Just Wondering

SFGATE.com (Chronicle) ^ | June 30th 2003 | Adam Sparks

[sfwarrior]

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." -- Plato

I wonder why every employer and employee in the land must pay into the Social Security system, except for members of Congress, who can exempt themselves.

I wonder why newly arrived immigrants can get right on Social Security, welfare and other social services. They haven't even paid into the system. I thought they needed responsible guarantors to immigrate?

I wonder why no one is supposed to talk about fixing Social Security. Doesn't everyone know it's not a true pension program, but rather a pay-as-you-go system that will eventually go broke because of our aging population.

I wonder why Congress makes it so difficult for us to retire, but Congress members can retire on a pension equal to 80 percent of their full salary after serving just five years.

I wonder why politicians are continually passing new gun-control laws that make it ever more difficult to acquire and keep firearms, except that the laws don't apply to themselves: Many members of Congress carry concealed weapons.

I wonder why voters in California who passed Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action, don't see the law enforced in many cities like San Francisco, which brazenly ignores the law.

I wonder why after the California voters passed Proposition 227, which banned teaching immigrant children in their native language in our grade schools, we didn't see the dismantling of the huge foreign-language bureaucracy in school districts such as San Francisco's.

I wonder how our nation, which has had a long-standing policy of not negotiating with terrorists, can then turn around and insist that Israel now negotiate with terrorists.

I wonder why it is that Arabs, who have approximately 100 times the land area of tiny Israel, still want some of that nation's land, and how our country, which does not reward terrorism, will now acquiesce to terrorists by giving them a state.

I wonder why Europe has so much hatred for Jews and for Israelis by proxy.

I wonder why Democrats were so gung-ho about sending American troops to Kosovo, Croatia and Serbia but were aghast at liberating the Iraqi people from a brutal tyrant.

I wonder why so many people put their faith in the United Nations, when a majority of the members are states that are run by despots. Moreover, the United Nations has yet to depose a single brutal dictator.

I wonder how the people of California could reelect a governor who has put this state into $38 billion in debt (more than all the other states combined). Is this the kind of incompetent, duplicitous guy you'd want to run the company you work for?

I wonder why no big-name Democrats have indicated they would enter the governor's race if Gray Davis were recalled. Are they all conceding to the Terminator?

I wonder why it's so darn hard to...

[sfwarrior]

I'm wondering if liberal wonder about this stuff too.

[sfwarrior]

ping

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Great article Adam!

Did you hear about the gays wielding copper pipes with signs tried to attack Gavin Newsom today?

Here's the article in the SFGate:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/937834/posts

[cherry_bomb88]

(((((((((((((((Ping)))))))))))))))))

SF...a great article! I've been wondering some of those points myself.

[cherry_bomb88]

By the way....if you get any answers, would you please let me know so I can stop wondering too!!!

[non-anonymous]

I wonder why the East Coast and the Midwest have experienced some of the coldest winters in their recorded history despite the onset of global warming.

It really bugs me when people wonder about complex thermodynamic fluid systems in common sense ways, and then say "Duh!" at the end as if it's all so clear. :)

The problem isn't that everyone's A/C bills will soar, it's that local areas will experience changes in their weather, which are mostly unpredictable. All it takes to freeze Minnesota is to point the jet stream straight down from Canada, and that could easily be a symptom of even slight global warming. Duh!

[cherry_bomb88]

Hey Chris, are you here to join us from DUh????

Your "arguments" would appear to be that of a DU spy.

It's funny, if it's too hot, it's because of global warming, if it's too cold, it's because of global warming....when is it just the way the weather is??????

Oh, I forgot, liberals always have to have someone to blame for everything...nothing can just "be". ;o)

[weegee]

I heard a radio interview with "candidate" Jerry "Trash Tv Show Host" Springer. He wanted to raise the cap on payroll taxes (social security). He then wanted to use that "extra" tax to exempt lower income earners (up to 20k) from paying any social security/medicare taxes.

Of course this would just prove the falicy that social security is a retirement supplement and not a "tax". That you are supposed to be able to get out what you pay into it.

Jerry may never get elected but this idea might get legs from the poverty pimps on the left who want to keep some people poor and loyal to the democrat party.

[Lefty-NiceGuy]

It really bugs me when people wonder about complex thermodynamic fluid systems in common sense ways, and then say "Duh!" at the end as if it's all so clear. :)

Yeah, it's good to see conservatives that aren't in denial of climate change or enviromental problems in general for the sake of ideology. Some like Carry_Okie seem to think property rights and enviromental protection are compatible.

[Carry_Okie]

There are too many real environmental effects resulting from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide to be chasing idiotic and ephemeral charades like anthropogenic climate change.

Perhaps you can explain why environmentalists stupidly ignore them.

I can.

[hellinahandcart]

Why excerpt this, I wonder...

[cherry_bomb88]

Have we suddenly been invaded by a bunch of tree-hugging hippiecrats?

There are things that cause atmospheric changes besides cars omitting carbon dioxide, for instance, the large wild fires in Arizona and New Mexico. Not only do they omit carbon dioxide into the air (at a rate far greater than all the SUV's in those states) but they generate so much heat that it causes a change in the pressure systems.

Would I call that global warming? I guess if you want to get technical, fire is warm and it's warming the global atmosphere around it...but there have been natural wild fires for centuries cause by lightning. Conservation Departments in every state have "controlled" brush fires to renew natural prairie grass areas. In Illinois the DEA is regularly having LARGE bon fires and field burnings to destroy the "hemp" that grows naturally & rampidly here...left over WWII when farmers used to grow hemp to make ropes.

Then there's the fact that our weather measuring tools, tehcniques and record keeping are far more advanced than they were even 50 years ago, which can attribute to some of the "apparent" global warming.

Next, we can talk about sun spots/flares, that have been shown to cause great "phenomena’s" in our weather patterns here. Did we cause the sun spots with our SUV's???? Doubtful.

But you know, if you really think SUV's are such a problem, perhaps you should write Senator HitLIARy Clinton a letter...Saturday at her book signing here in Chicago, the one that she had to have an entarage of Secret Service at tax payers expense for her private gain of the book signing (I sure hope Simon & Schuester are reimbursing the tax payers for all that expense) She had not one, but two LARGE SUV's in her motorcade of 6 cars....interesting position for a Senator who's so concerned about the environment.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Carry_Okie]

Have we suddenly been invaded by a bunch of tree-hugging hippiecrats?

Not hardly, but I suggest you get your facts straight. The environmentalists take enough stupid postitions that conservatives don't have to add to them. You discredit your own "side" of the debate with such arguments.

There are things that cause atmospheric changes besides cars omitting carbon dioxide, for instance, the large wild fires in Arizona and New Mexico. Not only do they omit carbon dioxide into the air (at a rate far greater than all the SUV's in those states) but they generate so much heat that it causes a change in the pressure systems.

First, you apparently missed the photo essay I posted on FR about the damage done by the Rodeo/Chedisky Fire. Second, to attibute weather changes to a fire, except on the most ephemeral basis, is extremely foolish. On balance, a forest fire releases additional carbon dioxide only in the short term. If there wasn't any fire, fungi would eventually emit the carbon anyway when the wood rots. After a fire, a fraction of the carbon in the root bolls remains underground and the forest regrows to adsorb more than was released (if it doesn't burn first). Therein lies the real problem with increased CO₂. The forest grows faster and thicker than ever due to the fertilization effect of CO₂ and will probably burn hotter and more frequently than its historic norm. In modeling the long term effects of resource management, one should probably not look at a forest as either a source or a sink of atmospheric carbon.

In fact, there is only one major carbon sink that can be modified by human behavior, and that is the amount adsorbed by the oceans in the skeletal remains of dynoflagellates such as foraminifera. Fertilizing the algae upon which the forams feed can definitely accelerate atmospheric carbon sequestration. Whether that's worth it or not is another matter. I have my doubts.

Then there's the fact that our weather measuring tools, tehcniques and record keeping are far more advanced than they were even 50 years ago, which can attribute to some of the "apparent" global warming.

There is no longer much doubt that the troposphere is slowly warming, so putting any apparent changes up to "measurement error" (other than the urban heat island effect) is probably not a productive stance. You are correct to attribute the bulk of atmospheric temperature change to variation in solar radience, so stay with that one. Very little (if not undetectable) warming is due to increased CO₂. Attributing climate change to anthropogenic global warming due to human consumption of hydrocarbons is indeed a hoax.

But you know, if you really think SUV's are such a problem, perhaps you should write Senator HitLIARy Clinton a letter...Saturday at her book signing here in Chicago, the one that she had to have an entarage of Secret Service at tax payers expense for her private gain of the book signing (I sure hope Simon & Schuester are reimbursing the tax payers for all that expense) She had not one, but two LARGE SUV's in her motorcade of 6 cars....interesting position for a Senator who's so concerned about the environment.

I don't need this kind of ignorant crap directed at me. I've never taken a position on SUVs and my opinons on the threat to our freedom the Hildabeast poses are easy to find by a search on this site which you were apparently too lazy to do. Go find a liberal to rant to.

[cherry_bomb88]

First off, Carry_Okie, my rant was not directed at you, it was intended for Lefty & CoolC, you were a "cc" of sorts. I assumed you to be a conservative scientist based on Lefty's snide remark towards you and I assumed that if I brought up the solar flares you would be able to back me up on them, which indeed you have.

First, you apparently missed the photo essay I posted on FR about the damage done by the Rodeo/Chedisky Fire.

I did not see it. I just joined FR in March of this year, and no one has pointed me to it, although I'd be extremely intereseted in it. I have an ecology class coming up in my BS program (finishing late in life) and it might prove helpful.

You are correct to attribute the bulk of atmospheric temperature change to variation in solar radience, so stay with that one

See, you do learn things from The Discovery Channel! Actually, I am not sure it was DC, but one of those channels had a very interesting program on about sun spots & solar flares. It made great sense to me. Then the Sci-Fi Channel had this movie about global flooding & other weather extremities due to Solar Flares (this goes back a few years) it was a very very interesting (the guy from Third Rock played one of the leads).

I don't need this kind of ignorant crap directed at me. I've never taken a position on SUVs and my opinons on the threat to our freedom the Hildabeast poses are easy to find by a search on this site which you were apparently too lazy to do. Go find a liberal to rant to.

I'm sorry if that came across as it was directed to you, it was not. Again, I assumed you were a conservative (right) minded scientist, that was directed at Lefty & CoolC, perhaps I should have been clearer about that. Your first post I read on this thread did not appear to me that you at all blamed SUV's, rather you credited a more "real" explanation. So, I hope that clears up any misunderstanding. The tree-hugging hippiecrat comment was directed at CoolC as well...I take the position that when speaking to liberals, you need to talk in very simplistic terms, they don't understand too many big words. ;o)

I'm on the same side as you, while far less educated than you in that arena, I am interested in your opinions and find them fascinating, if not educating for myself and my general purposes. That being said, I hope you accept my humble apologies for coming across as attacking you.

[Carry_Okie]

Thank you, but when you put my name first on the "To" list, I assumed that it was directed at me with the "cc" to the others (that's the usual informal protocol). I'm flagging EBUCK to see if he knows where the thread showing those pictures might be here on FR.

If you want to learn a whole lot more about how to take the liberals to task for the environmental damage socialism is doing, and what to do about it, consider my book on the topic. It will give those liberal professors of yours a splitting headache.

[EBUCK]

I'll go find it for ya, I'm sure I have it saved somewhere....

[EBUCK]

Until I find the thread there is a pretty condensed version here on my site...

www.azfire.org

just follow the pics which are links.

[DumpsterDiver]

I wonder why every employer and employee in the land must pay into the Social Security system, except for members of Congress, who can exempt themselves.

From C-Span: Since January 1, 1984, all Members of Congress also participate in the Social Security system and are required to pay Social Security taxes.

Also see this page.

[cherry_bomb88]

Thank you...I will check it out, but more for general debate with liberals...I'm lucky in that I attend a conservative Christian University and don't have the liberal professors to deal with. I did that intentionally, I'd probably get flunked out of school by liberal professors whom I have NO patience for at my age!

I do have a liberal transgender in the class (ugh!).....so I will make use of your information! She/he likes to site Michael Moore's lunacy constantly. Imagine, siting an uneducated sloth like Michael Moore.