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jml510

jml510's Journal
jml510's Journal
April 12, 2013

So my sister thinks that I am too much involved in politics...

Today I showed her an article of Rand Paul's visit to Howard, and she liked it, but then she asked me if politics is my only interest, since I frequently show her political videos and articles I find on DU. She said that I should find something else to become interested in because most people are very sensitive when it comes to politics, and prefer not to discuss it much, so I risk walking on eggshells and not having much to discuss when having conversations. She might have a point, but I just have become so interested in politics the past several years and there's not much else that stirs up my interest as much.

April 9, 2013

A New Crop of Bigots

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April 8, 2013

Arguments from Global Warming Skeptics vs. Science

More: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php

Skeptic: "Climate's changed before
Climate is always changing. We have had ice ages and warmer periods when alligators were found in Spitzbergen. Ice ages have occurred in a hundred thousand year cycle for the last 700 thousand years, and there have been previous periods that appear to have been warmer than the present despite CO2 levels being lower than they are now. More recently, we have had the medieval warm period and the little ice age. (Richard Lindzen)"

What the science says: "A common skeptic argument is that climate has changed naturally in the past, long before SUVs and coal-fired power plants, so humans can't be the cause of the current global warming. Peer-reviewed research shows this is not the case.

It's important to know there are a number of different forces acting on the Earth’s climate. When the sun gets brighter, the planet receives more energy and warms. When volcanoes erupt, they emit particles into the atmosphere which reflect sunlight, and the planet cools. When there are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the planet warms. It's worth remembering that without some greenhouse gas the Earth would be a ball of ice.

These forces are called "forcings" because they force changes in the global average temperature.

Looking at the past gives us insight into how our climate responds to such forcings. Using ice cores, for instance, we can work out past temperature changes, the level of solar activity, and the amount of greenhouse gases and volcanic dust in the atmosphere. Looking at many different periods and timescales including many thousands of years ago we've learned that when the Earth gains heat, glaciers and sea ice melt resulting in a positive feedbacks that amplify the warming. There are other positive feedbacks as well and this is why the planet has experienced such dramatic changes in temperature in the past.

In summary the past reveals our climate is highly sensitive to small changes in heat.

What does that mean for today? Over the past 150 years greenhouse gas levels have increased 40 percent mainly from burning of fossil fuels. This additional "forcing" is warming the planet more than it has in thousands of years. From Earth's history, we know that positive feedbacks will amplify this additional warming.

The Earth's climate has changed in the past and ice cores and other measures tell us why. Based on this knowledge, and other types of evidence we know the human emissions of greenhouse gases are warming the climate."
April 5, 2013

Young conservatives on climate change

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April 2, 2013

Ben Carson to Mark Levin: "White liberals don't want me to leave the plantation"

More: http://www.mediaite.com/online/ben-carson-to-levin-white-liberals-are-the-most-racist-people-they-dont-want-me-to-leave-plantation/

On his radio show last night, Mark Levin had on newfound conservative “hero” Dr. Ben Carson to discuss all the lashings he’s received from the “left-wing media” over his views on gay marriage and religion. While discussing his being a black conservative, Carson told Levin that, in his experience, white liberals are the “most racist people there are.”

“They need to shut me up, they need to delegitimize me,” Carson told the radio host while explaining why he believes the media has scorned him for lumping homosexuality in with unsavory sexual acts like bestiality and pedophilia.

Levin added that the doctor has been attacked by “white liberals” because he is a black conservative, to which Carson replied: “They are the most racist people there are. Because they put you in a little category, a little box. You have to think this way. How could you dare come off the plantation?”

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Gender: Male
Hometown: Oakland, CA
Member since: Thu Oct 6, 2011, 03:00 PM
Number of posts: 10,893
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