Palin Changes Position on Climate Change

Ben There seems a tad skeptical about the oil drilling footprint that would result should a 2000 acre, bogey area (frozen in winter) in Anwar be developed for energy production. In the interest of brevity I thought I'd simply list some fun facts most worriers of the Environmentalist Gaia Religion apparently don't know.

1. When the Alaska pipeline was built in the early 1970's enviro's worried over the bear and caribou populations. They predicted the presence of the pipeline would so disturb and disorient them that they wouldn't be unable to mate, thereby causing a devastating decrease in their population. If fact their numbers have more than doubled and they seem able to mate right under the pipe. I guess the caribou aren't as concerned about aesthetics during sex as the greenies. Umm... perhaps the greenies will go extinct - another reason to drill more oil wells.

2. More than a hundred wells can be drilled per acre and the pumps can be submersed in the oil reservoir, so no part of the pumping operation need be visible above ground - Just in case the caribou stop having sex.

3. There are no trees within a hundred miles of the proposed site which is mostly fly and mosquito bog.

4. Ben wonders why they need gravel roads instead of ice roads. I'm guessin' here, but I would suppose because ice roads melt in summer. I wonder why the concern... Are caribou somehow disturbed by gravel? Does the crunching underfoot cause them anxiety?

Just a few additional fun facts for the neo-Pagans;

1. More oil spilled into the sea every 2 months of World War II than in the entire 63 years since its end.

2. More than 1700 barrels of crude oil leak into U.S. Territorial waters from natural, undersea fissures every day. Leakage from the 3600+ oil platforms account for less than 5 barrels a day. And, the natural seepage would more than double if we stopped off shore drilling.

3. The greatest oil spill in history took place in Truk Lagoon in August, 1944. 77 Japaneses ships filled with chemicals, fuel oil and munitions were sunk by hundreds of bombs from American dive bombers. The enviros would deem this a "Super Fund Site"...In reality it is an underwater wonderland and world famous dive resort. Many of the ships still leak oil and there is a continual sheen over much of the lagoon - Life still flourishes.

4. When Juan Cabrillo explored the California coast in the mid-16th century he sailed thru an oil slick that stretched from what is now San Diego to Santa Barbara. He found the natives using tar and pitch to seal their canoes and the beaches covered with it. No beach clean up crews spending millions wiping off sea gulls in those days.

5. All asphalt roads eventually emulsify and rain washes millions of gallons of this and other road pollutants into the sea every year. Should we tear up millions of miles of asphalt roads? Then what do we do with the asphalt?

Find a real worry - Maybe a terrorist with a nuke or bio weapon.

R.L.Schaefer of CA 12:58PM September 16, 2008

A few facts for all of the "eco-elite" or Neo-Pagans.

1. Polar bear populations are increasing. They have survived for millions of years... They have survived thru periods of "Global Warming " at least 3 times when nearly the entire ice cap, at both poles melted and sea levels rose hundreds of feet. I note this was before modern man, his carbon footprint or his SUV.

2. In 1980 the consensus of the world's scientists was that we were on the brink of a new ice age...Oh my!

3. Most, "non activist" scientists agree that the cycles of the sun have been the cause of the repeated cycles of global cooling and the subsequent cycles of global warming... Did you guys miss all the high school classes on the various Ice Ages (glaciation)?

4. FLASH - Carbon is present in all organic matter... If it's in a tree it stays there until the tree dies and rots (slow release), burns (fast release) or is used in construction, (delayed release).

5. When we are hit by a BIG ROCK (asteroid) most all life, other than microscopic, will be...How shall I put this? Ah...destroyed.

So all your worry about the little fuzzy critters will be wasted... I think I would spend my resources A) Looking for potential killer asteroids and B) Perfecting ways by which to deflect them before they turn the Earth into a fireball (talk about global warming!)... Rather than spending billions of dollars worrying about a problem that A) Is mostly beyond our control, And B) Is, for the most part, survivable. I'd use my resources to prevent freakin' doomsday! But that's just me.

R.L.Schaefer of CA 1:38PM September 15, 2008

PALIN DID NOT CHANGE POSITION ON GLOBAL WARMING- what she said was that human activity contributed to the ISSUE of climate change, global warming. Get it? It's like saying humans caused the debate on the existence of tooth fairies. Such a statement doesn't assert tooth fairies are a fact.

This is exactly the kind of parsing that makes Karl Rove ecstatic - the public misses it and the right wingers snicker at how they got over on us yet again.

Maezeppa of CA 10:27AM September 13, 2008

Palin is a "great American leader"?? OMG! WAKE UP!

Is McCain's Arizona not a big enough economic & ethical disaster for everyone?? (2nd highest state in the nation for men killing women!) Conservatives are now coming out of the woodwork to slam Palin since her disastrous interview last night. Seems like it took someone of Norman J. Ornstein's caliber to stand up and speak truth; and now Republicans across the spectrum are speaking out, including her OWN INNER CIRCLE.

Palin is supposed to "fight government??"

-- "Wasilla had NO Debt before Palin took office, but by the end of Palin's two terms, the city of Wasilla was in debt to the tune of $20,979,072.00. Population then was around 5,200 that means that Palin increased each taxpayer's debt from ZERO to OVER $16,000.00 per family!

This is NOT about bashing Sarah Palin. This IS about the utterly, incomprehensibly, amazingly and wildly irresponsible actions of Sen. John McCain (Rove puppet) in putting such an "inexperienced and arrogant" person in line for the role of Commander-in-Chief. I begin to wonder if the Bush campaign's 2000 allegations against McCain weren't true afterall -- that "McCain isn't all there."

A. Rosen of CA 7:15PM September 12, 2008