Sea World to Cut Hours for Part Time Employees

Vater said:

Nope, I don't own one of those. My instincts are just that powerful.

Track #2...Al Gore's greatest misses...

"Entire North Polar Ice Cap Will be Gone in 5 Years"

...as stated in 2008!

In terms of unchecked hyperbole, Vater's remarkable instincts, and crushed hopes from the 2000 election...I thought a little Al Gore sensationalism hits the spot.

One of George Bush's greatest misses: August 6, 2001, to a CIA briefer following a briefing on "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.":

"All right, you've covered your ass now."

Regarding polar ice, it is of course cyclical, but the overall trend is still down in a scary way in the last four decades. You might get your nearly gone figure next year. That's math, not politics.

Loss of polar ice also results in lower albedo...more of the sun's heat if absorbed instead of reflected, and the ocean temps rise.

The Earth has built-in mechanisms to try and bring itself back to equilibrium (e.g., plants and animals, oxygen and carbon dioxide). Of course, the self-balancing can only account for so much. To use Malcolm Gladwell's phrase, we're terribly close (or even past)..."The Tipping Point" - environmentally speaking.

edited to correct typos...

rollergator said:

Loss of polar ice also reults in lower albedo...

You're saying my albedo will improve if the polar cap melts? Sweet...

I'll bet your albedo would have been higher in the alternate universe where you got a bran muffin.

You say neat-o, Check your albedo
And roll to the church in your new tuxedo

Don't just stand there, Bust a move!

Vater said:

My instincts are just that powerful.

You spelled "blind partisanship" incorrectly.

I dunno, I agree with a lot of what Vater says and I'm exactly the opposite of a Republican.

All the more reason we need a viable third option that says, "I think for myself, and reserve the right to change my mind. **** you and your labels.

I regularly agree with people from all across the political spectrum, except when those people make baseless comments that are so obviously rooted in blatant partisanship.

I find speculation about alternate history a fascinating distraction. One of my favorite authors is Harry Turtledove, so that should tell you something.

Harry Turtledove wrote a novel where Vater got a bran muffin? Is that how the South won the Civil War?

Tell me then, dj, what baseless comment did I blindly make? That I don't think Al Gore would have been a good president? Because that opinion has nothing to do with any partisanship to a political party.

Vater said:

That I don't think Al Gore would have been a good president?

That's not what you said:

Even if Bush didn't turn out to be the president I was hoping he'd be, he was better than the Al-ternative.

And that is my opinion. Or should I have included the proverbial "IMO" that I typically leave out--much like I do emoticons when expressing sarcasm--to make it abundantly obvious that I'm professing my opinion?

I never suggested it wasn't your opinion. Only that it seemed baseless and partisan.

:-)

It's only partisan because you're reading too much into it. Vater didn't say that Al Gore would have been a bad president because he was a Democrat. He just said he'd have been a bad president.

Which is, in dj's defense, unknowable...

I'll never forget the SNL where they had Al host and he had hosted as if he'd been the president. He talked about no war and the electric car. It worked so well as comedy because it was comedic.

People that think that any president, Regardless of what party they're in, is going to change anything that benefits the majority of people are simply gullible.

We live in a capitalist society. Companies rule. We're never going to have a cheap, or even affordable, electric car comparable to gas cars. We're not going to find the cure to any disease, just the ways to fight it and keep it in check. We're never going to be at peace because war benefits the economy. I'm not some conspiracy theorist. I don't believe that the government has popcorn scented missiles. But people that think the government is actually bipartisan and is working for the best interest of the people are foolish.

We have a two party system to give the illusion of choice.