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Mitt Romney: Humans have Contributed to Climate Change
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by Dennis Coy | June 4, 2011 at 03:23 am
282 views | 6 Recommendations | 14 comments
Breaking with his party loyalists on Friday in Manchester, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney spoke the words that environmentalists throughout the world praised, but that his own party denounced. While speaking at a town hall meeting, Romney stated, “I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that.”
I don't understand why people make statements such as this, because I do not believe that climate change is, or should ever be, a partisan issue. This is a global issue, not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an issue that is of great importance to countries throughout the world. We are all affected by the actions of our predecessors and ourselves.
The fact that we, as Americans, invest so much time and money into making sure we all remain safely on our "sides" of the political aisle, rather than deal with monumental issues such as climate change truly speaks to our character.
I am a Democrat, but I applaud Mitt Romney for placing himself in the political crosshairs of his own party and speaking out about this very important issue.
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Recommendations (6)
literaryguru
Vancouver, Canada
Karen Hatter
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
YankeeJim
Arlington, Virginia, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (14)
at 03:32 on June 4th, 2011
Dennis, the problem is that there are too many warm-hearted liberals. The heat from their compassion is destroying the nation. - Graduate of the Sean Hannity School of Journalism
at 03:34 on June 4th, 2011
Jim, thanks for the chuckle...
at 03:49 on June 4th, 2011
"I am a Democrat, but I applaud Mitt Romney for placing himself in the political crosshairs of his own party and speaking out about this very important issue."
Don't fool yourself, he would only be looking for crossover voters here. Most republicans don't even admit climate change or global warming even exist. See what he would do about this issue if he ever got elected_lol nothing The republican machine will do anything to get a republican into the White House.
at 04:02 on June 4th, 2011
Hearts of gold
at 09:34 on June 4th, 2011
You're right about the Republican Party MACHINE, 1.
The GOP's greatest problem is its base, with significant percentages holding fast to fringe ideas, including the 59% leaning toward/clinging to birtherism.
To the base, the GOP machine is nearly as bad as Democrats or the media, with the Faux News media network excluded from inclusion with the rest, of course.
at 20:56 on June 4th, 2011
This random "59%" figure and statement popped back into my head while working on an unrelated research project. I thought I would throw out some equally random figures based on this #59 for cynical fun.
"It Can't Happen Here": (Cue 1980's song of the same title from British Band Rainbow- Hi Ritchie!)
59,934,814 people voted Republican in the last Presidential election. If we broadly "assume" this as the GOP numbers, then some a staggering 35,361,540 individuals roughly 28% of the total voting public are "Fringe" as defined above (I always though fringe was a term to describe small fractions of people, over a third of voters does not seem "small" to me, but lets move on.....). Running with these generalized stats lets bring in the population of the United States listed at 307,006,550 (because google knows everything) which gives us, when we figure the number from above of 35,361,540, a rough "assumed" 13% of the population of the United States which is "Fringe" in this belief. Now, we detour in train of thought a bit to another series of postings on NowPublic which talked about the "Popular uprisings" in the Middle East. In the Egyptian uprising the "estimates" for "protesters" (and estimates are all we will ever have regardless of history revisions to the contrary, unless a low ranking bean counter with the DOD is assigned the task of counting heads in a series of satellite photographs in way of punishment) are listed as 2-3 million. The Population of Egypt is 80 million. This puts the MAXIMUM of POPULAR upris'ees (yes I made that one up) at a mere 3 to 4% NOW THAT SOUNDS FRINGE TO ME!!!
Now The Scary Thought
If 3-4% can overthrow a government through peaceful protest....What could 13% of a population do in this country through peaceful protest?
"It can't happen here" is no longer a valid statement.
Think about it........and try to get along.....
(Warning: if I get bored enough this quick comment might turn into an opinion piece.... I only say this to head off the ......."gosh you already wrote that stupid stuff" comments later... or am I inviting them? hmmmm yet another question to ponder)
Give a Star to each percent....and we can have a fun parallel with the 13 original colonies.
at 07:09 on June 5th, 2011
WG, I referred to the base of the Republican Party's adherence to fringe IDEAS.
I did not call birthers fringe as a significant number of the Right Wing of the Republican Party, namely the TEA Party or those having affinity with the TEA Party, believe most ardently in ALL of the fringe ideas cultivated by those elements and have continued to circulate them.
The newest birther campaign alleges the question of President Obama's citizenship has nothing to do with WHERE he was born. By ignoring the birthright bestowed upon him by his mother, this national billboard and campaign ad, embraced by the TEA Party Patriots, launched by US Patriots Union asks Who's Your Daddy?.
An excerpt from an e mail announcing the Who's Your Daddy? campaign:
Source: irehr.org
This e mail is being widely circulated within the Right Wing of the Republican Party.
It is correct to note that fringe beliefs, like birtherism, which claims the President is an illegal alien and I would add as well, climate change denial; the President is a Muslim; the President is the Anti Christ, found among those identified as or leaning toward the Republican Party, may be representative of a significant number of voters within the GOP.
If, as relates to birtherism and using your extrapolated guesstimation of 28% being at nearly one third of GOP voters, birtherism remains a fringe IDEA, when compared with the majority of the American electorate.
As far as overthrowing the government, WG, with a rationale offered here that hints at the possibility of fringe believers being at the helm or in the forefront of the overthrow of the United States government, with the highly unlikely odds against those with fringe beliefs successfully taking over the country, is beyond laughable.
Their tightly embraced beliefs and quixotic cause are merely valid and perceived as rational within their ranks.
Also at NowPublic:
Will Right Wing Madness Totally Consume the Republican Party?
at 11:52 on June 5th, 2011
Good Work Karen!
Of course my comment was for the most part just another of my quickly drafted, stream of thought "think about it" sermons....
I AM SPIN DOCTOR (Where is your insurance information? you don't have any? Sorry no medicine for you! )
Name calling is name calling is name calling is name calling. There exists words that can only be seen as derogatory. These derogatory words are being used in political smear campaigns to persecution the whole by association through the often justified outing of the extremist (one of those words) few.
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SMEAR 101
Mission:
1) find the most marketable weakness held be the fewest people in the opposition
2) Construct sentences to make fun of the opposition by association with this marketable weakness, but only indirectly so you can pretend to have a moral high ground.
Example Lesson:
1) Take a word with negative connotation like "fringe". Apply it as often as you can to persons or individuals within the opposition who are most apt to receive this connotation, but BE SURE to always note that they belong to the opposition. By structuring your writing in this way you will be very effective in maintaining plausible deny ability for your motives which will help you maintain control of the "spin cycle".
Deep Cover Infiltration Methods:
1) Use aliases on the internet to post stories attributed to your opposition which you can later use in attacks against them using #2 above.
2) Infiltrate organizations or meetings, make anonymous vocal statements with the most extreme or indeed purposely made up views you want to attribute to your enemy, then using #2 above make sure the comments are reported on.
Dr. Maxwellius Churchill True'man
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While there are aspects of the Tea Party I was hoping would become permanently embedded principals of this organization, I agree it has been derailed from the principals which I personally believe are good within the movement. (No I am not and have not been a member or been to a rally). Young growing movements often have this problem, that in by trying to adopt stances to bring in the most people, or to bring in an important person to your movement, (or through purposeful infiltration) they loose sight of the founding principals which have the most resounding truths.
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Natural Born Citizen
Extreme views and statements aside. What is wrong with demanding that the criteria stated in the Constitution concerning the Executive Branch be met? (This criteria is also codified and defined and has many changes through the years)
My personal opinion (in general) on the birther issue is that the people of the movement had a constitutional basis for their concern. They had a reason to ask for the verification. Had the long form COLB been released when the issue first gained traction, then everything should have been fine. Now we have an issue where a long and purposeful delay happened, The White House fully admits (Press gaggle - day of long form release) that they gained Political Advantage by allowing this issue to remain unresolved, and continue to perpetuate the issue through proactive and purposeful manipulation (Ie, making a single page legal document into a multi page strange pdf document).
I have to say this though...and I started to write a story about it but never finished it. One argument that has been made which I find laughable relates the "Presidency" and the ability to apply for a "drivers license". This statement is that because the State issued Short Form COLB can be used to go get your drivers license it must be seen as ok to meet Constitutional Criteria. It concerns me greatly if anyone equated those two as equal endeavors.
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RISE UP
No, the implied hint you alluded to was not the intention of the paragraph/section
My point (in general) is that when backed into a corner, a disenfranchised people can and potentially will Rise Up in protest. You do not have to be a majority to destabilize a nation or to bring about economic hardships. (generally think Labor Strike and the harm is causes a corporation in a loose way of explaining the point)
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THE RACE CARD
BTW, I did read the writing in the attached link in your story, and was left to wonder what the reason was for this organization to write/post such a story as it seems outside the scope of their mission of "Human Rights". The front page of their web site indeed shows they are Liberal extremist in that they purpose the only reason for the birther movement is that those people can not believe a Black man is President. "Indeed, leading birther activists have invented an incomprehensible array of bogus arguments and convinced themselves that a black man could not possibly be president of the United States". IREHR.org
It seems that an organization like this feels that you can only have Human Rights if you politicize free thought and in doing that make grand charges of Racism to support your goals.
Having a dislike for a person of color does not make you a racist. Having a dislike for all persons of color does make you a racist.
Having a dislike for an adherent of Judaism does not make you a Anti Semite. Having a dislike for all persons of Judaism does make you a Anti Semite.
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Were Does This Leave Us?
Every one of us has valid views, and most all of us have invalid views as seen by others.
".....Why can't we all just get along?" RK
at 12:43 on June 5th, 2011
WG, to paraphrase and reconstruct similar comments I've previously posted elsewhere at the site, freedom of speech, as a constitutional guarantee, does not elevate or render all points of view, utterances or comments equal in merit nor are said points of view, utterances or comments expressed qualitatively substantive.
The inherent racism that permeates throughout the birther movement can be easily observed and identified from the evidence provided at many of the local TEA Party events where it has been on full display.
Are all those spouting birther nonsense racists? That is a question that can only be answered by each of the individuals espousing their belief in birtherism and odds are, they will say that they are not but, the movement itself has been organized around bigotry.
Validity is defined as being justifiable and sound, with sound meaning showing good judgement.
Based upon that reality, not all views can be said to be valid.
at 13:23 on June 5th, 2011
Cheers Karen,
That probably well wraps up this tit for tat.
In parting I will leave an opinion and a clarification.
I personally reject the notion that the whole of birthism is based upon racism.
If you re read my statement on "Validity", It said all people have views which are valid. It did not say all views by all people are valid.
at 07:16 on June 4th, 2011
My Theory of the day.....
It might be that Republican politicians and businessmen do not recognize "Global Warming" or "Climate Change" because once recognized (in either name form), then legislation will more rapidly be drafted to attempt to combat it. This legislation would drive up the cost of manufacturing and related industries in the USA, resulting in either sending more and more of these industries off shore to keep them financially viable in a global economy or the driving up of the cost of USA produced consumer goods/energy/construction or both.
In essence, they are not so brain dead that they deny something is going on in private or in their minds, they just feel the legislation resulting from its recognizance will harm the economy through job loss and a hampered ability to compete in the global marketplace.
....Random theory of the day
at 09:03 on June 4th, 2011
Well, Dennis, there go his chances of getting the Right Wing of the Republican Party, the TEA Party that is, to vote for him.
at 10:33 on June 4th, 2011
WHO is MItt Romney? I did not find any specification in the text.
at 06:37 on June 5th, 2011
Depending upon which poll is cited, in most opinion polls, Mitt Romney is the current front runner seeking the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States, with the presidential election to occur in November 2012.