I believe that global warming could be happening. However, the globe was quite warm during the dinosaur period. So, perhaps that's the baseline for global temp since it came first, and we've simply been living in some odd cool period.

That seems pretty logical to me.

I'm not a scientist, but what seems to be a consensus that global-warming is man-caused and can be affected quickly* by human decisions is starting to feel a lot like the "junk" evidence that justified Dubya taking us into Iraq. Facts seem to have become irrelevant or, at best, subservient to marketing. (When corporations air ads bragging about their small carbon footprint, you should know that you're being BS'd.)

*I saw Gore interviewed on one of the networks saying that human decisions could make a difference in global temperatures in 10 years.

I feels to me that Gore and some other policy makers are using concern about global warming to get at some other issues. I'm not sure what the other issues are, but policy types do this as a matter of course. (I once did an Inquirer gathering at which I met a woman whose cause was equality of school funding. To that end, her group was allying with other groups to cut property taxes -- on the theory that moving away from local, unequal funding would eventually move the schools toward statewide -- and, presumably, more equal -- funding.) Maybe they want more nuclear plants, higher CAFE standards or some other worthy goal. I don't know. But I think "global warming" is the means, not the end.

If you're old enough you might recall the "ozone layer" mania that was constantly talked about during the late 80s and early 90s. It was predicted that all kinds of tragic stuff would happen as a result. Now, no one talks about it.

Most of this crap is about selling products and getting grants.

Al Gore needs a platform for his presidential campaign, plain and simple. He can't touch something as controversal as "terriorism" because Bush and the Republicans are alreading using that one. He is also trying to win back the young vote that he lost with his music sensorship bullcrap. He needs to look like the "cool" kid now to gain popularity and what could be a better way than to put on a huge concert. My personal opinion was that it was a flop...too many diverse topics trying to be covered in that broadcast..."global warming" "pollution" "famine" "homeless" ....I was getting confused and overwhelmed and outright depressed. Too much to tackle. Also Madonna freaked me out. What on God's green earth (no pun intended) was that all about...running around the stage with her June Cleaver dress, playing one chord on her Les Paul and doing a Jimmy Hendrix inpersonation???!! I know she likes to reinvent herself (and usually she is successful) but this was just WEIRD...and just like Al Gore, I think Madonna MISSED.
AND of all the great Genesis songs, why'd they pick that sorry ass song to sing? Ugghhhh. Phil Collins looked hot though...bald and buff works for him. Al and Madonna = F.....Phil = A-

I'm sorry to say I missed the entire Live Earth concert and did not watch even part of a nanosecond of it on television, nor watch any of Gore's speeches or stare at his very interesting face which appears to been grafted together by illiegal-immigrant plastic surgeons.

I'm completely distraught.

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WHYY pays their CEO $750,000 a year. So WHYY should I renew my membership? Seems they have no problems finding money and spending it unwisely.


And this is why you should donate to PACCA, not PETA:

In September, PETA made headlines in Vermont and across the nation for asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use human breast milk in their ice cream, instead of cow milk

Nah, but that doesn't mean there is no political agenda. I don't think Gore himself will run for president. The stuff he is saying now about the environment is very nice coming from a reformed politician, but would be a great liability to anyone with the goal of becoming president. Why? Because making any progress on reducing use of fossil fuels would require steps that would be very unpopular. Gore would be painted as the guy who wants to put a $5 tax on a gallon of gas -- a fine idea that virtually nobody would vote for. Americans will pay to watch rock stars talk about this stuff, but don't want a president to actually do it.

But...

What Gore may be doing is a little subtle steering of young people to the Democratic party. What's happening is that the millenial generation is coming of age -- a group much more liberal than the Gen-Xers. They're pro-environment, pro-gay, anti-war, etc., etc. Overwhelmingly, they're trending Democratic. What this may be about is Gore serving his party's long-term future by (1) making himself a hero and then (2) subtly making the point that the Democrats are his party and should be theirs, too.

There is some precedent for this. Back in 1980, a rich California businessman named Ben Fernandez ran for president. I interviewed him when I was a newspaper reporter. He had no particular platform other than "opportunity and the American Dream" -- and, of course, he got swamped in the Reagan boom. In retrospect, it seems likely to me that he was put up to it by party strategists who wanted to suggest to a growing demographic that Hispanics could find a home in the Republican party.

Between George H.W. Bush and the middle of George W. Bush's first term, Hispanics were clearly divided on that. California mostly liberal-leaning, with the remainder of the Southwest split depending on the community.

e.g., in Texas, San Antonio, a majority Hispanic city, is slightly conservative-leaning, whereas Corpus Christi, also a majority Hispanic city, leans to the Democrats only on issues of immigration, education and welfare, but on every other issue it leans far to the right (gun control, abortion, state's rights, taxing/finance)

In Florida, the Cuban community for the last 8 years could be counted on to vote Republican until just recently. The Janet Reno episode with that kid (what was his name... Fernandez)? that was abducted from Cuba by his expat relatives in Miami then forced to return to Cuba probably helped George Bush get more Hispanic votes in the 2000 election.

__________________
WHYY pays their CEO $750,000 a year. So WHYY should I renew my membership? Seems they have no problems finding money and spending it unwisely.


And this is why you should donate to PACCA, not PETA:

In September, PETA made headlines in Vermont and across the nation for asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use human breast milk in their ice cream, instead of cow milk

I agree. The Republicans now seem to be blowing whatever inroads they had made with Hispanics over the past 25 years. No doubt the Democrats will eventually find a way to blow the edge they're now trying to build with young voters.

Maybe Big Al could have a highly publized affair with Shakira, that might swing that Hispanic vote!

I have no idea who Shakira is. I could Google her but -- based on that fact that she apparently has only one name and is of interest to Hispanics -- I'm going to guess that she is what's called a Pop-tart. A Spanish Pop-tart. (Pop-tart, n. "A female singer aged 18-25 known as much for having a nice ass and a highly publicized social life as for the quality of her singing.")

So, a Gore-Shakira affair? That might put off the millenials a bit. Nothing can turn a twenty-something's stomach quite so efficiently (as I recall) as the notion of intimacy with someone your father's age.