Bill Richardson's Endorsement of Barack Obama

Although in the end I didn't feel I could back him for Pres (by New York it was moot anyway) I have huge respect for Richardson. The man is phenomenal but he just doesn't come off that way. Would an Obama/Richardson ticket be unbeatable? Not sure...Up until recently I figured Hillary and Obama would both need a macho, white alpha male as their running mate. But now I think America has matured a lot more than many give them credit for and tickets like Hillary/Obama, Obama/Hillary, Obama/Richardson statr looking good.

Funny thing is YOU never cite the slightest shred of evidence of any single statement you ever make. Meanwhile, Al Gore backs his claims up with actual scientific data, which climatologists I know say he gets completely right, with the possible exception of overstating the case for a breakdown of the North Atlantic currents, something which I remain skeptical of.

Your opinion has no scientific validity...period. It is actually rather pathetic how you cling to ideas that have long been discredited. My bet is you don't believe in the Theory of Evolution either. What about Enstein's Theory of Gravity? Or are you simply so ignorant of all of these that you just accept what Fox News talk show hosts (none of whom have any scientific training) tell you? Blindness is not an endearing quality.

So, in the interests of educating you rather than merely ridiculing your pig headedness, here are what scientists have to say.

From the Pew Center:

The scientific community has reached a strong consensus regarding the science of global climate change. The world is undoubtedly experiencing global warming. This warming is largely the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and changes in land use, such as deforestation. Continuation of historical trends of greenhouse gas emissions will result in additional warming over the 21st century, with current projections of a global increase of 2.5ºF to 10.4ºF by 2100, with warming in the U.S. expected to be even higher. This warming will have real consequences for the United States and the world, for with that warming will also come additional sea-level rise that will gradually inundate coastal areas and increase beach erosion and flooding from coastal storms, changes in precipitation patterns, increased risk of droughts and floods, threats to biodiversity, and a number of potential challenges for public health.

They have more basics here, fact sheets here, and facts and figures here. Remember, no statement (yours included) has any scientific validity without reference to data. I have just steered you to some of the data that proves you wrong.

From NASA: (where my wife currently works, though her main assoication is with Columbia University)

Over the last five years, 600 scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sifted through thousands of studies about global warming published in forums ranging from scientific journals to industry publications and distilled the world’s accumulated knowledge into this conclusion: “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”

Far from being some future fear, global warming is happening now, and scientists have evidence that humans are to blame. For decades, cars and factories have spewed billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and these gases caused temperatures to rise between 0.6°C and 0.9°C (1.08°F to 1.62°F) over the past century. The rate of warming in the last 50 years was double the rate observed over the last 100 years. Temperatures are certain to go up further.

But why should we worry about a seemingly small increase in temperature? It turns out that the global average temperature is quite stable over long periods of time, and small changes in that temperature correspond to enormous changes in the environment. For example, during the last ice age, when ice sheets a mile thick covered North America all the way down to the northern states, the world was only 9 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit colder than today. Much of modern human civilization owes its existence to the stability in the average global temperature since the end of the last ice age—a stability that allowed human cultures to transition from roaming, hunter-gatherer societies into more permanent, agriculture-supported communities. Even the temperature change of a degree or two that has occurred over the last century is capable of producing significant changes in our environment and way of life.

(they have more including that all important data that you ignore).

From the Scientists and Engineers for America website:

Almost all scientists agree that the Earth’s climate is changing, having warmed by 0.6 to 0.9o Celsius (1.1 to 1.6o Fahrenheit) since the Industrial Revolution. Science indicates that the Earth’s global average temperature is now approaching, or possibly has passed, the warmest experienced since human civilizations began to flourish about 12,000 years ago. During the 20th Century, some areas became wetter while others experienced more drought. Most climate scientists conclude that humans have induced a large part of the climate change since the 1970s. Although natural forces such as solar irradiance and volcanoes contribute to variability, scientists cannot explain the climate changes of the past few decades without including the effects of elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations resulting from fossil fuel use, land clearing, and industrial and agricultural emissions...

Scientists have found it is very likely that rising greenhouse gas
concentrations, if they continue unabated, will raise the global average temperature above natural variability by at least 1.5o Celsius (2.7o Fahrenheit) during the 21st Century (above 1990 temperatures), with a small likelihood that the temperature rise may exceed 5oC (9oF). The projections thought most likely by many climate modelers are for a greenhouse gas-induced temperature rise of approximately 2.5 to 3.5oC (4.5 to 6.3oF) by 2100.

(there is MUCH MORE, at the above link)

Now let me remind you of the REAL scam that was called the "Global Warming Swindle." In that people tried to cite scientists who disagreed with the global warming consensus. Problem is, they cited only a single real scientist, Carl Wunsch, and he became so angry at their twisting of his words that he issued a refutation of their misuse of his words:

In the part of the "Swindle" film where I am describing the fact that the ocean tends to expel carbon dioxide where it is warm, and to absorb it where it is cold, my intent was to explain that warming the ocean could be dangerous---because it is such a gigantic reservoir of carbon. By its placement in the film, it appears that I am saying that since carbon dioxide exists in the ocean in such large quantities, human influence must not be very important --- diametrically opposite to the point I was making --- which is that global warming is both real and threatening in many different ways, some unexpected...

What we now have is an out-and-out propaganda piece, in which there is not even a gesture toward balance or explanation of why many of the extended inferences drawn in the film are not widely accepted by the scientific community. There are so many examples, it's hard to know where to begin, so I will cite only one: a speaker asserts, as is true, that carbon dioxide is only a small fraction of the atmospheric mass. The viewer is left to infer that means it couldn't really matter. But even a beginning meteorology student could tell you that the relative masses of gases are irrelevant to their effects on radiative balance. A director not intending to produce pure propaganda would have tried to eliminate that piece of disinformation.

His full refutation can be found here. And he was the guy that they pulled out as the main skeptic.

For those who want more, Global Warming: The Last Chance for Change, is a recent and very detailed book on the subject.

And I will end with some quotes from people far better than you:

"The last 50 years stick out like a sore thumb... The temperature's gone up and up and up. It bears the imprint of human activity."
--Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University

"It's not something we can adapt to...we can't let it go another 10 years like this."
--Dr. James Hansen, Director NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, member National Academy of Sciences

"The weight of evidence for climate change is very strong indeed, and it has gotten stronger over the years...The rate of warming is now greater than it has been for 10,000 years; that means the rate of climate change is greater than it has been for 10,000 years."
--Sir John Houghton, Professor in atmospheric physics, University of Oxford, recipient of Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal, Honorary Member American Meteorological Society

"This is the biggest challenge our civilization has ever had consciously to face. If this goes on, we will lose ice cover on our planet. The process will cause such rapid transformation we will have enormous trouble adapting."
--Sir David King, Professor of Physical Chemistry at Cambridge, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government

"Stopping global warming is not just about saving the environment for the hunters, fisherman, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts of today and tomorrow. Global warming is a matter of national security. Will we live in a world where we must fight our neighbors for fresh water and food?"
— General Wesley Clark

"How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew about this and I did nothing?"
— Sir David Attenborough