You "Global Warming" people are .......

Because if the Good Ol' USA goes on doing nothing about anything, we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot (head?) for no gain at all.

Neil

p.s. Let me try and explain the "insult" thing. British (males) are routinely insulting to their friends and yet scrupulously polite to their enemies. It's been that way for a long time. We do not apply this rule when talking to Johnny Foreigner as he doesn't understand the subtlety of when calling someone a "wanker" is acceptable and when it isn't.

As Johnny Foreigner is - obviously - foreign, when we receive an insult from him, we assume that it is an insult and proceed accordingly.

You're a zealot, and that's good because the world needs them.

You just so completely, utterly, by like a billion percent missed the point. Simple as that.

Don't you think the overall message is to watch out for them sneaky politicians, using any excuse they can, to raise taxes?

I mean, have a search on hidden government rulings. Does this really come as a surprise?

Okay the global warming thing adds a lovely little grab for the journo. No doubt.

But seriously Max, can you think of a local city, a state or any Federal government, in any country, on any side of politics and at any time in democratic history that hasn't done the same?

If you can, I'd bet they quit in dismay, got either kicked out at the next election or assassinated really quickly.

Is this your bid for the death of democracy?

Can you be our philosopher king?

latch onto any piece of pseudo-scientific drivel that allows to cling to your warm and fuzzy feelings as to how all-is-right-with-the world-depite-mankind's-actions that it makes a rational man puke.

To quote Albert Einstein, "[i]The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.[/i]" Also appropriate here would be Franklin D. Roosevelt's "[i]Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.[/i]"

When you have some real scientific data, vetted by real scientists, let us know. Until then, just STFU!

the ecology. My background is earth history (my first MS was in paleontology), and the thing to realize is this: our current climate is actually cooler than about 80% of Earth's history. Global warming will not destroy the earth. The point of global warming worries is not the Earth, it's us.

When (not if) the Earth warms, we will have problems because we humans cannot change fast enough to accomodate the Earth's changes. The issue, as I see it, is not the Earth itself but our place in it.

Higher taxes may not fix it; on the other hand, most people only understand the hit to the pocketbook and not rational arguments. As the main post says, "We are doing it to ourselves and have nobody else to blame." Bummer.

Regardless of your personal position on global warming, the root issue of this thread is actually taxes.

The more advanced a society becomes, the more government services the population demands.

Yet, at the same time of demanding more services from government, people also demand lower taxes.

Increasingly, governments are turning to so called vice taxes. There is much less opposition to adding taxes to the cost of goods and activities that many people find objectionable. But not so bad as to outlaw the activity.

We have taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, sex (Nevada), and gambling. Along with "user fees" for hunting, fishing, driving, camping etcetera.

So why not place a higher tax on energy consumption?

Based on recent history in the US, the economy could survive the $3 or $4 per gallon of motor fuel that it would take to significantly reduce consumption.

Heck, with the shape the US auto industry is in, raising the cost of fuel could be viewed as merciful in that we would finish off the Detroit based auto industry quickly rather than the prolonged agony they are going through.

Chas