Enter The Morons
Posted by Phoenix Woman on April 6, 2008
Coming home on one of our major thoroughfares into Saint Paul, I noticed a really strange billboard. It featured a variant of everybody’s favorite scare font, Stencil, and a photo of a guy apparently meant to stand in for all “Regular Joes” everywhere being handcuffed by a Big Beefy Bald Dude in a black police-style uniform with the words “Climate COPS” on the back. The caption: “His crime: Thermostat at 72F. www.GlobalWarmingScam.com.”
Intrigued, I did some poking around, and sure enough, these guys are a front group for the charming dorks of the tragically-misnamed “Minnesota Majority”:
Another ironic part was the statement about “special interests that stand to profit”. The Minnesota Majority, sponsors of globalwarmingscam, don’t seem to mind another cause to champion. Speaking of issues, here are some more of the Minnesota Majority’s views:
1. The Healthcare “Crisis” is a myth. More of the same “taxed to death” rhetoric.
2.Illegal Immigration. Clearly another hot button issue for Minnesota Majority to champion.
3.Homosexual Marraige. We can’t afford to pay taxes for health care but spending money trying to change the state constitution to favor one group’s religious views is a priority?
4.Sex Education. Many of the points raised in this section are valid. Having sex before marraige does increase the risk of unwanted pregnancy and disease. To discuss the rest of the “evidence” supplied for reasons not to educate kids about sex I’d have to borrow some previously mentioned buzzwards like “alarmist agenda” and “unproven scientific data”.
5. Embryonic Stem Cell Research. More of the above. Lots of religious interpretation of unprovable issues like the beginning of life, conciousness and the soul.
6. Transportation Spending.
I’m going to talk a little more about transportation because that’s the one part of this that relates to this site most closely.
Two earmarks the Minnesota Majority lists involve bike paths. Bike paths, always a good target for the anti-tax lobby, are always included in with the so called “pork”. Bikes are proving to be a viable and cost effective source of transportation for more and more Minnesotans each year. There are a bare minimum of good bike paths in our metro area. Remember, sidewalks are NOT bike paths. In fact, it is illegal to ride on them. People who choose to ride their bikes often take a great risk by riding on busy shoulders. This is not only dangerous for the biker, but for the cars who share the road. A path that allows bikes off of busy roads not only saves lives, but helps prevent costly accidents and traffic disruptions.
When they’re not attacking gays and paying taxes to support bike paths and the environment, they’re inciting their membership to stalk people:
Minnesota Majority Targets Private Citizen Karl Bremer in Nastygram Campaign
Check the letter generator out here.
VETS FOR FREEDOM – Tell Protest Organizer What You Think
Karl Bremer of Stillwater was one of the individuals probably most responsible for helping to organize the protest threat that resulted in the cancellation of the VETS FOR FREEDOM event at Forest Lake Area High School (see Mr. Bremmer’s [sic] post on Democrats Underground). Mr. Bremmer [sic] has been a long-time Left wing actvist [sic] in the Stillwater area. You can use the form below to send a message to Mr. Bremer letting him know your thoughts about his actionsThe alert also includes a photo of Karl Bremer. That seems menacing.
I’ve never seen an alert like this before that was targeting a private citizen who spoke out.
There was a similar alert on Look True North. Originally the alert included Karl Bremer’s home and work number, and also his home address. Now Vets for Freedom appears to be distancing themselves a bit.
As well they should.
deralaand said
There is a similar advertisement on 94 west heading east towards Albertville. This one says something to the effect that Gore lied and won a Nobel Prize! and then http://www.GlobalWarmingScam.com
Who and what are we to believe?
Al Gore is a politician. Not a climatologist.
I have read also that scientists are reading elevated temperatures on all of the other planets in our solar system. Does this mean that my “Carbon Footprint” is affecting Mars as well?
I don’t want to blindly follow the masses and agree simply because a known figurehead says so.
Phoenix Woman said
Got evidence, Deralaand? Or are you another driveby feces-flinger who isn’t interested in factual debate?
C’mon. We’re waiting.
Stormcrow said
Sorry, Deralaand.
As for global warming itself, the climate record shuts up even the oil companies.
I haven’t heard of ANYONE who has even managed to successfully attack the idea that global warming is anthropogenic.
The last time I saw someone seriously try was over at Counterpunch, of all places. Where Alexander Cockburn made himself look like a damned fool about a year ago.
Phoenix Woman said
Oh, heavens, yes. Cockburn, who let his fondness of classic muscle cars overwhelm his brain. Maybe if he got to ride in a Tesla, he’d suddenly see the light.
Charles II said
Deraaland, in science, there’s always one guy who still thinks the earth is flat. So, just because some guy says something makes no never mind. What matters is the consensus, marked especially by what papers get published in peer-reviewed journals. For global warming, the consensus is very strongly that it’s caused by man.
But there’s a little more to it. Statistics are never certainties, so conclusions are represented in terms of statistical probabilities. No good scientist will tell you that there’s no question about the data, only that it’s very, very strong. And that honesty, that humility about the limits of science, is just the aperture that liars use to sow doubt with the public.
And, finally, correlation is not causation. Very occasionally, the flat earthers turn out to be correct, either because 95% certain is not 100% certain or because some unsuspected factor turns out to be driving the correlation. But the unsuspected factor is almost certainly itself connected to the other factor. So, for example, the level of sunspots is an unlikely primary factor, because it’s not connected to the amount of coal that’s burned.
And so scientists work by what is called the precautionary principle. In other words, one looks not only at what the prediction is, but what the costs– dollar and human– are in doing something about it… or not doing anything.
The basic story is roughly this:
Is global warming caused by man? 95% certainty yes. Costs of addressing it if yes: tens or hundreds of billions, no cost to human life. Costs of not addressing it if yes: trillions of dollars, possibly billions of lives.
5% probability that global warming is not caused by man. Cost of doing something about it: tens or hundreds of billions. Cost of doing nothing: zero.
I hope you can see that with potentially billions of lives and trillions of dollars in the balance, it’s time for the coal companies to shut up and let the rest of humanity do what’s needed.
Stormcrow said
Cockburn, who let his fondness of classic muscle cars overwhelm his brain.
Was that what it was?
Sweet Chocolate Jesus.
He was tying himself in knots back in June or July. Attacking the whole idea of peer review, and defending some poor schmuck who had to use one of Lyndon LaRouche’s conspiracy theory porta-potties to publish his notions.
Talk about lost causes.
Not to mention Really Bad Ideas.
I wonder if Alexander Cockburn has any IDEA how much he damaged the credibility of his whole site when he did that? Not to mention the credibility of his own reportage. He convinced me, in a stunned hurry, that he didn’t have even the vaguest idea of how to vet scientific opinion.
If you’re a journalist who takes controversial stands, it’s unforgivably stupid to give your readers the idea that your own bullshit meter is broken. After that, most thoughtful people are going to stop listening to you. When that happens, you should just fold up your tent and move on, because you’re out of a job.
Phoenix Woman said
Stormie, RE: Cockburn and his classic-car fetish: Yupper. He’s particularly fond of the old ’60s beasts, the arks on wheels. My first encounter with him in a magazine around twenty years or so ago was in a picture that showed him at the wheel of a convertible. My guess is that what scares him about accepting the reality of climate change is that he’s afraid he’ll never be able to drive a high-performance vehicle again. If we could get him behind the wheel of a Tesla, he’d be singing a different tune.
He was tying himself in knots back in June or July. Attacking the whole idea of peer review, and defending some poor schmuck who had to use one of Lyndon LaRouche’s conspiracy theory porta-potties to publish his notions.
He was doing similar crap in The Nation, too. It was embarrassing.
I wonder if Alexander Cockburn has any IDEA how much he damaged the credibility of his whole site when he did that? Not to mention the credibility of his own reportage. He convinced me, in a stunned hurry, that he didn’t have even the vaguest idea of how to vet scientific opinion.
He definitely convinced me to ignore everything he says pertaining to the environment — and to take everything else he says with bags of salt.
If you’re a journalist who takes controversial stands, it’s unforgivably stupid to give your readers the idea that your own bullshit meter is broken. After that, most thoughtful people are going to stop listening to you. When that happens, you should just fold up your tent and move on, because you’re out of a job.
He and Christopher Hitchens are two peas in a pod. Cockburn’s marginally saner, but it was only a matter of time before he took the same credibility-ending swan dive; the only difference is that while Hitchens’ credibility seppuku had to do with the Clintons and Iraq, Cockburn’s is about climate change.
Stormcrow said
Funny.
I was thinking about Hitchens the last time I read through one of Cockburn’s screeds.
This was a fairly recent piece where he seemed to flirt with the idea that Ralph Nader somehow vaguely resembled a viable candidate. Rather than a man who had sold out on his own principles. My best guess is, for nothing more than spite.
If your blog software had provision for the insertion of a “rolls eyes” icon, I’d insert one here. What is it with Nader and some people? What is the Fatal Attraction? Have they completely failed to figure him out? After his little Republican funded road show in 2004? Or are they fascinated by the abomination?
For those for whom this is news: just Google on
“nader campaign funded by republicans”
without the quotes. A whole wide wonderful can of worms will spread before your astonished eyes.
SOG knives said
Interesting ideas… I wonder how the Hollywood media would portray this?