Cheney leaving as he arrived?

In the early days of the Bush presidency, Vice President Dick Cheney came under attack for drafting a national energy policy in secret. Now, as the Bush presidency winds down, Cheney is again coming under attack for his behind-the-scenes efforts to play down the threats of global warming in order to thwart regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
 
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Environment Committee, leveled the attack today, accusing the vice president and other administration officials of "recklessly" seeking to censor testimony about the dangers of global warming and working behind the scenes to block new regulation.

"This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president," she said.

Joining her at a Capitol Hill news conference was a former high-ranking Environmental Protection Agency official, Jason Burnett, who said he had been told by the vice president’s office -– he declined to give a name -– to change testimony highlighting the threat of greenhouse gas emissions.

He said that he also sent the White House an e-mail finding that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat but shortly thereafter, "I was asked to send a follow-up note saying that the e-mail had been sent in error."

Boxer said she believes that the testimony from Burnett, whom she plans to bring before her committee later this month, will help California and other states overcome Bush administration opposition to implementing their own vehicle emission standards.

Burnett acknowledged that he has contributed to Democratic candidates but said, "Following the law and responding to the Supreme Court is not a partisan issue." The court ruled last year that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, were subject to federal regulation.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, was ready with a response: "We won't discuss internal deliberations."

The issues Boxer raised reflected only the most recent escalation in a fight between congressional Democrats and the White House over a number of the administration's actions relating to the environment. Recently, the White House invoked executive privilege in refusing to turn over documents to a congressional committee investigating EPA's decision to deny California permission to implement its own vehicle emission standards.

-- Richard Simon

Photo credit: Regelio V. Solis / Associated Press

Comments

[Gina]

Meanwhile, the US subjugation and colonization of Iraq is official and complete. Iraq's national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie today said the US must propose, by December 31, a timetable for troop withdrawal. Bush flips the bird at Mouwaffak al-Rubaie and says absolutely no timetable; troops will stay indefinitely and the Iraqis have no say in the matter. If Iraq is a sovereign nation and has decided the troops should leave, yet Bush says they must stay, then we're not "liberators," we're conquerors.

Slimebucket Corrupt Crook

[can you see it]

Guilty. hang'm at high noon!

[John Shermer]

Cheney is an evil troll and he smells bad.

[Clark]

If I had his heart and were Cheney's age, it'd be easier to dismiss global warming.....but not much easier.

[Samuel]

Good for VP Cheney! He's an avid fly fisherman and hunter and with more interest in seeing the earth's atmosphere is protected than Boxer.

Global warming is another scam to get people to buy different sorts of products that are called "green". Global warming is just a huge lie.

[Alex Johnson]

States can levy all the restrictions they want.. But why state governments then think it's the Federal Government's responsibility to pay for the State decisions is beyond me (Federal road funds, education, loss of productivity due to state environmental policies, etc).

If a state wants to ban all cars, fine. Just don't ask the other states (& Federal government) to pay for your mass transit (or the loss of jobs from businesses fleeing your policies).

[jjake]

barbra baby the last 30 years you democracks have stopped managing our forests for production, but for forest fires. you have bankrupt nuclear facilites, you have stopped building new refineries, and drilling for oil. its now time to take our country back. we will tell you what we think in November. we don't want or need kerry, kenndey, scummer, waxman, peloski, reid cant well, murray to keep tearing this natiion apart. capitalism built this great country USA and capitalism will take it back. just so you know what I'm saying you democracks energy policy stinks.

[Aaron]

Good for him. Global warming is a crock.

[tapper]

But there's so much more that Cheney and his lackeys are doing that aren't addressed here. For example, why not look into "fracking" of the Marcellus Shale beds in the midwest and northeast. "Fracking” involves injecting water, sand and extremely toxic chemicals into the shale layer in order to drive gas out of the shale deposits. Fracking is destroying nature preserves, water supplies and more ... sad that this administration pushes to keep things like this out of the public eye and under the radar.

Wow attack a Vice president of the United States. Great

[anonymous]

The Bush administration supports Yucca Mountain, killing whales with sonar, and offshosre drilling. It opposes stricter standards for emssions by both big oil and big auto. It is disgusting!

[Smith]

He should be behind bars in Guantanamo Bay.

[Steve Mehr]

the global warming front put up by democrats is a bunch of bologna and everyone knows it. Research says if anything Humans (that means the world, not just America) contribute no more than 2% of the total carbon in the atmosphere. so i guess paying trillions to cut human emissions down 10% is worth it? 10% of 2%? wrong! do you guys really think that will do anything. meanwhile you think china cares about global warming? Russia? nope they dont, so while they gain more economic power we have stupid liberals politicians that believe they are scientists scaring pushovers like yourselves into believing it is this amazing problem. 40 billion dollars has been put into the research of proving global warming is a problem and there still is no certainty. 16 million (yes only 16 million) has been put to disproving this and even with little amount money it is contending the 40 billion. i guess though you would need a lot of money to try to change truth. we can thank people like gore (again, not a scientist) for the wastes of money.

[Bob Gillie]

Environmentalists will sound better to me when they start supporting Nuclear Power Generation and the Yucca Mountain storage project.

Finally SOMEONE has the Balls to try to counter the LIE.

[Richard from AZ]

"Global Warming" is worst in Arizona in the summer

If the White House has nothing to hide, they shouldn't hide it to just to defend executive privilege on principle. Twisted. Cheney wouldn't tell Congress what he ate for breakfast that morning.

Maybe because it was baby bones, 'cause he's a troll.

[rjw]

A terrific fly fisher no doubt - surely far better than hunter, I hope (as is, I'm sure his friend with a face full of the VPs shot). I have to admit I'm having trouble buying "green" products having lost my job in the economy this criminal gang has fostered for us and especially in light of the money I have to spend on the product this cabal would prefer that we gorge ourselves on.

[Mr Truth]

Whose is going to rein in these corporate fascist pigs? They OWN 99% of the media, the courts are heavely stacked with corrupt corporate sympathizers and the flood gate of illegals are steeling EVERY job in sight.... NOT just 'lettuce' picking jobs..

Cheney and this administration are so obviously anti-american. But they wear nicle flag lapel pins to dupe all the simple rubes out there.

Where #1..... NOT! We are the #1 most evil nation on the planet. Hitler had nothing on this administration.

[Charles Johnson]

This country (USA) has some of the best politicians money can buy!
Earth now! We'll mine the other planets later!

[AJ]

Samuel, you must be living in a cave somewhere to make such an illogical and isane statement!
From what you are saying that makes it sound like all of the worlds scientist are hooked to a green product and trying to get you to buy it. You are another one of those people who can't believe what is in front of your face. Cheney doesn't give a rip about anything but himself and how to get more contracts and money to companies he has contacts with or has stake in behind the scenes. He shoud never been elected to the V.P.'s post period.

[Devil in Hell]

Come on down, Dick. I's saving a special place for you.

[Alex]

Yes, and he is probably behind the "research" showing that oil is not finite, but is being created deep within the earth by unknown chemical processes.

[Steve]

Just the latest...I'm confident that once these pair are out of office we'll find more than enough to bring them to trial. At least you can rest assured that they will not likely be traveling outside the U.S. much for fear of arrest after being indicted by The Hague.

[iH8uAll]

And this surprises anyone because??? They are complete war-profiteers. Their behavior is shocking because under the "war on terror" we were blind to it, desensitized, however you want to put it. Now that people are waking up and becoming outraged, we have renewed "partisan" propaganda.

What IS surprising is that Boxer seems to be on the side of the argument that reprimands the administration. She's colluded with them for too long I guess?

Bush and his adminsitration have already walked all over CA environmental laws, on the coast, on the border. And they are ready to drill drill drill of the pretty coastline too. Fortunately Schwarzenegger had a backbone to tell them "not drilling here". As for the other environmental rape that has been taking place, again, I ask you, are you really surprised?

[Ken Barber]

Funny how it never made the news when the office of the Vice President was censoring and de-funding scientists who didn't go along with Mr. Gore's beliefs on global warming.

But let Cheney do something that is mild by comparison and it's a World Crisis.

This is why I don't read the Mainstream Press any more. I can't believe anything they say.

[joedogjoe]

Good for VP Cheney? Samuel, you are an idiot. This office has evoked executive privilege more than any other administration in the history of this nation. This is more cover-up by a corrupt administration. But don't let facts get in the way of your opinion.

I'm not sure how being a fly fisherman or a hunter speaks to an interest in protecting the earth's atmosphere. Are you saying because he likes drive to the woods and kill animals, he's cares for the world?

I can't see how you can think global warming is a huge lie when international science supports it. No North Pole ice cap this year? South Pole disintegrating at an alarming rate? It's sad that something so tragic has been politicized by the religious right and neo-cons.

[Kevoh]

Does anyone else remember back in the 70's when were were heading into the next ice age and that by the year 2000 the state of Michigan was going to be covered by a sheet of ice? I remember that crap. Its the same thing but in reverse, now were all going to be too hot. The earth has never remained constant nor will it ever. Mankind will not be able to change a thing when it comes to the earth. Instead of battling global warming or cooling (wahtever the politcal flavor of the week is) that is supposed to occur years and years down the road why dont we work tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and a host of other natural disasters that are destroying the earth NOW? I know why....because we cant alter nature, just like we cant alter global warming or cooling since all of this is a NATURAL (hence we call it Nature) So think of it like the serenity prayer... God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. I pray that wisdom finally gets to the "Global Warming " crowd.

[D]

Jjake, You are an idiot. I bet your from Texas right? If you think the democrats won't win this election you are just in denial. I am seriously embarrassed by people like you, giving this country the image it has on the world stage. Yes lets just drill for oil, until it runs out right? Lets build more nuclear plants, and endanger more people. The energy policy of making sure this "great country that was built on capitalism, blah blah, I'm patriotic" is around for your kids kids stinks hu? I think there should be a vote to cast out people like you, you selfish prick. This administration will be taught to our children as the WORST presidency in the history of this country. And people like you helped make it that way.

[Forbes]

jjake: Good luck with that! Call me a seer, but I see the Republican party going down with its burning House (and Senate) in what may be the biggest political defeat in my lifetime. And good thing. Look at all the things going wrong since Bush took office: growing unemployment, a weak dollar overseas, record oil prices, loss of international prestige, two failed wars in the Middle East, record home foreclosures, record number of illegal migrant workers, declining educational achievement among our youth, a growing gap between rich and poor, high-paying jobs going overseas, manufacturing work going overseas, record-high medical costs, highest number of Americans uninsured, declining stock market, record high deficits. And the list goes on and on ... If you are proud of this record, you are an idiot too mired in ideology to see the reality in front of your face. Make funny names all you want, it is the Democrats who will be laughing come fall.

[DC]

I don't understand you nuts that defend the administrations actions by saying global warming is a not real. The Bush administration itself has stated that global warming is true. They just decided they don't feel like doing anything about and said go screw yourself Americans. And as far as questioning whether the scientific solutions make sense, i don't understand how you can assume you and your corrupt representatives know more than 99.9% of the WORLD's trained scientists. What is your scientific background that supports your retarted claims?

[Sean]

This is *the* most corrupt Administration in all of U.S. history, *the* most anti-environment, *the* most anti-labor, *the* most anti-civil rights, *the* most closed and secretive, and *the* most anti-American. From day one, it's all been about lying, stealing, cheating, deception, and fraud. Anyone blind to these realities is, well, blind ... and dumb. Want more of this? Vote McCain. He's sadly in step with this current Administration.

[Jim]

Cheney is perhaps the most cowardly figure in modern politics. He learned to hide while in Nixon's administration. The Bush years are a direct continuation of Nixon's idea that the President is essentially a King. Millions will cheer when he's dead.

[Flintstone]

Finally, someone has the guts to stand up, speak the truth, and counter all of Gore's nonsense. Love live Cheney! Keep up the good work Dick!

[Mister Spak]

"Lea Anne McBride, was ready with a response: "We won't discuss internal deliberations.""

Waterboard them until they discuss it.

[Richard from AZ]

"Global Warming" is not such a big deal here in the winter!

[joedogjoe]

Case in point: "So think of it like the serenity prayer... God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. I pray that wisdom finally gets to the "Global Warming " crowd."

Jesus says destroy the earth!

[bbob]

right on jjake! let's stick with the current administration, screw those dems.

capitalist fundamentalism mixed with fascism works great!

[Energizer]

Dick started out in 2000 by holding energy planning meetings in secret and blocked all attempts to allow public access to any info. Now we have the results of his planning. $4.00 gasoline. Dependence on the middle-east, no planning for future technolgies to replace oil. America could be the leader but in alternate tech by now but Japan is the leader in hybrids and China in solar energy. Denmark and Holland lead in wind. And America just has no idea of what to do except beg the Saudis to send more oil...a resource they don't want to admit they have no more of for fear of encouraging alternate energy development.

[Gary]

From the tone (and obvious intellegence level) of the above comments there is only one last thing to do. "Eat, Drink, and be Merry for tomorrow we all broil with global warming or choke on green house gases.

[Barry Weintraub]

You can argue that climate change is not happening or is not going to happen. But any debate should be based upon scientific evidence. There is nothing in the Constitution that permits the White House to deliberately twist the truth and prevent people from talking. The American people are entitled to the direct dissemination of scientific information. There are different names for the alternative ...

[George Bish]

'Dick' Cheney is the biggest crook in government today - and that's giving him a whole bunch more credit than he deserves. He also has the most appropriate nickname of anyone on this planet.

[airplane]

they have it right inS.F. DO THEY NOT HAVE A PUBLIC TOILET THAT FEEDS THE SEWAGE PLANT TO NAME AFTER DICK

[anonymous]

There is climate change going on. The earth is warming, so is the ocean. There is no hard scientific basis for the cause, however. Carbon since the industrial revolution has not been proven to be the cause (except in computer models that rely on the data we input). Think about all the sewage and garbage and chemicals we are dumping into the ocean! The earth is not a billiard ball. It is a living thing, and it changes. We are seriously harming the very ecosystems we rely on for food and water. THAT is a fact.

[publius]

I think that the fat around this idiot's head is affecting his thinking. It certainly isn't doing much for his looks. He's one UGLY person.

[me again]

For those of you who worship the internal combustion engine, what can I say? You have been duped into devoting your life to something that is boring, dangerous and un-necessary. Like cigarettes as a vehicle for added nicotine, the billions of little engines are, for the most part, merely a vehicle for burning oil. Look arounf you. How many do you own? What usesless function are they performing badly? And, in case you're not paying the right kind of attention, burning fuel inefficiently and as fast as possible. They call this the economy. You are supporting the burn. hmmm...

For this of you who are paying attention, remember that the conservatives expect a little grumbling, but are on target as far as they're concerned. Do more than grumble. Stop supporting them in everyway you can think of. It isn't about global warming, foreign oil, and war for profit. It is about you allowing these things to happen.

Not me baby, I've been aware of and fighting these issues in my own little way all my life. Join me, take out the garbage, you know who they are.

[Andrew]

Wow Smith, way to trivialize science, economics, statistics, and half the nation's politicians. Calling someone 'stupid' is sure helping your argument isn't it? Second, using bloated statements like "everyone knows it" fails to prove anything. If "everyone knew it", why is this being debated anyway? That's typical conservative siege mentality.

Second, you make the argument with statistics, but that's your single uncited source. Come up by whom? Possibly some scientists that you bash later? Furthermore, even if the impact is 10% of 2% you mention (unlikely) how do you know what that even means? 10 and 2 may seem like small numbers on a counting-number system, but the impacts can be profound. A global rise in a single degree Celcius is enough to melt ice caps, raise sea levels, and significantly affect world weather patterns (forest fires, flooding, hurricanes, etc.). This, nobody disputes. Furthermore, the concept that man-made carbon sources have contributed to majority of the recent global warming is supported by more than thirty scientific academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries (Royal Society, 2005/ 2007 international summits). Moreover, why do you want to risk being wrong? If you're right and global warming is not as huge as we predicted, we'd still be fine if money is spent. If you're wrong and global warming does continue unchecked... Then heavens help all of us in this world.

And your 40 billion vs. 16 million comment is truly a waste of money. Should we also spend equivalent amounts of money that went into studying evolution into seeing if Creationism works? How about into disproving gravity? Just because there's an unlikely counter-alternative does not mean government is obligated to spill money into it. Forget Russia. This isn't the cold war. Besides, it's immature to cry "oh, they're not doing it so we shouldn't!" We're America and we're supposed to lead this world.

[MB]

jjake - time for a reality check. You pro-business, trickle-down capitalists have dominated all three branches of government for the last 7 years and it has given us $4.50 a gallon gas, the credit melt-down, the one-trillion dollar Iraq boondoggle, and the lowest voter confidence ever measured. You guys wanted complete control and got it and now we are all suffering for it. You are right about the voters taking it back - you just had the teams reversed.

[L_C]

Interesting how headlines like this one almost always require a comment board.

Reading the headline, the story and the comments all tie into a blind lack of objectivity driven by a lack of pluralism - what has America come to? We are Americans. We are better than this. We've been better than this. Think about it.

[Cheney scum]

Don't you know -- it's all about the money!! Always has been, always will be!

[River2Float]

Yesterday I changed my party from DumboCrarp to Republican. The last Dumbocrap I voted for was Carter, what a boob! The DumboCrarps don't represent my views and in November we will show them their days are limited. And can we vote California out of the Union? These people are nuts!

[KS farmer]

Do you really need scientists or politicians to tell you that the climate is changing or not? Go outside, for a change, and take a look around. You think that brown smog over LA is NOT caused by humans? Ask any farmer in Kansas, and they'll tell you the climate is changing. We're having to plant grasses from hotter climates just to have something for hay. Brome grass used to thrive in Kansas, and now its almost worthless. It gets too hot too early and quits growing before the end of May.

As far as China and India go... do we lead and create change for the better, or do we sink to their level... just put the blinders on and keep on polluting.

Seriously, who are you people that think global warming is a hoax?

[Fred Flintstone]

To those who discount the overwhelming evidence, and refuse to face the facts about climate change, you deserve the consequences of your ignorance. The rest of us don't. Go off somewhere and drink the kool-aid if you like, but you have no right to take everybody else down with you.

[Bill Moore]

The Cheney-Bush administration has done everything, lie, cheat, steal,and, kill American intelligence assets, just to make themselves look like they are not the most incompetent administration we ever had. They are in actuality , VERY competent. At stealing the Federal treasury, and doling it out to there friends/employers, like Exon, Shell, Haliburton, KBR,the Carlyle Group etc, ad nauseam.If you are so busy managing a many hundred Billions rape of our nation treasures your are to busy to worry about the real job you were not elected too. IT IS A NATIONAL IMPERATIVE THAT THE GREATEST TREASON EVER COMMITTED AGAINST THIS COUNTRY, IF NOT THE WHOLE WORLD BE ACCOUNTED FOR , by the prosecution of this criminal Cheney/Bush syndicate for their myriad crimes!! We cannot allow the purposeful sabotaging of the Justice department and the substitution of the Attorney General for a Bush family consiglierri derail this imperative,as designed to do. Or it will be the end of the America, and become a total corporate/nazi government.

[Chris]

I have to wonder about some of the comments here. I have for 30 years lived in Northern climates from the Northwest to the Northeast and now Germany. This late February in Germany, in winter, for the first time in my life, I wore short sleeves and was hot! I thought I was in Texas in the winter. I believe very much in Global warming. Why do you think the polar bears are disappearing? The ice can't support their weight anymore, it's too thin!

[Ed White]

Cheney is truly an American hero. Time will show that he has placed our country first in all his activities, and that the liberal left wing has vilified him solely in an attempt to push their own agenda. Time will show their behavior as disgraceful.

[Richard from AZ]

This is God's country and this country will fare based on choices made by the people of this country - if we choose wickedness we will reap such. If we the people choose goodness we will reap the benefits. Environmentalists are a good bunch of people who mean well, but are misinformed, generally. This earth was created for the people of the earth to enjoy for a few thousand years. I think God probably did not expect the hidden resources of the earth to last much longer than the last couple of hundred years of our mortal existence, which is coming to a rapid close.

[Mike]

What can you say about Dick Cheney that his name doesn't already tell you?

This guy is such a caricature of the mindless, amoral, secretive and power-crazed politician that it's only right that he would not have changed the least bit while policies that he helped create and implement continue to destroy large numbers of human beings as well as the world they inhabit.

This guy has cheated the grim reaper so often that I'm sure he feels that he now has the right to control HIS actions too.

Seriously, however, Dick Cheney has done more damage to our world than George Bush could ever dream of doing.

He was one of the architects of our brilliant Iraq policy back when he, Donald Rumsfeld and William Kristol founded the "Project for the New American Century" in 1997 to "promote American global leadership" with its stated view that "American leadership is both good for America and good for the world" and that we must support "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity." [Wikipedia]

My only real concern is that this man--whose own moral clarity HAS to to be in question by now--has not yet stopped talking about his belief that the United States must wage a war with Iran in order to safeguard "the free world."

There are still more than six months in which this demented old man can wreak havoc on the world and its future, and there are still too many political "leaders" who won't oppose him either out of a lack of courage or because they suffer from a similar dismally unbalanced conception of geopolitics.

Because of him and them, I sincerely fear for all of us!

[Jesse]

I dont see how Bush and Cheney dont get tried for crimes against humanity. they have clearly stolen from every american, and would keep going if the presidency didnt have a time limit on it. they bought their way into the oval office 2x and have successfully decimated our economy, and sent our beloved troops into harms way so that they could line thier own pockets with what is basically bloody, oil money. The earth (something we all depend on) if it could speak would be asking us why we are so hell bent on killing ourselves, and the planet!?

the american pepole need to get off their butts and turn off the media outlets and start thinking for themselves... the whole system is corrupt, and its only going to get worse if nothing is done about it. I know its a tall mountain to climb, and the path is unclear, but at least your still allowed to climb it!! be proactive and do something good with your time, and make a difference!! Bush and cheney stepped up and made a difference... now its our turn to do it right, and hopefully reverse some of the evil Bush and Cheney have rained down on us.

[Patrick]

How is that there are still people who don't believe in global warming? Did you not go to school or was science too hard for you to understand? From what I can tell it appears half the people hear didn't go to school and science was too hard for them.

Scientists have no reason to lie or fabricate evidence for global warming. If our gov't and oil companies paying off scientists to refute global warming isn't an omission of what truly is happening, then I don't know what is. People think a small change in the temperature of the ocean and environment isn't a big deal are simply ignorant and retarded.

[Peter J. Murrett, Jr,]

Cheney's views are not the issue - it's his improper suppression of the contrary views of others that's improper.

[Jaded Citizen]

I'm a middle of the road Democrat - (yes we still exist! ) who believes hate radio (Hush Bimbo et al, ) and hate media ( Foxsnooze - fairly unbalanced) is to blame for pushing us apart. Our friends, family, and neighbors are both Democrat and Republican alike and none of them are as whacko as those two clowns in the White House. We actually talk to each other about the issues - instead of hurling scorched earth, either or propositions...Shame on all of us for allowing people like that to divide us.

[glenn]

Global Warming is a fraud, Dubya is the bestest and smartiest presentend a'merica has ever had. And cheney is a all a'merican hunter. God bless Limbaugh!!

[really?]

Let's think this through for a second...if Cheney is "fighting the lie," shouldn't he be working to bring the supposedly correct facts, from reputable sources, to the public? Instead, he works in secret to stifle information-- and does so from one of the most powerful offices in the world. It's not as if he's the little guy here, and this administration has never shied away from confrontation. If the case against global warming is so strong, why not open his files and let us see the debate? Whatever his beliefs on this particular subject, the idea that we the people can't handle the facts is insulting in the extreme.

[Sickofhippies]

Suprise, suprise the liberal hippie scum from the seventies oppose all common sense. Wake-up people global warming is a hoax, just as the new ice age of the seventies. The earth goes in cycles. Al Gore and all of his disciples are doing nothing but making money for themselves and impose more taxes to fund thier socailist programs.

VP Cheney is a patriot who is looking out for the good of all Americans, delusional lefties too.

[Phyllis Stokes]

Too bad the French weren't successful in putting Cheney behind bars a few years back! Hopefully they will success in the near future. I only wish the U.S. could do it first.

And, GUANTANAMO BAY IS TOO GOOD FOR CHENEY!!!

[aw]

I'd rather go hunting with Cheney, than riding with Ted Keneddy

[Kara]

This is NOT about Global Warming. This is about DICK telling someone to LIE in their testimony and further telling them to cover that up. This is a complete RAPE of the legal system.
The country is in such a terrible shape people the common man focuses on what's not important and doesn't see the big evil picture.

[anonymous]

Me again:

Right on! WE are the problem, not the government. Throw your dollar votes where they count and quit supporting what you don't believe in!

[Ben Molnar]

What many of us would declare as crimes, failures, etc. by Cheney, could also be seen as part of a successful grand design. Let's take the secret energy meetings with big oil early in this administration. We failed to find out what was discussed, but you can bet that lower energy prices was not a goal. The $4+ gas prices of today are a result of that design. In his book, that is success. Let's give him credit for that and don't forget it.

[Van Sanderson]

Can we afford to be wrong and do nothing.
Instead of being the leader on warming, were hindering the technology to stop the human factor in warming.
As for this administration being the most corrupt, apparently none of you have taken a close look at the Reagan Adminstration. Reagan turned the country over to the fascists(neocons, communists, corporatist)

[aaron]

Global warming huh? I saw an iceberg melt and under it was a tunnel made by man, so that tells me this is a cycle. What else will they sell us? Also recycling paper is not efficient at all. The government pays 9 billion a year to that industry to create jobs nothing else. Our money hard at work! But hey it does make since to recycle cans, that’s the only one. But hey we are what we eat and the US feeds us this BS. Stop think, research everything. Have you heard of the ice age, maybe we created that by not burning enough fuel, HELLO. Have you seen all the fires in Ca as of late I bet that puts lots of pollution in the air! I wonder how cave man put out fires in there day, I mean they would burn out of control for a long time right…oh I see that’s how all that ice melted in the ice age. Come on.

[Shocked]

It's stunning that there are only a few people here who can even produce a single correct sentence. I really don't understand how people can be this illiterate. I expect retarded opinions, but it sounds like English is a second language to many of you of American-born hucksters.

[Phyllis Stokes]

Too bad the French weren't successful in putting Cheney behind bars a few years back! Hopefully they will success in the near future. I only wish the U.S. could do it first.

And, GUANTANAMO BAY IS TOO GOOD FOR CHENEY!!!

[Fred Flintstone]

Richard from AZ just demonstrated why people like him, who think the world is going to end, are a danger to us all, and must be stripped of all influence before we get the apocalypse they so desperately need to validate their backward way of life.

[Monsoon Eddy]

Our system is broken and Cheney broke it

What happened to the checks and balances that our forefathers died for and the system that so many once aspired too?
What happened to accountability? Is this the future for the US. --absolute power wielded with a disregard for the truth? High crimes in office without consequence? It wasn't too long ago we lambasted the Soviet Union government for such behavior.
Once the assigning of special prosecutor was disabled after the Clinton/Lewinski Republican obstructionist scandal--the Chenney administration acted like all unrestrained power does and it's not right.

This administration deserves a full investigation into their litany of high crimes and a fair trial followed by a long stay at Gitmo Or at the least: Gitmo should be the site of the George W. Bush Library and the guilty administration high-ups should be forced to work the concession stands selling lies to tourists like the Nixon Library with it's perpetually closed Watergate exhibit.

[bun-e]

River to float.
So the last time you voted, you voted for Carter. Gee, think of all the great Presidential elections you missed while you aged in your cave. Welcome back to the world. I am happy to hear you will participate in the electoral process again. Turn off Limbaugh and try to make some decisions on your own, ditto?

[River2Float]

Throughout human history there has always been kooks trying to dominate the population with their bogus ideas. Our generation has seen the eco terrorist coming out of the wood work, and the political types love a good scare story to control the population and win the vote. Global Warming is the new best boogeyman and everyday the media pronounces a new and more outrageous warning of our impending doom! Snake Oil salesmen and I am not buying any. Watch as the kooks grow more shrill as the people realize their hoax. Remember Noah? He was a really good salesman, and got the media to publish his story and even has astronuts looking for his big boat.

[Kevin]

I'm sitting here shaking my head at all the comments by the right wing. Global Warming is a lie? Please. I suppose the vanishing ice at the North Pole and the retreating glaciers all over the globe are just a coincidence... Remember the Snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro? Today's generation doesn't. The ice on top of KJ is gone. Cheney is and always has been a self serving liar. This is no different. He lies to Bush, he lies to congress and he lies to the American people. I've been praying for that Heart Attack for about seven years now. It'll come. I just wish that we'd find out the truth before he dies. Problem is, this administration has been covering their trail since they took office, laws about transparency in the executive branch be damned. Not only do I think the Bush administration will go down as the worst in history, it will be a lesson to future Americans regarding the time we almost let the President destroy our country.

[DoTheMath]

"Following the law and responding to the Supreme Court is not a partisan issue."

This administration's disregard for the law and, not coincidentally, for the best interests of the American people never ceases to amaze me.

[r.Gabor]

The ignorance of uneducated Americans is just mind bending.
How on earth can all of you say that global warming is a “fake”, “gimmick”, “not such a big deal” when the arctic ice completely disappears this summer; for the first time in HUMAN HISTORY. According to you the democrats melting the ice for “trillions” of dollars profit. Right? Give me a break.
I am begging you to please READ, educate yourself for the good of everyone around you. Open your eyes to see what we are doing to our planet. All of this damages for profit nothing else. We are (yes Steve Mahr there are people on other parts of the planet you moron) as humans responsible for 2% of total carbon in the atmosphere? Here you go: “Smoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases[1] emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires (including stoves, candles, oil lamps, and fireplaces)".
Tell me who else is using all of these products?
Your kids, the following generation will not see snow ever again, our resources will disappear and our lands will disappear when the ice completely melts. It’s isn’t propaganda of the Democratic Party it is a simple fact. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas
Stop relying on what the lying government officials are telling you it’s just a way to keep you in line. Do it for all of us so we dont have to endure another Republican president.
Look for information on your own. When finally half of England, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, Holland, Belgium and California will be under water you can voice your uneducated, ignorant dumb opinions.

[Angry]

AXIS OF EVIL - -

CHENEY - ROVE - BUSH

And in that order.

[Energizer]

Ed White! Are you sane? You say God wants us to run out of energy because civilization will last only a little longer. And, America is "good" so we will triumph? This kind of bone-head is the backbone of the neoconservative Republican movement that winks at a hundrd thousand dead innocents in an Iraqi war, supposedly fought for WMDs that were never there. Remeber Rumsfeld and Saddam were on the same side (shaking hands) against Iran only a short time earlier. God may or may not be on our side...Cheney is certainly not on God's side.
Pray that your children don't face the California wildfires caused directly by global warming and an administration to greedy and "Godly" to act.

[ThisIsTheEnd]

Reading the comments here is incredibly dis-heartening, and shows that they country that I have known and loved is threatened with it's very existence... NOT by the Politicians, but but it's very own people! "We the people" are going to be the only ones to blame when it all falls apart. We trust no one, and are too stupid to even understand how our country is supposed to function. Everyone better start stocking up on water, food, and guns... because the revolution is coming and the Civil War is going to look like a paintball tournament.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." -- Ronald Reagan

[John Sweeney]

Spiro Cheney?

[chris]

The issue is not whether or not you believe global warming is a legitimate threat. The issue here is a Vice president who has been caught in deceit and dishonesty in the past, is caught once again. Not only has the United States suffered a loss of respect around the world since Bush/Cheney but the level of trust and respect the American people have for the office of the Presidency is at an all time low.

[Isaac]

To the Global Warming Deniers: If Global warming is not a threat, why is Cheney bent on editing out testimony as to its effects from Congress?

To the Democratic Party Leadership: If you care so much about the misdeeds of the Bush-Cheney administration why did you unilaterally take impeachment off the table?

[Norm]

I'm sick to death of this global warming scare garbage. It is absolute (and I mean literally absolute) arrogance to think 15% of the world's population on 10% of the worlds land mass is affecting the entire GLOBAL environmental wind and air system of this planet. According to the 2006 U.N. environmental report on global warming they made the claim that 1994-2006 were the hottest years in recorded human history and possibly as far back as 1800 yrs. They then put in parentheses that the year 1996 was the exception to this claim. This was due to the earth in truth not warm at all but in fact showed possible cooling. The never mentioned that in the report nor do they even try to explore the possible reasons why one of the most "polluted" years in human history showed no global warming at all and infact flew in the face of global warming by daring to show global cooling. If what these brain fried cooks says is true then there is no way such an aberation could possibly happen in the data unless the reason for global warming is caused by something OTHER than human activity. I would suggest looking at the only source of heat this planet has which is the sun. Check out the following website http://www.dxlc.com/solar/ and look at the historical solar and geomagnetic DATA, it starts back in the 1950s' and goes through 2000. You will notice something incredible. Compare the mid 1970's and the solar activity. Then compare with the late 1990's and early 2000's. Then look at 1996 and you will see some amazing DATA, not studies, but actual gathered DATA. Then tell me why 1996 was not a record breaking global warming year... did we somehow not pollute that one year and get it right? (when it is listed as one of our "most polluted" years in history) hmm... seems to me unless some government has figured out how to control the sun then there's jack anyone can do about global warming. I don't doubt it's getting warmer I strongly refute that it is being caused by human activity. There too few industrialized peoples to cause pollution in regard to global population, and too little of the earths actual landmass is developed. Again, pure absolute arrogance these global warming cooks.

[GetRealGreens]

How conspiciously timed. It's politics as usual even with Obama swearing that he is different. You Green's are just that Green. I can hardly wait for Hydrogen Cars and Electric Cars especially since they don't pollute. Well excuse me if I dampen your science fiction green lifestyle but how about a dose of Green Reality? If we all converted to all-electric cars I can hardly wait for the coming power grid meltdown not to mention the increased greenhouse gases needed to power these "clean" electric cars. Where do you greenies think the energy comes from? It is merely a shifting of our energy sources and pollution sources! As for hydrogen cars, where are you going to fillup? The equivalent volume of hydrogen will cost over $10 per gallon. You think $5 a gallon is bad? Get ready for hydrogen!

[River2Float]

bun-e
I vote in every election since I registered to vote when I turned 18. I voted for JFK and Carter, two votes I will always regret. Thanks to Rush and Fox News I now see the bogus agenda of the DumboCrarpes and now always vote for the Republicans. The people in my State feel the same way and the days of the DumboCarpes are numbered. Do you hear the whoosing sound? That is the sound of Democrazies going down the drain in my State.

[Edward Abbey]

"Does anyone else remember back in the 70's when were were heading into the next ice age and that by the year 2000 the state of Michigan was going to be covered by a sheet of ice?

Posted by: Kevoh | July 08, 2008 at 11:37 AM"

That's a specious statement. The media made a big deal out of it because that's what the media does. But the concensus of the scientific community back then did not give any such theory more than a skepitically raised eyebrow. Compare what the conservative-minded consensus of the world's best scientists thinks of the overwhelming research results on climate change, and you see why those few that hold out that it's a "hoax" are fewer each and every day.

[Global Warming is really sun getting hotter]

Yes, there is global warming but it's from the sun getting hotter NOT the buildup of greenhouse gases.

[scott]

to anyone who thinks global warming is a crock: go to your garage, shut all the windows and doors, start up your SUV, take a nap... and let me know how it goes ;)

[Your Boss]

You people all have too much time on your hands. Learn how to use spell-check and GET BACK TO WORK!

[ArmySoldier]

It's funny how the least knowledgeables have the biggest opinions. I was stationed in Cali for 2 years to get my masters - loved the fruits, hated the nuts. This is the same state that had a marijuana festival (in Gilroy); had a deputy sheriff sue the federal gov't (DEA) for confiscating his small marijuana farm (for personal use, of course); love to exercise their freedom of speech, but quick to stomp on those who disagree with them; and refused to conduct controlled burning because lightning won't start a fire in their county.

By default, for those this comment apply, your opinions are inane and invalid.

Serve your country, and you'll understand what freedom means - to include freedom of speech.

Serve your country, go overseas, and you'll understand why Americans are not liked - actually they're envious of us.

Serve your country, and you'll understand the feeling one gets when one is part of something bigger than one's self.

Serve your country, and you'll truly understand how lucky you are to be an American.

For you to say you understand is like reading a book - you didn't experience it. Have you ever smelled kimchi from people while you're in a sardine-packed train in Seoul, Korea? or how about the stench of body odor during a summer in Paris' Metro (subway)? If you didn't feel like vomiting, then you've never experienced it.

Open your eyes and ears, and always ask why - no matter who's talking. And most of all, if all you do is talk, gee that'll get you far.

Enough of my rambling. Thanks.

G. I. Joe

[Lee]

The previous comments from the right-wing morons explains how we ended up with an idiot in the white house for the last two terms and he has surely been the worst president in my lifetime. These people do anything to justify their position even if it includes lying and disregarding scientific proof.

[gabe]

funny how all these "global warmign is a lie" people cant come up with one solid fact that a majority of scientists can agree on that suggests that GW is not dramatically increased by human activity. Most the worlds scientists agree that GW is a fact and it is happening. But there will always be the flat earth society ppl that are so sure of their somehow innate knowledge of how the world actually works.

[Al Redlhammer]

Wow I guess this Vp is not very well liked ? Personally, I feel that he can cheer up a room just by by leaving it . I've wondered what his motives have been for the actions he's taken that have been so damaging to our country. Does his political philosophy include dictatorship ? Or, does he believe that, in a nation where "all men (and women) are4 created equal", he's a bit more equal than the rest of us ?

A very dark character that history will rightfully treat unkindly.......

[me again]

Some of you are confused, it's about you, not "them".

In 1701 Johann Sebastian Bach walked 30 miles to Hamburg to hear the renowned Jan Reinken, organist at St. Catherine's Church. I suspect he was no doubt inspired and wrote yet more music all of us enjoy. Yesterday my neighbor mowed his tiny lawn with his huge riding lawn mower, whacked his weeds with his gas powered trimmer and then hopped into his air-conditioned SUV and drove to the gym. In addition to the remarkable, amazing machines I just mentioned he has many many more. That's what he does with his time. He spends the precious moments of his life burning gasoline, smoking cigarettes, and listening to conservative talk radio. Did I mention he is conservative, Republican, and religious. This pile of crap he's bought into doesn't save him time it wastes his very life away.

The clock is ticking, how will you spend your time? How will you be remembered?

[Cheneystinks]

Sure Cheney is a fly fisherman; his actions attract "political flies" as any DC excrement would. The reason he has to go out of town to fish is because his polluted motives and actions have caused his local environment to decay. Cheney has to go places where he has not been in order to escape his slimy environmental trail.

[River2Float]

The Harry Reid - Nancy Pelosi reign has poll numbers less than any president in modern times. This is the "change" the DumboCrazies have promised us, and now we will probably see $6 a gallon gas before the end of the year, if we are lucky.

[Angry]

RIGHT ON KEVIN (12:16 pm)
I too have dreamed of ridding our country of this self serving, deceptive, greedy Vice President. I would rather see him rotting in Gitmo. But, without the medical unit that follows him everywhere he goes. We the tax payer foot that bill for him too to the tune of thousands of dollars a month.

The people in this country must wake up and finally see the truth about this administration. The whole issue of this article is that he lied to us and he told others to lie as well. In what way the lies might have benefited him -- we may never know.

I AGREE WITH SHOCKED (12:10 pm)
Education these days leaves a lot to be desired, or lack thereof. And don’t people know how to create their post in a Word.doc and spell-check it THEN COPY and PASTE?

Very Sad Indeed - - - -

[Edward Abbey]

Norm, I bet you think doctors are all quacks as well. I always chuckle when I see people that don't truly understand science (you are so daft as to think it works where pollution from a particular year has an immediate result??) and put down the work of thousands of our best minds as rubbish yet gladly benefit from the fruits of their labors, e.g. drinking clean water, taking blood pressure medicine, posting on a computer.

[Astounded Mike]

I am astounded at the apparent stupidity of some of the commenters who seem to believe that global warming is a scam and that mankind can't influence the climate.

In the 19th century the climate was influenced, albeit temporarily, by large single volcanic eruptions (Kilimanjaro, Krakatoa, etc.) Now I realize these were "natural" occurrences, but they pumped far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the literally MILLIONS OF TONS of such gases that man's burning of fossil fues does on a DAILY basis. The icecaps are melting; Glacier National Park no longer has a glacier; huge chunks of Greenland are breaking off and falling into the sea, but there's no connection to the burning of fossil fuels??

When all that melt-water raises sea levels and begins inundating coastal cities, then perhaps people will wake up. Or how about if all that melted fresh water in the North Atlantic disrupts the the upwelling and circulation of warmer water from the Carribean up along the east coast to northern Europe, which has the effect of moderating the climate in those areas - then maybe that will trigger another Ice Age in the northern hemisphere. But by all means, lets keep our heads in the sand (or someplace else) and just pretend that 6 plus billion people on this planet can't impact the climate!

[John Finley]

Kevin:
So well put!
For the past 8 years, I've been saying our Republic is in peril; in the last 4, that peril has grown. We COULD become a de facto fascist state. Yes, it CAN happen here! The Know Nothing vitriole spewing from the ECO- Denyers is truly frightening but not new. Just look back to Ronald Reagan's Sect. of Interior, James Watt; he said we should turn the bison's head around to face the right and that there was no truly compelling need to preserve the environment because the Rapture was coming and all good believers would leave for Heaven anyway.
About an hour ago, Flintstone mouthed this philosophy of ECO-Head in the Sand. How fitting his name.
Lastly, we desperately need true public servants in the next White House, real grownups running the government FOR the people. I just hope the DEMs can find the courage to be up for the task, given the GOP's failure.

[ec]

Kara is right. The issue here is the legality of the actions taken by the Office of the Vice President, not whether they are justified. I happen to think a hand gun ban would be a good idea, but agreed with Scalia that it is up to the legislature to amend the Constitution first. Similarly, the OVP cannot undermine the legal directive of the EPA, recently underscored by a Supreme Court decision, by censoring documents or refusing to open emails (what grade are they in? seriously!) in order to promote what may or may not be a scientifically correct view on Global Warming.

While I happen to worry about Climate Change--I mean, pumping that much CO2 into the atmosphere and oceans cannot have zero impact--no one can say with certainty what the effects are, which is why an informed discussion with all of the facts out there is so important. Cheney and Bush have hindered that, as has the politicization on both sides (e.g., conservatives saying the climate models are bogus even though the earliest ones from the 80's (e.g., Hansen's) have been largely correct in their predictions so far; or liberals like Gore saying that the "science is certain" on climate change, which, as a scientific hypothesis, it never is on any issue).

People on this site should really become more informed, however, as the level of ignorance is astounding to me. Just to take one comment on this site: just because people feared an ice age in the 70's doesn't mean Global Warming is not occuring, any more than my ignorance or denial of earthquakes prevents one from taking down my house. I mean, use your brains, people...

[Edward Abbey]

"The previous comments from the right-wing morons explains how we ended up with an idiot in the white house for the last two terms and he has surely been the worst president in my lifetime. These people do anything to justify their position even if it includes lying and disregarding scientific proof.

Posted by: Lee | July 08, 2008 at 12:35 PM"

Very true Lee. I'm thinking it's finally time to peacefully split the country up. Red and Blue will never work together again.

[Loves watching the Republican rebuttles]

To jjake, steve, samuel, et al. (any current neo-con, war-mongering, we need to drill now types):

Let me summarize this article for you: "The emperor has no clothes!"....or has no sense, but that's another debate.

I laugh at your Rove-esque diatribes and tunnel visions. I bet you believe capitalism will police itself too. Just look at the self-policing the credit industry has done. Personally, I am glad there are dumbits like you. Your ignorance and the fact that you even take the time to spout it out loud makes the world a circus to laugh at.

BTW, how's that SUV with the "W" sticker on the back still running? Pretty good? oooh, quit it,...my side is hurting from laughing at you everytime I drive 'BY' a gas-station...oh man.

I guess we all need something to believe in....Bush/Cheney they're your men....I've got to stop this....it's too much...whoo...I bet there is still some WMD's in Iraq.....oh wait, maybe they were moved in the dark of night to Iran....Let's go bomb them next..yeah, c'mon everybody, we're going on a bombing run,...it'll be fun.....Cheney promises! Oh yeah,...there is no global warming..... and the gov't needs to read your e-mail and listen to your phone calls for your own protection. Reminds me of the Orwellian phrase...."WAR IS PEACE!"

[Truthdigger]

As a kid, Dick Cheney dreamed of power and access to the cabal of secrecy/elitism. Yale shut the door on Cheney and his dreams. Instead of standing with the common man, by God, Dick pulled himself up by the boot straps to join the blue bloods. . . hang with the Skull and Bones guys with money and silver spoons in their mouths (Bush!). Funny, when the Bush family machine reconstructs W's legacy in the future, lets see what they do to Cheney--he'll get trashed. He'll be the ultimate fall guy for the Bushes and his family will suffer for generations. Blue bloods always stick together, and Dick you're not one of them. Come clean now!!!! Save some of your family honor and tell the nation what's really been going on!

[DoofusMcgoofus]

There's a midget in the corner with a bucket and mop where the blood goes down the drain...

[jjake]

one good thing about democracks they are reducing the gene pool by their life style. remember 1969 earth day I had to worry about the ice age from these donut heads. and the democrack energy policy still stink. thank you dick and george for your service to this great nation

And sadly our pathetic and spineless congress will do NOTHING about it. Losers

[UNCLEMILTY]

BOY , I wish some of you would get a job.I know most of you don't need to because of all the benifits you receive from your great government. I also see why you want to see obama in office so you get more , but beleive me if you don't see why this country is in the shape it is your the ones who just don't get it.I bet most of these responses are written by under 30 liberals who truly believe that the rich ,who have worked ther asses of to get what they have ,should share it with them. The DEMOCRATIC way.I'm 62 and have worked hard all my life to get what I have how many of you can say the same?I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HYDROGEN POWERED CARS.but I'm sure most of you would like to have the government or me to buy them for you.

[River2Float]

Drill, Drill, Drill or pay $10 a gallon for gas. Senator Mary Landrieu is forked tongue and will get beaten in November.

[Kithara]

It's the scientists who have presented the evidence for that global warming --not the Democrats or Al Gore. Even McCain has said that if don't believe that the climate is warming humans are still pumping tons of lead, mercury, carbon dioxide, etc into the atmosphere. If climate change is not happening what is Cheney et al trying to hide. Let the scientists give their report and then refute it with equal evidence, not innuendo and lame accusations.

[Bill G]

It is quite sad how divided you all are, the Democrats and Republicans have succeeded wonderfully in Balkanizing the lot of you.

This Mrs Boxer is at the forefront of pushing this ideological split and you guys are eating it up.

[Jeff in Orlando]

Barbara Boxer needs to blow it out her ample butt. With less than 7 months to go she proposes another get Bush/Cheney witch hunt that will lead to nothing. It is time to give up the quest. I would much rather she and the rest of the congress did a little work on the nation's problems. When Bush is gone, who is going to take the Democrat's invective? Maybe they should turn it on themselves since the approval rate of Congress, which is controlled by the Democrats, is now in single digits.

[Brian]

Wow! I've read all the comments here. It always amazes me how almost everyone plays the blame game. The courts, the Senate and the Congress make all the laws and are in control of the spending. If you're not happy with what is going on in our free country, you need to realize who are the ones who have majority rule and control. Then you need to point your finger at yourself because we put the rascals in office! The President and his minions have been lame ducks for four years! There's nothing the Congress and Senate can't do or undo when it comes to the executive office. So if you must blame, at least blame the right people.

[ec]

Norm, I take your point that solar flares or other natural processes could outweigh manmade impacts on the climate, although most scientific research says the opposite. Volcanic and animal contributions to greenhouse gases are likely no more than 1% of manmade impacts (Mt. Pinotubo's massive volcanic explosion put hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, while Americans in that year likely injected 6B tons of CO2).

But I would caution that the climate is too volatile to expect that every recent year (including 1996) need be the hottest on record to prove that the climate is warming. Afterall, there is too much variation in nature to expect 100% conformity to trend (which is why drug companies don't need to show effectiveness in every cancer patient in order to prove efficacy for a cancer treatment). But the volatility around global temperatures in a given year doesn't diprove the trend: maybe 1996 would have been three degrees cooler in a non-global warming world.

Bottom line is that scientists have millions of years of ice core data to show that the link between CO2 concentration and temperature is very strong. Just because we don't know the exact impacts or cannot disprove mitigating factors doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned.

[Mike J]

Just as the secret energy policy meetings were never made public, or how Cheney took control of NORAD in April of 01' (something no other American VP ever did or had a need to do), or the fact that the no-bid contracts to Haliburton have enabled his personal fortune to increase 30 fold in the last 8 years, we're dealing with a pariah here. We need to realize that the media, has been unwittingly duped. If we can impeach Clinton for lying about sex in the Oval office - when is Cheney going to hang for his crimes against Humanity?

[fedworker]

The anti-American behavior of Bush and Cheney pervades everything they do. The "Bush administration" (ever wonder who that really is? It's not Bush, he's not smart enough) has now ordered the officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to suspend their normal activities and get everyone working on writing new regulations that Bush and Cheney want to have enacted before they leave office. Note, that these regulations are not called for by any new legislation or court decisions, they are regulations that the Bush administration doesn't like. Since the White House can't make new laws (that's the job of Congress), they get OMB to write new regulations.

The EPA and CDC are not the only federal agencies being ordered to say "up is down" and change the meanings of science and existing law.

[Fernando F]

now we know what Cheney keeps in his body size safe he has? all those pages he took out from all those reports.

for all those who don't believe in Global Warming: when was the last time the Kilimanjaro didn't have snow?

[Joseph]

Wait, I just have a few questions for people who say global warming doesn't exist.

1. How many sources have you read?
2. More importantly, have you read sources on both sides of the issue?
3. Even more importantly, have you read the critiques from neutral or recognizably biased sources of each of those respective sides?
4. Did you make up your mind before investigating alternative opinions, so that you found yourself rejecting arguments against your opinion before discovering their evidence?

and then, more to the point:

1. If global warming is a scam, who does it benefit?
(If, for example, global warming is a scam to encourage consumers to buy green products, what is the rationale behind strong encouragement of less resource use and consumerism generally, where this would directly disencourage sales?)
2. If "18 million dollars" were truly countering "40 billion dollars," why is it that the trend is towards a public and political understanding of the existence of global warming where once it was assumed largely to be a hoax?
(Imbalance of funds is not a legitimate answer, as the premise of the point was that despite such imbalance, the overpowering truth of global warming's non-existence is capable of 'battling' the heavily privileged opposition)
3. Why would governments as a whole, conservative or liberal, right left up or down, be willing to admit the existence of global warming as they now do - if not a policy against it - were it not real? Following that, if it were in some way an economic scam, why has action not yet been taken to implement it directly?
4. Perhaps most importantly, why would various predictions of global warming, such as ice shelf collapses, species extinctions, and storm intensities prove for the most part to be, not exaggerations as they were made out to be by their opponents, but actually on the conservative side of what has actually happened? In other words, why is the environment actually in worse shape than global warming advocates had tentatively suggested?

[lordjeff]

Speaking about Bush and Cheney LEAVING did anyone here about the article written by the Lincoln Club's board? They are cutting off funding for Republican incumbents in the senate and house because of fiscal irresponsibility. Here's a few links to the whole thing; I wonder if other Republicans will follow in suit?

http://www.greenfaucet.com/hanlons-pub/methinks-thou-doth-protest-too-much

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chip-hanlon/this-isnt-infighting-this_b_111328.html

[Joseph]

btw, River2Float, it'll be several years before any new pumps became operational. People think oil is just neatly packaged in barrels on the bottom of the ocean like power-ups and shields in Halo. By the time we were getting new oil domestically, we could also have been getting energy from wind turbines which are installed, produced and gridded much more quickly and have immediate energy potential.

[Charles]

You folks are batty.

Human produced greenhouse gases are a tiny fraction of total greenhouse gases.

Bush and Cheney are not worse than Hitler.

Anything else?

[angoose]

It's good to see that the true spirit of American democracy is alive and well in the form of public debate, albeit in a form unimaginable to the likes of Thomas Paine or Ben Franklin (well, maybe not Ben). What is not positive is the level of ignorance that fuels these, regrettably, meaningless vitriolic exchanges of party-line media-generated hype. What is apparent from this story is another example of the current administration's filtering and/or reshaping information disseminated to the public to justify some action, or in this case inaction. Research the science of global warming itself; it exists.

When the presidential pardon for Bush is gone next January and the rock is finally lifted up, we will all be shocked to see the slime and villainy beneath. And rest assured that those with information will sing like birds when pressed. Scott McClellan is just the first in a long line of folks that will relate tales of truly disgusting misuse of the office of the executive by this administration. The peeling apart the layers of the onion that is the crimes against the American people and the world will make Watergate look like a tea party.

Wake up and join the 21st century; we're a nation of 300 million people in a world of nearly seven billion, with a faltering economy, failed energy policy, eroding middle class, rising unemployment and inflation, and an increasing concentration of capital in a shrinking number of people/institutions at the top of the pyramid.

So continue to stuff gas into your Tahoe and load up the kids and head to Wal-Mart to buy a load of useless plastic Chinese-manufactured crap, and continue to thank that 19-year old marine that needlessly died as a result of an IED in Iraq a few times a year to give you the right to do so. If you think real change isn't on the way, you're sadly mistaken. There are enough of us that see the truth, don't rely on Fox News, CNN or any other media outlet to form our opinions, and we will be taking America back, and bringing us back into the global community this November.

[Henry Landis]

The best we americans can hope for would be if Cheney, Rove and their puppet in the white house joined the McCain campaign, thus guaranteeing an Obama landslide. Poor old John, while holding his nose and accepting their money, has all he can do to avoid being associated with them and their treasonous betrayal of every principle that made our nation the object of admiration for over two hundred years. Even better, if G-d is good to us, they'll hire Gonzales to defend them at their malfeasance trials.

[anonymous]

Joseph:
"why is the environment actually in worse shape than global warming advocates had tentatively suggested? "
Because they are relying on computer models that rely on their input, not what happens in reality. The models don't and can't possibly account for every variable, like what happens when spring occurs two weeks earlier than normal. Their input also determines the importance of variables.

Mother nature as a whole isn't very forgiving of stupid species. We are in some serious trouble.

[Mark VanGelder]

The future will expose Cheney, Bush and all the other Repub followers for the sinister, corrupt, and greedy, slimey turds that they are!

For all of the Global Warming doubters, let's stop calling it "global warming". Let's just for a moment, forget about the idea that our pollution is causing the world to *warm*. Let's just simply focus on the fact that we are polluting at unimaginable rates.

Stand behind a big diesel truck and take a deep breath. Does it smell good? Are you comfortable with your kids standing behind it and taking deep breaths? From a very practical level - can this actually be healthy for our planet or ourselves to be filling our air with this and then breathing it in regularly? We don't exactly get shilments of *clean NEW air* regularly from somewhere else to replace the air we've filled with exhaust.

We are pouring billions of tons of pesticides and chemicals into our air, soil, rivers and oceans. Coral reefs all over the world are dying. The chemical waste produced by everyday things such as bleaching paper products with dioxin, the remains of dry cleaning chemicals and leather tanning chemicals and such into our waterways is causing *dead areas* for MILES off of our coast lines. We have a DOCUMENTED giant patch of plastic trash floating in the Pacific that is twice the size of Texas. Brain tumors in kids are up 40% in the last 15 years. Rivers in America and China and elsewhere are pure poison and undrinkable, the air in some places is too dangerous to breathe.

Please, tell me, even if you don't believe in "Global Warming" as a concept...just how long do you think our planet can keep going at the rate we are polluting it? Are you really so short sighted as to think it's OK to keep going at this rate, and who cares about the future? I have kids and I don't think it's ok. I think we have a responsibility to take care of what we are given. Our planet is on