Thursday, October 22, 2009

From The Dept. Of Jeezus-Fucking-KeeRyst: Poll Finds USer's "Belief In" Climate Change "Cooling"

American asshole-dom is (still) confused about the difference between "climate" and "weather."

Which is why I would resist to my dying breath any effort to install instant, plebicitory "democracy": Under the onslaught of the truly sophisticated, expensively manipulative, highly research-tested (dis)information-propaganda-advertizing campaigns of which the descendents of the "MadMen" have become masters, the "average" voter can be convinced of anyfuckingthing, if it is repeated often enough by a figure with sufficient "authority." Think: The BIG Lie. It works, better now than ever, since the invention of the 24-hour news cycle.

Proof: There is NO legitimate, disinterested science anyfuckingwhere which reaches even "tentative" conclusions doubting wide-spread, anthropogenic, global climate change anyfuckingmore. It's here, and we did it to ourfuckingselves, and ourfuckingselves are going to have to do something about it or be responsible for visiting the consequences on our (well, your) progeny.

But the deniers have "intere$t$," $billion$, minion$, and the cabloid 24-hour news cycle. If I were a professional propagandist proponent of the "Big Lie" --like Rupert Murdoch, e.g.-- and the 24-hour news cycle didn't exist, I'd have to invent it

Via Yahoo/AP, though the google says discover.net broke it a couple of hours earlier:
WASHINGTON – The number of Americans who believe there is solid evidence the Earth is warming because of pollution is at its lowest point in three years, according to a survey released Thursday.

The poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that only 57 percent believe there is strong scientific evidence the Earth has gotten hotter over the past few decades, and as a result, people are viewing the situation as less serious. That's down from 77 percent in 2006, and 71 percent in April 2008.

The steepest drop occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. (That is, coincidentally, precisely at the when special interests spent untold BILLIONS of dollars to spin and lie about climate change science--W.) At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.

The poll was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report Thursday found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic's thermostat.

But while the evidence appears clear (fuck "appears clear;" it's unfuckingassailable--W), only about a third, or 36 percent of the poll respondents feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's the first decline since 2006.

"The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things," said Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. "When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave."

Andrew Weaver, a professor of climate analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said politics could be drowning out scientific awareness.

"It's a combination of poor communication by scientists, a lousy summer in the Eastern United States, people mixing up weather and climate and a full-court press by public relations firms and lobby groups trying to instill a sense of uncertainty and confusion in the public," he said.

Despite misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices, and a majority — 56 percent — feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.

But many of supporters of reducing pollution have heard little to nothing about cap-and-trade, the main mechanism for reducing greenhouse gases favored by the White House and central to legislation passed by the House and a bill the Senate will take up next week.

Under cap-and-trade, a price is put on each ton of pollution, and businesses can buy and sell permits to meet emissions limits. (How long before ya figger before the banksters'll be atradin' them some "emission-default-swap instruments?"--W)

"Perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll ... is that the more Americans learn about cap-and-trade, the more they oppose cap-and-trade," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who opposes the Senate bill and has questioned global warming science. Republicans in general have grown even more steadfast in their opposition. A majority — 57 percent — now say there is no hard evidence of global warming, up from 42 percent last year, according to the poll. (On matters of truth and reality, one may safely ignore Sen Inhofe. It was for the likes of him that the term "know-Nothing" was coined. For one thing, he's a fucking cracker Okie. For another Inhofe brags there has never been either a gay or a divorce anywhere in his whole, inbred clan. His sole and only claim to ANY expertise of any kind is based on a bachelors in economics from UTulsa and a notable business failure--W.)

Other results of the survey also suggest that it will be tough politically to enact a law limiting emissions of global warming pollution. While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave as they did last year. (Yeah, but the black man in the White Hous gives'em 'da blues'--W)

Regional differences were also detected. People living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West are far less likely to view global warming as a serious problem and to support limits on greenhouse gases than those in the Northeast and on the West Coast. (It's not regarded as fly-over country for nothing--W.) Both the House and Senate bills have been drafted by Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and California.

One of those lawmakers, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, told reporters Thursday that she was happy with the results, given the interests and industry groups fighting the bill.

"Today, to get 57 percent saying that the climate is warming is good, because today everybody is grumpy about everything," Boxer said. "Science will win the day in America. Science always wins the day." (Errrm, Senator? Ever hear of the Snopes "monkey" trial (e.g.)?--W)

Earlier polls, from different organizations, have not detected a growing skepticism about the science behind global warming.

Since 1997, the percentage of Americans that believe the Earth is heating up has remained constant — at around 80 percent — in polling done by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University. Krosnick, who has been conducting surveys on attitudes about global warming since 1993 was surprised by the Pew results.

He described the decline in the Pew results as "implausible," saying there is nothing that could have caused it. (
Emphases supplied--W)
What kind of fucking pathologically delusional mental midget believes the "balance of nature" WILL NOT BE upset when, in the course of merely 300 years, we--Humans, mainly in and of "the West"--release back into the environment more than half of the CO2 that the planet had successfully sequestered over the previous several BILLION fucking years?

Unfuckingbelievable!

We--everybody and everything--are SOOOOOOOOO fucked.

1 comment:

P M Prescott said...

Head for the high mountains, by the time everyone wakes up to what's happening the only thing visible on the statue of liberty will be the torch.