Letters to the Editor
There's No Comparing Kennedy and Palin
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
Your editorial, "Palinesque," quotes at length Caroline Kennedy's reply to The New York Times and then states, "Her eloquence resembles Sarah Palin's." What her reply resembles and reflects is someone not accustomed to thinking, critically or otherwise.Your comparison of Kennedy to Palin likewise reflects on your thinking, or lack thereof.
Palin's crowd appeal and political skills were, you know, evident. The two share a pretty face and little else.
Charles G. Cary. Richmond.
Dems Seek Division; GOP Tries to Heal It
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to shut down dissent in Congress, it is heartening to see the Republican leadership -- including, in a principal role, our own Rep. Eric Cantor -- engaging in talks with Barack Obama about his plans for the economy.Republicans are putting differences aside for the benefit of our country, and congressional Democrats are playing political games by changing rules that were put into place to encourage new ideas and innovation.
Pelosi plans on pushing through measures which would severly restrict the minority's ability to offer alternatives to proposed legislation. This is a shame. Additionally, she is trying to do away with term limits for committee chairmen.
These changes signal the fact that the Democrats are going to try and ram legislation through Congress without giving Republicans the opportunity to voice their concerns. I thought this was supposed to be the "most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history."
I'm proud that our congressman has more integrity and a better understanding of bipartisanship than Speaker Pelosi.
John B. LeRoy. Henrico.
Ozone Layer Depletion Affects Environment
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
I wish to contest Gary Allen's letter, "Is It Global Warming or Simply Sunspots?" regarding global warming as a great hoax. I would not consider myself a tree hugger and probably leave a larger carbon wake than most, so my views do not come from the far deep green side of the spectrum. But global warming is a measurable occurrence and simplifying the cause of these planetary climate changes to variability in sunspot activity is just not valid.The 11-year cycle of sunspot activity will be at its lowest next year and has not changed significantly over the past two cycles spanning 20 years, yet the yearly average temperature in the same period continues to rise. Allen's notion that changes in sunspot activity are solely responsible for global warming is not supported by the scientific community.
I certainly concur with his presentation of the fact that the sun's dynamic spectrum of energy bombarding our planet gives us our climate. But if his sunspot theory holds true, then the eroding, tax-burdened economy that he alludes to may be bolstered by a huge increase in snowmobile and snowblower sales in the coming year.
I am not a climatologist, but I understand the implications of ozone layer depletion and how burning fossil fuels may adversely affect the balance of the sun's energy being absorbed. Allen's recommendation was for America to wake up. Well, I am wide awake and when I cook, I know that removing the top from a boiling pot usually leads to water splashing where it doesn't belong.
Elliot Skorupa. Glen Allen.
What Caused Other Ice Ages to End?
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
The one question that my global-warming friends cannot cope with is: "What ended the Ice Age 10,000 years ago without man around to do it?" You know -- when the North American glacier came as far south as the Ohio River and extended to Cape Cod. Also, what ended the Little Ice Age from the 1500s to the 1800s without excess greenhouse gases?More than 650 dissenting international scientists now challenge manmade global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore -- hoaxster extraordinaire. A December 2008 U.S. Senate report includes more than 650 prestigious, worldwide scientists who disagree with the U.N.'s IPCC -- more than 12 times the number of U.N. scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007. But Gore refuses to debate any of them, saying that the science is settled. The hubris of these navel-gazing men is breathtaking. They enjoy a mammoth funding advantage over nonbelievers.
Now Europe is backing off on cap-and-trade. With 85 percent of our energy coming from fossil fuels, an energy tax with the U.S. economy in tatters poses personal suffering and destroys jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector.
With the latest talk about cooling, the innovative euphemism is "climate change." While man has no doubt made considerable carbon dioxide contributions, more likely than not it is due to the sun's phases and good old Mother Earth's cyclical changes -- after all, Mother does know best.
Bruce Woodruff. Midlothian.
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Reader Reactions
Global warming is definitely occurring. Look at the melting sea ice of the Arctic Ocean. It will cause inconveniences, but no catastrophes. This is because we will run out of fossil fuels before they can happen, and this running out is a far bigger problem.
Measurable.
The last time the sunspot activity was this low (8 months last year with virtually zero spots) we entered the “Little Ice Age.“ Measurable and easily checked.
The burning of fossil fuels certainly has an adverse effect on the planet.
However the effects of acid rain and the depletion of the ozone are “old news” to the global warming exclusivists. Carbon Dioxide the purveyor of Armageddon.
The greenhouse gas made to order. Third in line after water vapor and methane. CO2 trails warming which is in direct opposition to the current theory which has the gas preceding the warming. If you believe that theory I have a tricky little device on the top of Muana Loa which is the gold standard for measuring rise of CO2 levels. It sits on a smog smothered mountain with a nearby volcano belching out CO2 on the hour. CO2 climbing the rocks adds to the steady rise in the numbers.
The planet stopped warming in 1998. The CO2 levels continued to rise.
But the grant money keeps flowing in if your numbers reflect the donors needs.
Ergo- Global Warming/Climate Change at your service.
Sorry. I meant that the Ice Age may have been terminated by a COMET, not an asteroid.
You ask, “What ended the Ice Age 10,000 years ago?“ The answer may be - an asteroid! Look at http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_account/not_so_far_out_did_an_asteroid_kill_the_woolly_mammoths . And there WERE humans around 10,000; or rather, 13,000 years ago.
Same old liberal playbook, eh SCGuy? Don’t have anything constructive to say, so you result to personal attacks. So much for tolerance and discourse.
Palin, you know, is the gift that keeps on giving, but only if you’re a Democrat. Every time she fades from the media spotlight, she does something to inject herself right back into it, and then she complains about how unfair the media is, a true diva. So, is her daughter’s mother-in-law out on bail for dealing dope crack or meth or whatever? What was that baby’s name anyhow, Algebra, Jogging, I forget?
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