Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 5-11-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94796-james-veverka-5-16-675
To the Editor,
Reading right wing letters to the Sun recently reminds me of torn Hot Air Balloons that can't get off the ground no matter how much hot air is blown into the balloon. They huff and they puff but are oblivious to the torn fabric. All their rage is due to their inability to accept scientific, technological, and generational change. They feel threatened as if it is personal, which it is not. Change is always in the wind no matter how hard they rage against it. They cannot stop it no matter how many toys they throw on the floor.
Climate change denial is dying in the US just as religion is. In a study recently published in the American Journal of Sociology, Duke University and University College London found strong evidence that religion in the United States is fading. This is wonderful news for philosophical naturalists who contend that the natural world is the only world we have so let's get real and stop playing make-believe. This steady drop in belief and affiliation is driven mostly by generational differences. Many who study religion point to the information age as one of the culprits. Over all, the internet has not been friendly to religion. In the past if you had a serious question regarding existence and religion, you were confined to a deliberately closed information system that frustrated any search for answers. Now it is very different.
The study found that only 18% of Americans under 60 attended church. As I noted above, the decline is slow and generational. A robust 94% born before 1935 claimed a religious affiliation. For those born after 1975, it was 71%. Of those 65 and older, 68% have no doubt God exists but that number falls to 45% for those 18-30. So 55% of those 18-30 doubt God exists. There have been many studies pointing out this trend of which the 2012 Pew study regarding the "nones" is the most well known. According that study, "In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%)." In five years! Politically speaking, this is a welcome death knell for the Christian Right who prefer the Bible over the Constitution. This means fewer religious 'insanes' interfering with our political system. While religious liberals are pretty mellow, religious conservatives feverishly fight for a marriage between government and Christianity which is anathema to the Constitution. In 2015, Public Policy Polling (PPP) conducted a survey and found that 57 percent of Republicans want to dismantle the Constitution and establish Christianity as the official national religion. Only 30 percent disagreed. Some people are worried about Mexicans and Muslims but the adversaries are already here.
Regarding the move to renewables, savvy capitalists are investing in the future.
According to Bloomberg, "The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared with 141 gigawatts in new plants that burn fossil fuels, according to an analysis presented Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance annual summit in New York. The shift will continue to accelerate, and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added." Investors know that fossil fuels are a thing of the past for the main grid and public transportation and are investing in the future. America's biggest corporation, Walmart, states on its webpage, "More than ever, we know that our goal to be supplied 100% by renewable energy is the right goal, and we know that renewables combined with energy efficiency is especially powerful: for our customers, for our shareholders and for the future of generations to come. Walmart envisions a world where people don’t have to choose between energy they can afford and energy that’s good for communities and the planet." Some Ayn Rand styled capitalist preachers in the Sun don't even understand how intelligent capitalists think. They just can't handle change nor do they understand market dynamics. Its all hot air.
James Veverka
Friday, May 20, 2016
Exxon Knew. Racketeering Investigation Grows
Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 5-11-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94581-james-veverka-5-11-425
To the Editor,
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the nation's most powerful oil lobby and it knew of the dangers of rising CO2 levels in the late 1970s. From 1979 to 1983, it teamed up with Exxon, Mobil, Amoco, Phillips, Texaco, Shell, Sunoco, Sohio as well as Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil (now Chevron) to run a task force to monitor and share climate research. Internal documents uncovered by investigations showed that the energy giants began their own state of the art CO2 sampling program in 1978 to better understand the relationship between its product, increased atmospheric CO2, and climate change. Like the Tobacco companies when they learned the connection between tobacco and Cancer, API chose to begin decades of propaganda designed cast doubt on the science and protect profits. That strategy cost big Tobacco hundreds of billions of dollars in 1998 when they were found guilty of racketeering and fraudulent practices in order to protect the bottom line.
Now there are calls for the same kind of anti-racketeering action against the energy giants who knew of the dangers decades ago but chose to attack science and fund the deniers. The Attorneys General of CA, NY, MA, and the American Virgin Islands are investigating Exxon to determine if the company deliberately lied to investors, the public, and the government about the threat of climate change. In the Virgin Islands, the AG has served ninety conservative organizations with subpoenas for internal documents. Those served include the usual suspects; CATO, American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, Hoover Institute, etc. The latest demands from the AG are filed under anti-racketeering laws which may set the stage for a big-tobacco-like investigation and trial. Big Oil and its allies in the denio-sphere aren't going down easy, either. They think the demands violate their constitutional rights. Blah blah blah. Hillary Clinton called for a federal probe back in October so this could be big after January.
"They took the environmental unit and put it into the political department, which was primarily lobbyists. They weren't focused on doing research or on improving the oil industry's impact on pollution. They were less interested in pushing the envelope of science and more interested in how to make it more advantageous politically or economically for the oil industry." (James J. Nelson, the former director of the API task force on CO2)
To keep up with this story go to the Pulitzer winning site, Inside Climate News, at http://insideclimatenews.org/
Politico is also covering this with a recent article, "Exxon scrambles to contain climate crusade" at http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/exxon-climate-campaign-222920
James Veverka
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94581-james-veverka-5-11-425
To the Editor,
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the nation's most powerful oil lobby and it knew of the dangers of rising CO2 levels in the late 1970s. From 1979 to 1983, it teamed up with Exxon, Mobil, Amoco, Phillips, Texaco, Shell, Sunoco, Sohio as well as Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil (now Chevron) to run a task force to monitor and share climate research. Internal documents uncovered by investigations showed that the energy giants began their own state of the art CO2 sampling program in 1978 to better understand the relationship between its product, increased atmospheric CO2, and climate change. Like the Tobacco companies when they learned the connection between tobacco and Cancer, API chose to begin decades of propaganda designed cast doubt on the science and protect profits. That strategy cost big Tobacco hundreds of billions of dollars in 1998 when they were found guilty of racketeering and fraudulent practices in order to protect the bottom line.
Now there are calls for the same kind of anti-racketeering action against the energy giants who knew of the dangers decades ago but chose to attack science and fund the deniers. The Attorneys General of CA, NY, MA, and the American Virgin Islands are investigating Exxon to determine if the company deliberately lied to investors, the public, and the government about the threat of climate change. In the Virgin Islands, the AG has served ninety conservative organizations with subpoenas for internal documents. Those served include the usual suspects; CATO, American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, Hoover Institute, etc. The latest demands from the AG are filed under anti-racketeering laws which may set the stage for a big-tobacco-like investigation and trial. Big Oil and its allies in the denio-sphere aren't going down easy, either. They think the demands violate their constitutional rights. Blah blah blah. Hillary Clinton called for a federal probe back in October so this could be big after January.
"They took the environmental unit and put it into the political department, which was primarily lobbyists. They weren't focused on doing research or on improving the oil industry's impact on pollution. They were less interested in pushing the envelope of science and more interested in how to make it more advantageous politically or economically for the oil industry." (James J. Nelson, the former director of the API task force on CO2)
To keep up with this story go to the Pulitzer winning site, Inside Climate News, at http://insideclimatenews.org/
Politico is also covering this with a recent article, "Exxon scrambles to contain climate crusade" at http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/exxon-climate-campaign-222920
James Veverka
Wind and Solar Have Won. The Beginning of the End
Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 4-27-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94198-james-veverka-4-27-455
To the Editor,
The Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed by 175 nations last week. More are expected. Nobody but nobody is taking the science deniers seriously anymore. Recently, Russ Wiles and Tony Boutin paraded a statistic like its the only statistic that counts regarding warming. That statistic is that more people die due to cold weather than hot weather. That is now, not the warmer future. But these gents from the local Chemtrail Writers Chapter don't mention that the World Health Organization studies show that up to seven million people die each year prematurely due to pollution in the air. A million alone from Coal burning.
Don Ewing submitted his usual market fundamentalist sermon about how much adjusting to climate change costs us. But Don doesn't mention the IMF global study that found that the hidden costs of fossil fuel burning is $5.3 TRILLION a year. That's Trillions, Don, Trillions! This is on top of $492 Billion in direct government subsidies worldwide. We pay that. Mr. Ewing also claims that addressing climate change has hurt jobs. More jobs were created in renewables than lost in the fossil fuel industry in both the EU and the USA. Solar Nation employs more people than the Coal industry does in the US now. Jobs always change as the world changes. Tony Boutin also claimed wrongly that renewables make energy more expensive. Bloomberg reported last April:
"The race for renewable energy has passed a turning point. The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there's no going back. The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared with 141 gigawatts in new plants that burn fossil fuels, according to an analysis presented Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance annual summit in New York. The shift will continue to accelerate, and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added. "The electricity system is shifting to clean,'' Michael Liebreich, founder of BNEF, said in his keynote address. "Despite the change in oil and gas prices there is going to be a substantial buildout of renewable energy that is likely to be an order of magnitude larger than the buildout of coal and gas."
"The Beginning of the End:"
"The price of wind and solar power continues to plummet, and is now on par or cheaper than grid electricity in many areas of the world. Solar, the newest major source of energy in the mix, makes up less than 1 percent of the electricity market today but could be the world’s biggest single source by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency." (See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-14/fossil-fuels-just-lost-the-race-against-renewables)
James Veverka
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94198-james-veverka-4-27-455
To the Editor,
The Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed by 175 nations last week. More are expected. Nobody but nobody is taking the science deniers seriously anymore. Recently, Russ Wiles and Tony Boutin paraded a statistic like its the only statistic that counts regarding warming. That statistic is that more people die due to cold weather than hot weather. That is now, not the warmer future. But these gents from the local Chemtrail Writers Chapter don't mention that the World Health Organization studies show that up to seven million people die each year prematurely due to pollution in the air. A million alone from Coal burning.
Don Ewing submitted his usual market fundamentalist sermon about how much adjusting to climate change costs us. But Don doesn't mention the IMF global study that found that the hidden costs of fossil fuel burning is $5.3 TRILLION a year. That's Trillions, Don, Trillions! This is on top of $492 Billion in direct government subsidies worldwide. We pay that. Mr. Ewing also claims that addressing climate change has hurt jobs. More jobs were created in renewables than lost in the fossil fuel industry in both the EU and the USA. Solar Nation employs more people than the Coal industry does in the US now. Jobs always change as the world changes. Tony Boutin also claimed wrongly that renewables make energy more expensive. Bloomberg reported last April:
"The race for renewable energy has passed a turning point. The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there's no going back. The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared with 141 gigawatts in new plants that burn fossil fuels, according to an analysis presented Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance annual summit in New York. The shift will continue to accelerate, and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added. "The electricity system is shifting to clean,'' Michael Liebreich, founder of BNEF, said in his keynote address. "Despite the change in oil and gas prices there is going to be a substantial buildout of renewable energy that is likely to be an order of magnitude larger than the buildout of coal and gas."
"The Beginning of the End:"
"The price of wind and solar power continues to plummet, and is now on par or cheaper than grid electricity in many areas of the world. Solar, the newest major source of energy in the mix, makes up less than 1 percent of the electricity market today but could be the world’s biggest single source by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency." (See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-14/fossil-fuels-just-lost-the-race-against-renewables)
James Veverka
Teabaggers, Trump and the Echoes of Fascism
Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 4-22-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94074-james-veverka-4-22-675
To the Editor,
Fascism evolves from right wing extremism just as Communism evolves from left wing extremism. The fascism we are most familiar with began with Mussolini in 1919 Italy and spread. These regimes arose in very different times but echoes of fascism can still be heard in right wing rhetoric. Fascism at its core is uber-nationalistic. It expresses and demands patriotism on the scale of religious fanaticism. Fascist propaganda specializes in patriotic mottos, songs, and slogans. Flags, flag symbols and flag clothing are to be ubiquitous. Fascism glorifies the nation and the military. Fascists promote an aggressive foreign policy and tend to disproportionately fund their military when the money could be better spent elsewhere. This nationalist militancy bleeds over into a love of paramilitary organizations and militias.
Hate speech and fear mongering about "others" is a tool that promotes obsession regarding national security and traditional values. Robert Paxton, foremost expert on fascism noted, "The use of ethnic stereotypes and exploitation of fear of foreigners is directly out of a fascist’s recipe book. “Making the country great again” sounds exactly like the fascist movements. Concern about national decline, that was one of the most prominent emotional states evoked in fascist discourse, and Trump is using that full-blast...". Right wingers use ethnic and religious stereotypes to attack Mexicans, Muslims, immigrants, etc. Fascism remains feverishly anti-immigrant. "English only" is an American echoe of the Nazi's "German only" agenda.
Fascists have a deep hatred for Marxism, socialism and liberalism. In his famous 1932 speech, The Doctrine of Fascism, Mussolini attacked liberalism and Marx's socialism by name over 40 times. You may have noticed the obsession with "Marxist-socialists" coming from many of the Sun's writers. Fascists will also look the other way regarding police abuses, torture and revoking civil rights if its in the name of patriotism and national security. Or their religion. Fascists are obsessed about protecting their culture and its traditional values. Here is where religion enters the fascist blend. In the Muslim world, authoritarians stress "Muslim values" while here in the USA, our extremists insist on "Judeo-Christian values". The Christian Dominionist movement strives to have all US laws based on the Bible. This is Christo-fascism which has its roots in The Depression. Ted Cruz is a Dominionist.
Like Abrahamic religions, fascism is patriarchal and wants to control women's lives and everyone's sexual conduct, too. In fascist Europe, family planning, contraception, and abortion were suppressed. Masculinity and femininity were narrowly defined. European fascism was heavily intertwined with Christianity in Italy and Spain. Weremacht SS belt buckles said "God With Us". Franco favored conservative Catholicism and reversed the secularization process that had succeeded under the Second Republic. Historian Julian Casanova claimed of Franco's regime, "the symbiosis of religion, fatherland and Caudillo saw the Church assume great political responsibility, a hegemony and monopoly beyond its wildest dreams and play a central role in policing the country's citizens."
The echoes of this remain loud in right wing world. The Nazis created a bureaucracy in 1936 called "The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion". Right wing Christians are doing their best in legislatures around the nation to craft such laws seeking control of women and the marginalization of the LGBT community. Extremist Christian legislators attack women's rights and the LGBT community with bills because they deem themselves the ultimate guardians of the family institution.
Fascism is not a friend of intellectual rigor, cultural diversity, or the arts because these are deemed a threat to traditional religious and/or national values. Fascism tends to promote open hostility toward higher education, and academia. Professors and universities are openly attacked while newspapers, magazines, books, TV, plays and films are monitored for any transgressions against national traditions or Judeo-Christian values.
Fascism protects corporations and seeks to eliminate unions and worker's rights. Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and Pinochet all outlawed trade unions. Tens of thousands were murdered in these sweeps against socialism and trade unions. If you can't see echoes of fascism coming from the Tea Party, the Religious Right, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump, you need help.
James Veverka
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94074-james-veverka-4-22-675
To the Editor,
Fascism evolves from right wing extremism just as Communism evolves from left wing extremism. The fascism we are most familiar with began with Mussolini in 1919 Italy and spread. These regimes arose in very different times but echoes of fascism can still be heard in right wing rhetoric. Fascism at its core is uber-nationalistic. It expresses and demands patriotism on the scale of religious fanaticism. Fascist propaganda specializes in patriotic mottos, songs, and slogans. Flags, flag symbols and flag clothing are to be ubiquitous. Fascism glorifies the nation and the military. Fascists promote an aggressive foreign policy and tend to disproportionately fund their military when the money could be better spent elsewhere. This nationalist militancy bleeds over into a love of paramilitary organizations and militias.
Hate speech and fear mongering about "others" is a tool that promotes obsession regarding national security and traditional values. Robert Paxton, foremost expert on fascism noted, "The use of ethnic stereotypes and exploitation of fear of foreigners is directly out of a fascist’s recipe book. “Making the country great again” sounds exactly like the fascist movements. Concern about national decline, that was one of the most prominent emotional states evoked in fascist discourse, and Trump is using that full-blast...". Right wingers use ethnic and religious stereotypes to attack Mexicans, Muslims, immigrants, etc. Fascism remains feverishly anti-immigrant. "English only" is an American echoe of the Nazi's "German only" agenda.
Fascists have a deep hatred for Marxism, socialism and liberalism. In his famous 1932 speech, The Doctrine of Fascism, Mussolini attacked liberalism and Marx's socialism by name over 40 times. You may have noticed the obsession with "Marxist-socialists" coming from many of the Sun's writers. Fascists will also look the other way regarding police abuses, torture and revoking civil rights if its in the name of patriotism and national security. Or their religion. Fascists are obsessed about protecting their culture and its traditional values. Here is where religion enters the fascist blend. In the Muslim world, authoritarians stress "Muslim values" while here in the USA, our extremists insist on "Judeo-Christian values". The Christian Dominionist movement strives to have all US laws based on the Bible. This is Christo-fascism which has its roots in The Depression. Ted Cruz is a Dominionist.
Like Abrahamic religions, fascism is patriarchal and wants to control women's lives and everyone's sexual conduct, too. In fascist Europe, family planning, contraception, and abortion were suppressed. Masculinity and femininity were narrowly defined. European fascism was heavily intertwined with Christianity in Italy and Spain. Weremacht SS belt buckles said "God With Us". Franco favored conservative Catholicism and reversed the secularization process that had succeeded under the Second Republic. Historian Julian Casanova claimed of Franco's regime, "the symbiosis of religion, fatherland and Caudillo saw the Church assume great political responsibility, a hegemony and monopoly beyond its wildest dreams and play a central role in policing the country's citizens."
The echoes of this remain loud in right wing world. The Nazis created a bureaucracy in 1936 called "The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion". Right wing Christians are doing their best in legislatures around the nation to craft such laws seeking control of women and the marginalization of the LGBT community. Extremist Christian legislators attack women's rights and the LGBT community with bills because they deem themselves the ultimate guardians of the family institution.
Fascism is not a friend of intellectual rigor, cultural diversity, or the arts because these are deemed a threat to traditional religious and/or national values. Fascism tends to promote open hostility toward higher education, and academia. Professors and universities are openly attacked while newspapers, magazines, books, TV, plays and films are monitored for any transgressions against national traditions or Judeo-Christian values.
Fascism protects corporations and seeks to eliminate unions and worker's rights. Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and Pinochet all outlawed trade unions. Tens of thousands were murdered in these sweeps against socialism and trade unions. If you can't see echoes of fascism coming from the Tea Party, the Religious Right, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump, you need help.
James Veverka
Freedom of Hate Speech
Published in The Loconia Daily Sun 4-20-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94005-james-veverka-4-19-225
To the editor,
What is with all the right wing drama queens? Lately when I read Steve Earle, Russ Wiles, or Jim McCoole's letters I think I am on a Dear Abby page. What a bunch of crybabies. Every time they get called out for hate speech and bigotry, they think people are attacking their right to free speech. Wrong! Nobody is attacking their right to free speech. They are attacking what they are saying and the content of the writer's moral character. They spew evil from their hearts.
Here is my free speech in action: Right wing letters are full of ignorance, bigotry and the desire to spread hateful stereotypes. They are not critical thinkers. They are anti-intellectual and anti-science. They don't do their homework. Right wing extremists exemplify the darkest and most backward minds in America. Right wingers either whine about being the victim or write about what they hate. That's who they are; hateful extremists with a bad case of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. The village idiot doesn't know he is an idiot. Soaked in bitterness, brainwashed by preachers of hate, deluded by a vision of an America that never was, doped up on fundamentalist religion, and infuriated that their anachronistic world and its values are going down in a fireball.
So keep up the free speech and I will keep up mine.
James Veverka
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94005-james-veverka-4-19-225
To the editor,
What is with all the right wing drama queens? Lately when I read Steve Earle, Russ Wiles, or Jim McCoole's letters I think I am on a Dear Abby page. What a bunch of crybabies. Every time they get called out for hate speech and bigotry, they think people are attacking their right to free speech. Wrong! Nobody is attacking their right to free speech. They are attacking what they are saying and the content of the writer's moral character. They spew evil from their hearts.
Here is my free speech in action: Right wing letters are full of ignorance, bigotry and the desire to spread hateful stereotypes. They are not critical thinkers. They are anti-intellectual and anti-science. They don't do their homework. Right wing extremists exemplify the darkest and most backward minds in America. Right wingers either whine about being the victim or write about what they hate. That's who they are; hateful extremists with a bad case of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. The village idiot doesn't know he is an idiot. Soaked in bitterness, brainwashed by preachers of hate, deluded by a vision of an America that never was, doped up on fundamentalist religion, and infuriated that their anachronistic world and its values are going down in a fireball.
So keep up the free speech and I will keep up mine.
James Veverka
15 of the 16 Hottest Years on Record were in the 21st Century
Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 4-6-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/93643-james-veverka-4-4-480
To The Daily Sun,
In his climate letter of March 14, Russ Wiles cites Ari Halperin as stating, "the natural sciences tell us that the alarmists got everything wrong." Maybe someone should inform Russ and Ari that climatology is a natural science and climatologists are the most qualified to teach it. Ari Halperin also thinks Google is conspiring with climate change scientists to hide the truth so tinfoil-clad Ari has developed a customized Google search tool that only brings up denier sites and articles. Wow!
Mr Halperin claims more CO2 will do no harm. In the last two decades, field tests around the world have found that high levels of CO2 significantly reduce levels of protein, iron, zinc, and other nutrients in crops. According to a 2014 study published in Nature, CO2 emissions are slowly making the world's staple food crops less nutritious. (1) Harmless!
There are two billion people worldwide with nutritional deficiencies so more atmospheric CO2 is not a bright idea. According to WHO and NIH, "Iron deficiency ranked ninth among 26 risk factors included in the global burden of disease study, and accounted for 841,000 deaths and 35,057,000 disability adjusted life years lost.(2) They also reported that "zinc deficiency was estimated to cause 176,000 diarrhea deaths, 406,000 pneumonia deaths and 207,000 malaria deaths. The associated loss of disability-adjusted life years attributable to zinc deficiency amounts to more than 28 million".(3) So let's pump some more CO2 into the atmosphere and make it worse! Harmless! Bring on the food riots, water wars and mass migrations!
While high CO2 levels grows bigger crops in some species, the extra growth is in fattening sugars and starches, not nutrients. Higher CO2 also favors invasive species and weeds, not crops and trees. And insect pests. But even those extra growth predictions have problems. In 2002, after a three year field test, "researchers concluded that elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide actually reduces plant growth when combined with other likely consequences of climate change — namely, higher temperatures, increased precipitation or increased nitrogen deposits in the soil".(4) New Scientist's Climate Myths section states, "while experiments on natural ecosystems have also found initial elevations in the rate of plant growth, these have tended to level off within a few years." Oh, there's that.
Russ also mentions climate misinformer Richard Lindzen of MIT, who claims the Earth has not warmed any since 1997. This myth only lives in the denier-sphere because in the real world, 15 of the 16 hottest years have been in the 21st century according to NOAA.(5) To keep tabs on what the tinfoil hat crowd is up to, check out Hotwhopper or DeSmog Blogs. For an interesting look into the crazy train, check out Stephan Lewandowski's peer reviewed paper, "The role of conspiracist ideation in climate denial." I will address more of Mr Wiles' letters in the future. I wanted to begin with the harmful affects of CO2 on our food supply.
(1) http://phys.org/news/2014-06-co2-nutritious-food.html
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1779858/
(3) http://www.who.int/publications/cra/chapters/volume1/0257-0280.pdf
(4) http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/december11/jasperplots-124.html
(5) https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201513
James Veverka
Tilton
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/93643-james-veverka-4-4-480
To The Daily Sun,
In his climate letter of March 14, Russ Wiles cites Ari Halperin as stating, "the natural sciences tell us that the alarmists got everything wrong." Maybe someone should inform Russ and Ari that climatology is a natural science and climatologists are the most qualified to teach it. Ari Halperin also thinks Google is conspiring with climate change scientists to hide the truth so tinfoil-clad Ari has developed a customized Google search tool that only brings up denier sites and articles. Wow!
Mr Halperin claims more CO2 will do no harm. In the last two decades, field tests around the world have found that high levels of CO2 significantly reduce levels of protein, iron, zinc, and other nutrients in crops. According to a 2014 study published in Nature, CO2 emissions are slowly making the world's staple food crops less nutritious. (1) Harmless!
There are two billion people worldwide with nutritional deficiencies so more atmospheric CO2 is not a bright idea. According to WHO and NIH, "Iron deficiency ranked ninth among 26 risk factors included in the global burden of disease study, and accounted for 841,000 deaths and 35,057,000 disability adjusted life years lost.(2) They also reported that "zinc deficiency was estimated to cause 176,000 diarrhea deaths, 406,000 pneumonia deaths and 207,000 malaria deaths. The associated loss of disability-adjusted life years attributable to zinc deficiency amounts to more than 28 million".(3) So let's pump some more CO2 into the atmosphere and make it worse! Harmless! Bring on the food riots, water wars and mass migrations!
While high CO2 levels grows bigger crops in some species, the extra growth is in fattening sugars and starches, not nutrients. Higher CO2 also favors invasive species and weeds, not crops and trees. And insect pests. But even those extra growth predictions have problems. In 2002, after a three year field test, "researchers concluded that elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide actually reduces plant growth when combined with other likely consequences of climate change — namely, higher temperatures, increased precipitation or increased nitrogen deposits in the soil".(4) New Scientist's Climate Myths section states, "while experiments on natural ecosystems have also found initial elevations in the rate of plant growth, these have tended to level off within a few years." Oh, there's that.
Russ also mentions climate misinformer Richard Lindzen of MIT, who claims the Earth has not warmed any since 1997. This myth only lives in the denier-sphere because in the real world, 15 of the 16 hottest years have been in the 21st century according to NOAA.(5) To keep tabs on what the tinfoil hat crowd is up to, check out Hotwhopper or DeSmog Blogs. For an interesting look into the crazy train, check out Stephan Lewandowski's peer reviewed paper, "The role of conspiracist ideation in climate denial." I will address more of Mr Wiles' letters in the future. I wanted to begin with the harmful affects of CO2 on our food supply.
(1) http://phys.org/news/2014-06-co2-nutritious-food.html
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1779858/
(3) http://www.who.int/publications/cra/chapters/volume1/0257-0280.pdf
(4) http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/december11/jasperplots-124.html
(5) https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201513
James Veverka
Tilton
Many Republicans will Vote For Hillary
Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 3-30-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/93462-james-veverka-3-22-355
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/93462-james-veverka-3-22-355
To the Editor,
The Vultures have come home to roost in the decomp laden Tea Party nest. All over the nation, Republicans are dismayed that their party could nominate Trump. Have they been asleep? The violence loving "Mein Trumpf" is just what the right wing GOP deserves. In Utah, Mormons are so offended by Trump, they plan on voting for Hillary Clinton. Utah would go blue in November in a landslide. Bloomberg reports of a passionate and disgusted many who may leave the party altogether. These same people say they will not even vote third party because they want him demolished. Monmouth polling has found that 10% of Ohio Republicans and 9% of those in Michigan plan on voting for Hillary if Trump is nominated. Rock the Vote has found that if it comes down to Clinton and Trump, even the Sanders millennials will flock to Clinton.
Right down the street from the White House, a secret meeting held 5 days ago came to the demoralizing answer to stopping Trump: Hillary Clinton. Even the right wing Daily Caller, cited Joe Scarborough as saying "“I am shocked by how many Republicans, that have always voted Republican, that have said they’re going to vote for Hillary if it’s Cruz or Trump running against Hillary." Bret Baier of Fox News noted the same. None of this is actually news except to those who live under a rock. Trump and Cruz represent all that is wrong with today's GOP. The Hill reported that over 30% of Republican voters would consider a third party vote over Trump. Back in October a Quinnipiac poll found Hillary's lead over Trump was padded by 10% of Republicans.
Last week, A USA Today poll found that 25% of Republicans would defect to the Democratic Party and 10% would stay home on election day if Trump is nominated. Bit harsh! It also agreed with Rock the Vote that Millennials will flock to Clinton if Trump is nominated. Trump is Clinton's solution for her Millennials problem.
Can you say President Hillary Clinton, Steve Earle? How about you, Don Ewing, Tony Boutin and Russ Wiles? Let me sing you all a song in Schadenfreude.
James Veverka
Black Live Matter, Muslims, Immigrants and wingnuts hate everyone
Published in The Laconia Daily 3-17-2016 Sun http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/93112-james-ververka-3-12-derangement-syndrome-565
To the Editor,
Have you noticed how obsessed certain writers are about Black Lives Matter, Muslims, and now Hillary? Most of these people align with the Tea Bag Party. If there is any group that generally reeked of racism, hatred of Muslims and Obama Derangement Syndrome, it is the Tea Party. The Tea Party has now gotten what it deserves after years of spewing their ignorant nastiness in the name of a bigoted, racist, sexist, 4th grade vocabulary bully named Donald Trump who will never be president and is very useful for Democrats in getting their message out. Then there are a couple of writers who waste time with attacks on the ACA. Its not a perfect plan because it was a Republican idea to begin with. It originated from CATO and The Heritage Foundation and was first passed in Massachusetts by Mitt Romney. It will be honed and improved upon in the years to come as all social safety net programs are. The next step towards Universal Healthcare will be to implement the Public Option which conservative democrats blocked with filibuster threats. Single Payer is not the only road to universal healthcare. President Hillary Clinton will do what she can to build upon the ACA and there will be no repeal. The latest enrollment period numbers are about 12.7 million in the marketplace, and very roughly 20 million total adding Medicaid expansion, young adults staying on their parents plan, and other coverage provisions. The uninsured rate went from 20.3% to 11.5% since 2012.(1) As far as being harmed, the breakdown is always along party lines so we shouldn't take that poll seriously. Pew Research found that 9 out of 10 Republicans were against it and 8 out of 10 Democrats supported it so if the poll was done right, the 26% are majority conservatives who will say anything.
I see the "Forced Birth" activist John Demakowski is back. When it comes to liberty and equality we can all agree it means control of one's body and our path in life. With the Forced Birth religious fanatics, that liberty excludes pregnant women. Pregnant women don't have personal autonomy in the extremist world of mandatory births. They frown upon women having control of their bodies so much that they even attack expanding contraception availability. The Southern Baptists even demand that a woman submit herself to her husband. For decades conservatives have even attacked condoms! Six years ago Colorado started a program of free contraception and their teen pregnancy rate plummeted 40%. Wow, that means fewer abortions, fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer young mothers in need of public assistance. And yes, fewer unwanted and abused children. Its a win-win but the right wing is so infantile they just can't see it. There were more than 700,000 Google searches looking into self-induced abortions in 2015. In fact, there were 119,000 searches for the exact phrase “how to have a miscarriage.” The Texas Policy Evaluation Project found that between 100,000 and 240,000 women have attempted self induced abortions.(2) Another indictment of the Christian Sharia is that the highest teen births map looks a lot like the Confederacy.(3) Mr Demakowski also forgets that the videos he speaks of were bogus and the Forced Birth activists who made them were felony indicted and arrested. The fake medical group also was slapped by a restraining order regarding the videos. So far 30 states have investigated Planned Parenthood and in all instances, the organization was cleared.(4) (1)
http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2016/03/03/03-obamacare-chart.w529.h352.2x.jpg (2)http://www.cbsnews.com/news/100000-texas-women-have-tried-to-self-induce-abortion/ (3)http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/2014-teen-pregnancy-map.png (4)http://wisconsingazette.com/2016/01/26/anti-abortion-activists-indicted-over-phony-videos-targeting-planned-parenthood/ James Veverka Tilton
To the Editor,
Have you noticed how obsessed certain writers are about Black Lives Matter, Muslims, and now Hillary? Most of these people align with the Tea Bag Party. If there is any group that generally reeked of racism, hatred of Muslims and Obama Derangement Syndrome, it is the Tea Party. The Tea Party has now gotten what it deserves after years of spewing their ignorant nastiness in the name of a bigoted, racist, sexist, 4th grade vocabulary bully named Donald Trump who will never be president and is very useful for Democrats in getting their message out. Then there are a couple of writers who waste time with attacks on the ACA. Its not a perfect plan because it was a Republican idea to begin with. It originated from CATO and The Heritage Foundation and was first passed in Massachusetts by Mitt Romney. It will be honed and improved upon in the years to come as all social safety net programs are. The next step towards Universal Healthcare will be to implement the Public Option which conservative democrats blocked with filibuster threats. Single Payer is not the only road to universal healthcare. President Hillary Clinton will do what she can to build upon the ACA and there will be no repeal. The latest enrollment period numbers are about 12.7 million in the marketplace, and very roughly 20 million total adding Medicaid expansion, young adults staying on their parents plan, and other coverage provisions. The uninsured rate went from 20.3% to 11.5% since 2012.(1) As far as being harmed, the breakdown is always along party lines so we shouldn't take that poll seriously. Pew Research found that 9 out of 10 Republicans were against it and 8 out of 10 Democrats supported it so if the poll was done right, the 26% are majority conservatives who will say anything.
I see the "Forced Birth" activist John Demakowski is back. When it comes to liberty and equality we can all agree it means control of one's body and our path in life. With the Forced Birth religious fanatics, that liberty excludes pregnant women. Pregnant women don't have personal autonomy in the extremist world of mandatory births. They frown upon women having control of their bodies so much that they even attack expanding contraception availability. The Southern Baptists even demand that a woman submit herself to her husband. For decades conservatives have even attacked condoms! Six years ago Colorado started a program of free contraception and their teen pregnancy rate plummeted 40%. Wow, that means fewer abortions, fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer young mothers in need of public assistance. And yes, fewer unwanted and abused children. Its a win-win but the right wing is so infantile they just can't see it. There were more than 700,000 Google searches looking into self-induced abortions in 2015. In fact, there were 119,000 searches for the exact phrase “how to have a miscarriage.” The Texas Policy Evaluation Project found that between 100,000 and 240,000 women have attempted self induced abortions.(2) Another indictment of the Christian Sharia is that the highest teen births map looks a lot like the Confederacy.(3) Mr Demakowski also forgets that the videos he speaks of were bogus and the Forced Birth activists who made them were felony indicted and arrested. The fake medical group also was slapped by a restraining order regarding the videos. So far 30 states have investigated Planned Parenthood and in all instances, the organization was cleared.(4) (1)
http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2016/03/03/03-obamacare-chart.w529.h352.2x.jpg (2)http://www.cbsnews.com/news/100000-texas-women-have-tried-to-self-induce-abortion/ (3)http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/2014-teen-pregnancy-map.png (4)http://wisconsingazette.com/2016/01/26/anti-abortion-activists-indicted-over-phony-videos-targeting-planned-parenthood/ James Veverka Tilton
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