The One and Only Climate Change thread...

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

So let me try to understand this crime issue.

Harper wants to build more prisons and it is justified by high levels of unreported crime. Presumably these prisons will jail the people that commit the unreported crimes. However if they are unreported, than how are we to catch the people to jail them, and how do we even know how many there are? According to Vlad, they will not be caught anyway; which is why they are not reported in the first place.

So on the one hand Vlad is saying that we need more prisons and on the other hand he is saying that these people will not be caught anyway. So he wants to tax people more and spend 9 Billion$ to have more prisons built for what reason?

On another issue, I am guessing that the trio want to tax Canadians more and spend 27 Billion$ on new fighter jets; to counteract the Russians who we just had a large wargames exercise with.

Interesting that the neocons all thing alike; none of them think for themselves. If you want to trash the census you therefore support building more prisons and buying more jets and having no climate change policy.

Talk about ideology overwhelming their cognitive reasoning abilities!!!!

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

There have been some breakins around here over the years.

I never heard they caught anyone.

Insurance claims lead to higher premiums and it has to be worth claiming. Too many claims can make it hard to get insurance.

It took me about six or seven months to get a settlement from the insurance company on the one claim for a stolen computer that I did make and I had to do a lot of emailing, faxing and calling on the phone from California in order to get my payment. It was not worth the hassle.

Another stolen computer consisted of a motherboard that cost me $15 on EBay, a computer case that cost me $20 and some parts that cost another $20. I never reported that one.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

So let me try to understand this crime issue.

Harper wants to build more prisons and it is justified by high levels of unreported crime. Presumably these prisons will jail the people that commit the unreported crimes. However if they are unreported, than how are we to catch the people to jail them, and how do we even know how many there are? According to Vlad, they will not be caught anyway; which is why they are not reported in the first place.

So on the one hand Vlad is saying that we need more prisons and on the other hand he is saying that these people will not be caught anyway. So he wants to tax people more and spend 9 Billion$ to have more prisons built for what reason?

On another issue, I am guessing that the trio want to tax Canadians more and spend 27 Billion$ on new fighter jets; to counteract the Russians who we just had a large wargames exercise with.

Interesting that the neocons all thing alike; none of them think for themselves. If you want to trash the census you therefore support building more prisons and buying more jets and having no climate change policy.

Talk about ideology overwhelming their cognitive reasoning abilities!!!!

Bob Gillanders says you are an intelligent guy. I trust Bob. You just don't seem to show that intelligence here in these discussions. Maybe you are sleep deprived or something.

In general, criminals are not very bright people. That is why the police manage to catch so many of them. Just because most crimes are not reported does not mean that all of them are unreported. If people saw some results from reporting crimes more crimes would be reported. If criminals didn't get revolving door plea bargain deals then there would be less crime. Don't get me started on the justice system where getting a conviction is more important than convicting the right person.

For crimes like car theft and burglary, jailing a few offenders causes the crime rate to go down significantly since an astronomical amount of crime has to happen to support the habits of the people who do these crimes and there is a very small subset of criminals that do most of the crime. Sometimes they do stupid things like leave DNA evidence when they are in the DNA database. Sometimes they steal something on camera. They may be the same person who broke into my place and sold my $500 computer for $25. They probably broke into seven or eight places that same night and sold $5,000 or $10,000 worth of stolen merchandise for $200 to get enough drugs to last them for a day or two.

You could probably get rid of prisons for all but the most violent offences if you just legalized most drugs. It would be cheaper if the government just gave away drugs to take away the crime motive. That won't happen as then you would really reduce the need for police, judges and lawyers, prisons, prison guards and drug dealers for that matter.

National Defense is necessary. The U.S. is looking dangerously close to failing. They won't be able to subsidize our defense as they have been. The Russians are eyeing our Arctic resources. We'd better be ready to defend them.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Paul surely you are above ad hominem attacks?

Paul has been very cranky lately. Stress? Cognitive dissonance over supporting AGW? Who knows? Who cares?

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Surely you agree that energy sources have different degrees of pollutants; and wind and solar are basically non-polluting after they have been built. Also, economies of scale dictate that as their production rates increase and technology improves they will become more and more attractive and cheaper and it is in the worlds interest to move off fossil fuels into renewables.

Stop equating change with standard of living; that is a complete fallacy on your part. Our standard of living will increase as we transition into these new technologies. We will also become the masters of our energy production eliminating our dependence on others. I understand that the idea of change can be difficult for you to accept; but once it happens you will be happier.

I disagree that "humanity is doomed" as you say above; no need to be so negative. Humans are very resourceful and will change as necessary. Stop being so bitter about others that are richer (you seem obsessed with Al Gore); and you will be happier for it. Carbon cap and trade or carbon taxes are just mechanisms to put a price on carbon to reduce emissions; they do not enrich anyone. Especially if they are a tax shift.

Stop and think about those people in Pakistan who have lost everything; we are quite fortunate to be in Canada.

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Amazing butte...
http://photography.nationalgeographi..._fb08192010pod

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

So let me try to understand this crime issue.

Harper wants to build more prisons and it is justified by high levels of unreported crime. Presumably these prisons will jail the people that commit the unreported crimes. However if they are unreported, than how are we to catch the people to jail them, and how do we even know how many there are? According to Vlad, they will not be caught anyway; which is why they are not reported in the first place.

So on the one hand Vlad is saying that we need more prisons and on the other hand he is saying that these people will not be caught anyway. So he wants to tax people more and spend 9 Billion$ to have more prisons built for what reason?

I knew someone like you once. After a couple of guys beat the poop out of him for 20 bucks he changed his point of view.

It's time for serious sentences. As an example, those who busted up Toronto during the G 20 should be doing 5 to 10 years.

I'd sooner spend money on prisons than on the mythical global warming and U.N. projects.

Maybe some of the money for this "science" could be obtained by taking away the tax deductability of union dues. If a worker can afford to join a union why should I pay for it? I pay for government and can't see why I should help to pay for unions to support their labour leaders.

Maybe the next election will be fought on a crime bill or immigration laws. We might see a majority government.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Surely you agree that energy sources have different degrees of pollutants; and wind and solar are basically non-polluting after they have been built.

Wind turbines chop up birds. Solar is dependent on government subsidies and when poeple get tired of the expensive energy source they will change their government.

If you're worried about pollutants, why aren't you mentioning the fires in B.C.? What the beetles don't get the fires do.

Stop and think about those people in Pakistan who have lost everything; we are quite fortunate to be in Canada.

Yeah. When it happens here in Canada it's tough noogies. When it happens somewhere else we're supposed to send money.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Paul has been very cranky lately.

I used a less diplomatic term but it didn't help. Maybe he's catching on the opposition parties are more interested in keeping their jobs than trying to force an election and putting themselves in a position where the have to find people to vote for their "policies".

[Adam Cormier]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Non-polluting energy sources do not exist. Wind and solar power is only viable because the government is overpaying by a factor of five or six times what other energy sources cost. Bankrupt governments will not be able to continue that spending spree.

You are asking us to take a huge hit in our standard of living and to consent to obscene increases in taxes when we are already over-taxed.

If AGW theories are true then humanity is doomed because there is only going to be more carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere. China's output is growing exponentially as is India's. Carbon cap and trade is just another way for people like Al Gore and companies like Goldman Sachs to enrich themselves.

Thankfully the theories are mostly nonsense. If we go up a couple of degrees in a century or two because of GW that will give us plenty of time to adjust.

You don't seem to understand that we ARE going to run out of non-renewable energy sources eventually and when we do we will be even more dependent on them then we are now if we continue the way we have been going. This would completely devastate civilization. OR we could slowly shift over to non-renewable energy sources so that when we run out of fossil fuels and the like it won't completely shatter our standard of living. So yes we will take a hit on our standard of living(depending on the rate of change I suppose), but think how much worse it will be in 100 years when the fossil fuels run out, you plan is just delaying the inevitable and making it worse in the process.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

You don't seem to understand that we ARE going to run out of non-renewable energy sources eventually and when we do we will be even more dependent on them then we are now if we continue the way we have been going. This would completely devastate civilization. OR we could slowly shift over to non-renewable energy sources so that when we run out of fossil fuels and the like it won't completely shatter our standard of living. So yes we will take a hit on our standard of living(depending on the rate of change I suppose), but think how much worse it will be in 100 years when the fossil fuels run out, you plan is just delaying the inevitable and making it worse in the process.

There are a lot of nuclear plants in various stages. From the drawing board to being built.

Russia seems to be planning to sell nuclear fuel to Iran. I don't know how much that will effect the U.S. The U.S. currently buys fuel from Russia under the megatons to megawatts program. That program had recently beeen extended for a number of years to reduce the supply of warheads even more. It's more or less the reason the price of uranium has been so low.

For all that energy is discussed in this thread, I don't think there are many people who are familiar with the big picture.

In western Canada there is a lot of electricity being produced from Thermal Coal. They are talking about phasing that out but it far enough in the future the current politicians won't have to worry about doing it and I'd expect the programs to be extended as the date gets closer. Sherritt Int. is the largest thermal coal producer in Canada, as far as I know. They recently bought the other 50% of a partnership they had on some of the mines and now have the entire projects.

[Adam Cormier]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

There are a lot of nuclear plants in various stages. From the drawing board to being built.

Russia seems to be planning to sell nuclear fuel to Iran. I don't know how much that will effect the U.S. The U.S. currently buys fuel from Russia under the megatons to megawatts program. That program had recently beeen extended for a number of years to reduce the supply of warheads even more. It's more or less the reason the price of uranium has been so low.

For all that energy is discussed in this thread, I don't think there are many people who are familiar with the big picture.

In western Canada there is a lot of electricity being produced from Thermal Coal. They are talking about phasing that out but it far enough in the future the current politicians won't have to worry about doing it and I'd expect the programs to be extended as the date gets closer. Sherritt Int. is the largest thermal coal producer in Canada, as far as I know. They recently bought the other 50% of a partnership they had on some of the mines and now have the entire projects.

I don't think nuclear energy is that great of an alternative to coal, and natural gas, it creates alot of radioactive byproduct and we will run out of uranium just like coal and gas. Plus America still gets around 45% of their energy needs from coal. Canada won't phase out coal, they'll talk about it but in the end we'll still get a fraction of our energy needs from coal.

Canada is taking some action at least, Canada on old coal power-plants

[Ed Seedhouse]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

I don't think nuclear energy is that great of an alternative to coal

The cheapest way to reduce overall energy use is still to increase efficiency, I believe. Much can be done by simply better regulating the way appliances are designed.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

I don't think nuclear energy is that great of an alternative to coal, and natural gas, it creates alot of radioactive byproduct and we will run out of uranium just like coal and gas. Plus America still gets around 45% of their energy needs from coal. Canada won't phase out coal, they'll talk about it but in the end we'll still get a fraction of our energy needs from coal.

Canada is taking some action at least, Canada on old coal power-plants

It doesn't much matter if we like nuclear energy plants. That's what we'll get. A plant to supply the nuclear fuel to light water reactors probably costs more than 4 billion. They produce SWU's for the reactors. Those wouldn't be built if there were no demand. In fact, at least one plant already has long term contracts for the fuel and the plant has not yet been approved.

With the coal plants, that's in 2025. How many of todays politicians do you suppose will still be there? I'd call it a maybe for shutting those things down. I'd imagine a lot will be switched to natural gas depending on the fuel prices.

I'd expect China to build a lot of nuclear electric generating plants.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

I used a less diplomatic term but it didn't help. Maybe he's catching on the opposition parties are more interested in keeping their jobs than trying to force an election and putting themselves in a position where the have to find people to vote for their "policies".

It is very difficult for him defending a clearly losing proposition (AGW). Its amazing that he managed maintain his composure as long as he did.