No Coal Mines on Mars

KT state Senator Brandon Smith, The Thinker

Via Hunter, I hear that the Kentucky State  Senate Majority Whip, Sen. Brandon Smith, is so worried about the just over 0.6 percent of total employment in the state that is coal mining jobs that he's taken to the halls of academia for proof of how silly this whole global warming thing is.

“As you (Energy & Environment Cabinet official) sit there in your chair with your data, we sit up here in ours with our data and our constituents and stuff behind us. I don’t want to get into the debate about climate change, but I will simply point out that I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on Mars is exactly as it is here. Nobody will dispute that. Yet there are no coal mines on Mars. There are no factories on Mars that I’m aware of.”

Click on through for the fun scientific stuff, like the vast difference in average temperatures. But for the sake of an academic exercise, if we did find coal deposits on Mars, it would be proof of life on another planet, and it would be a handy way, assuming there's enough of it, for us to terraform Mars. You know, if you believe the physicists in academia who tell us that adding CO2 to a planet's atmosphere makes the planet hotter. Like what happened on Venus. Without any coal mines or factories. That I'm aware of.

Wherein a Wingnut Starts to Figure Out How Mad People Are But Still Can't Understand Why

This is what passes for humor in wingnut world.

I'd have never had the chance to make $250 (2021 dollars) for the Climate Science Defense Fund if I hadn't read about how often Pat Michaels is wrong. What a mark! 

Dr. Roy Spencer's post about my global warming bet with Patrick Michaels stirred up the usual BS (the real fun is always in the comments) from the fake skeptics brigade of often wrong wingnuts. Here's my reply to one of the inevitable, "you're so rude" comments wherein some other wingnut decides that the subject at hand isn't as important as pointing out how much he doesn't care for my attitude.

"Scott, I’ll take that Bet, Micheal Mann admits to charging $10,000 per speaking event. Roy what is your fee?" 

So, as "proof" that the average denier makes more than the average scientist, you want to use Mann and Spencer's fees per speech? Wow. You are a Republican. Even I'm better at math and statistics than that. 

"We are shaped by our understanding of situations and ideology." 

Right. I understand that Republicans lied us into a $6 trillion dollar war that maimed, killed, and displaced millions. I understand that Republican trickle-down, supply-side, freshwater economics led to the Little Bush Depression, the largest recession since the great depression. I understand that Republicans just voted to take food out of the mouths of hungry children. They keep voting to deny health insurance to 20 million.
And I understand that Republicans really suck at science. From evolution to geology to climate, they really want to, for the most part, suggest that humans aren't God, and therefore cannot affect the climate, or can't evolve, or whatever.  

Some of you may be atheists and just bad a science. But for the most part, you're a backwards, hateful, gay bashing, discriminatory, warmongering bunch of liars who BS about anything and everything. 

"perhaps you are the one that is at fault in your ideological beliefs." 

Yeah, you're going to have to rephrase that, because you lost me. My reasoning is as I stated above. You guys are so wrong so often that the only explanation for why anyone would still listen to you is if they're brainwashed. By religion, by an abusive parent, by a crazy uncle... I don't know, and I don't care. All I know is we REALLY need to stop listening to you guys. 

"you attempt to belittle someone else’s beliefs and show a bigoted bias that really stifles true conversation." 

Now you're catching on. This argument's been going on for decades. You guys don't listen. You don't care. You're so full of it, and yourselves, that when you see someone come back and act the same way, if maybe a little more forcefully, it's shocking to you. It's like, you giggle about Rush Limbaugh, but when someone from my side of the aisle even employs just a few of his style points, you get all pissy. Well, boo-hoo. 

But here's the thing. I don't want conversation. I'm sick of listening to you guys make the same old arguments over and over again. I want you people to put up or shut up. Of course, you probably won't do either, but, hey, a guy can dream... 

"But having you belittle the position rather than address the actual reasons for my dissent from the conclusion is counter productive and to be honest persecution closer to religious fervor than thoughtful discourse." 

I am addressing the reasons for your dissent. I just did. I have before. And I'm sick of doing it. It's not like we're disagreeing about is what color we should pick for our walls. This is what the Pentagon--an institution I assume you respect--said is one of the biggest threats to the future of America out there. I'm not a calm person. But I'm certainly not religious. I get pissed when people like you vote for people like GW Bush or Mitt Romney, because I'm deeply aware of what's at stake. I've seen your track records. I've watched your neocon oilmen wreak havoc on the world. And I'm sick of it.  

Now, do you want to bet on your silly pseudo-scientific BS, or not? 

Why don't you pray to your God about it. Maybe he'll have an answer.

You can all go see if he replies. I really hope so, because while I'm sick of hearing the same old shit, my ultimate philosophy is Keep Talking, Wingnuts.

So Many Wingnuts, So Little Time

At least anti-christ ranks at the bottom.

The results of Public Policy Polling's national conspiracy theory poll were posted yesterday, and never have the wingnuts said so much by answering yes, no, or maybe. While plenty of Democrats believed some crazy stuff, the trophy for believing the unbelievable goes to the Republicans in the poll.

At the top of the list, we have yet another point of reference that makes me miss Intrade.

37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax, 51% do not. Republicans say global warming is a hoax by a 58-25 margin, Democrats disagree 11-77, and Independents are more split at  41-51. 61% of Romney voters believe global warming is a hoax.

Fifty-eight percent of Republicans believe global warming is a hoax. This is astounding. They're not saying, oh, it's happening but it's natural, or it's the sun, or whatever. They're saying that a world-wide consensus of top scientists are conspiring to tell us something that is obviously happening is not, just so they can have the black helicopters come take their SUVs. Or something.

Intrade had a whole host of climate markets, from monthly, annual, and multi-annual global temperature anomalies, to last named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, to minimum arctic sea ice extent, and much more. The volume was pretty low in those markets, and it was often hard to find people to bet the conspiracy side of things, but a bet's a bet, and I was surprised at how few takers there are.

I was trying to round up more of these hoaxters to put their money where their conspiracy minded mouths are. Maybe if Intrade does manage to recover from their recent problems and return, I'll be able to coax some of these ignorant fools into putting a few bucks on their theory.

Keep talking, wingnut! Image credit. 

The wingnuttery continues!

13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters.

This is more proof of ThomasD's theory that fundamentalists have a problem with parables. That is, if you think there is any allegory in Revelations at all. Frankly, I think it's the ravings of a nut case who was just trying to scare ignorant people into becoming Christians. Pretty impressive ravings, though, considering that even in this modern age, 13% of Americans not only believe it, but think the President is one of the main characters in this never ending fairy tale.

And, finally, proof that although they tend to deny they supported the war now, or that the war was a good idea, or whatever, we find that, if asked in a poll where no one will know who they are, the Republican love for W hasn't really diminished at all. I'm guessing that a great many of the people who supported the $6.2 trillion Iraq war will go to their graves thinking they were right.

Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 72% of Democrats think Bush lied about WMDs, Independents agree 48-45, just 13% of Republicans think so.

Considering the other crazy shit that Republicans revealed about themselves in this poll, I'm surprised that 13% of Republicans think Bush lied us into Iraq. They must be RINOs.