Pentagon report released Monday.

The 20-page “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap” said the U.S. Department of Defense is “already beginning to see” some of the impacts of sea level rise, changing precipitation patterns, rising global temperatures, and increased extreme weather — four key symptoms of global warming. These symptoms have the potential to “intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict” and will likely lead to “food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe,” the report said.

Because of uncertainty surrounding just how bad these problems will be in the future, the report calls for a proactive defense strategy — one which will require “thinking ahead and planning for a wide range of contingencies.”

“Climate change will affect the Department of Defense’s ability to defend the nation and poses immediate risks to U.S. national security,” the report reads. “Weather has always affected military operations, and as the climate changes, the way we execute operations may be altered or constrained.”


The Pentagon is calling for " a proactive defense strategy-one which will require 'thinking ahead and planning...' "
How will presumptive GOP Presidential candidate Ryan explain his head-in-the-sand approach?
Doesn't Ryan believe the military on this?

[vlyons]

13. Stingey cheapskates and sociopaths

They don't want to spend any of their money (in taxes) on anything that is for the public good. Screw climate change, education, infrastructure repair and enhancement, healthcare, environmental protection and clean-up, childcare, drug rehab, worker retraining, nothing, nada, no way, no time. But oh boy, do they want to privatize everything in sight and hand out sweetheart contractor deals to their pals and cronies. The only "jobs program" that they will ever support is the war machine. More bombs, bigger bombs, faster bombs, sneakier bombs, louder bombs, and jazzzier bombs.

They are the Evil Empire!

[yellowcanine]

14. Paul Ryan has been in government forever. The benefits do not outweigh the costs.

Just sayin.

[littlemissmartypants]

15. Thanks. eom

[HoosierCowboy]

18. The food supply is five days...

....ahead of demand in the USA. In the rest of the world, it's less than 48 hours. If that's not national security issue what else could be?

[MADem]

19. How anyone, even someone with a brain the size of a fucking peanut, can be "skeptical on climate

change" with all of the extremes of weather we've seen lately is just beyond me!

[AlbertCat]

21. the extremes of weather we've seen lately

How about....remember the climate when you were a child?

I dunno how old you are but I was born in 1956. When I was in elementary school (early 60's) I owned a sled and I had mittens with my name embroidered on them. We lived in Greensboro, NC.... a city about in the middle of a state in the middle of the mid-Atlantic. Anyway, what does this tell us? That it snowed enough to warrant a sled and mittens! I remember it too. We had 5 or 6 snows a winter and at least 3 were deep enough and lasted long enough to build snowmen, sled, have snowball fights, get out of school...etc etc.

Now we're lucky if it snows twice. And it's rarely deep enough to play in. Except for when it snows 15" on Christmas eve.... a freak storm (rarely snowed before January as a child)

I cannot be the only person who has noted this. And these Repug morons with no memory are supposed to be in my age bracket!


Personally I don't think Ryan can remember on any given day what one of his aids got him for breakfast.

[MADem]

22. I didn't always live in USA.

When I did, though, I lived in New England. I remember hefty snowstorms in the sixties, and in recent years there has been much less snowfall and some very crazy extremes of weather, like warm days in mid winter--though last year the snowfall was brutal and extreme, to an absurd degree, far worse than those robust snowstorms in the sixties. Something is, most assuredly, amiss!!

[Frustratedlady]

25. I agree with you. There is no way you can depend on the weather, of late.

One good example is how my choices of flowers have changed. It didn't used to matter much what I planted, they grew beautifully and bloomed their heads off. One plant I used as a filler was moss rose and it was gorgeous. This past summer, our temps didn't get high enough/long enough for them to pop out the buds and they were in full sun.

Marigolds are about the only plants that bloomed prolifically, but I don't think that had anything to do with the weather. They'll bloom under any conditions.

We also used to have butterflies of every kind...particularly, monarchs. I didn't even see one this year nor for the last 3-4 years. They have changed their migration patterns. The honey bees are also scarce.

When I was growing up, we didn't have a/c and I remember many summers when the men nearly passed out when baling hay/straw, it was so hot. Now, we might have a couple weeks of high 90s to 100s, but in our area, it is cooling, rather than heating up. This coming summer will be interesting...cooler or hotter? Will this coming winter be colder than last (which was awful) or will it be mild with little or no snow?

At least we lived through fairly normal times. It may look one way on the charts, but deep inside, we have the feeling something isn't right and once it flips, there won't be much we can do to correct the problems.

Perhaps if Reagan had warned them, they would be big believers, but it was Gore and they despise him.

[MADem]

26. Your last sentence--ain't that the truth! nt

[Hubert Flottz]

29. Ratpublicans...

always the last to notice.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. Paul Ryan is a contortionist

i.e. he has his head up his ass.