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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (18721)	12/8/2007 6:59:53 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 224769

Why is that ? They didn't survive the many 1000s of other warming cycles ?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (18721)	12/8/2007 8:57:48 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224769

Rightwingers don't care about wildlife or nature. They would much rather us have no wild places left except on Dick Cheney's billionaire pals private hunting preserves.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (18721)	12/9/2007 12:19:58 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 224769

US military dooms al Qaeda to extinction in Iraq: The New Iraq Part 2 by Oliver North, 12/07/2007 Kalsu, Iraq -- Those who believe that the campaign in Iraq is a lost cause better not tell that to the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division -- they think they’re winning. That’s not just their Commanding General, Rick Lynch talking -- that’s the word from every soldier we have listened to for the week we have been with them. These troops ought to know -- many of them are here on their third, year-long tour of duty in Iraq. Those we have been interviewing for an upcoming special edition of War Stories were part of the initial attack north from Kuwait in March, 2003; they were here when al Qaeda tried to stop the democratic elections in 2005; and they have been here again since May, 2007. What they have experienced along the way gives them a perspective that is much at odds from what we most often see expressed in our mainstream media and by America’s most prominent politicians. “If I thought we were losing, I wouldn’t be here,” said Staff Sergeant Nicholas Ingleston of Williamston, New York. He’s an M-1 Tank Gunner on his third tour of duty in Iraq. When I asked him why he had decided to re-enlist in the U.S. Army, knowing that would mean coming back to Iraq a third time, this father of three replied, “I’m part of a team and we came here to do a job and we’re doing it.” His commentary on where we have been -- and where this fight is headed was typical of what we have heard on this, our 9th “embed” in Iraq. Professional political pessimists and their apprentices in the press long ago declared this fight “lost” and U.S. efforts here a “failure.” In June, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the struggle to bring about a democratic outcome in Iraq, a “grotesque mistake.” She was joined by Republican critics like Indiana Senator Dick Lugar who said, “the current surge strategy is not an effective means of protecting” America's vital interests in Iraq. That kind of sniping was heard from both sides of the aisle throughout the summer. Then, after Labor Day, General David Petraeus was subjected to vitriolic criticism before he even had the chance to testify before Congress.< Entire article at humanevents.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (18721)	12/10/2007 10:06:38 AM
From: DizzyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224769

Polar bear numbers up, but rescue continues Don Martin in Ottawa, National Post Published: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 Stephen Harper.Chris Wattie, ReutersStephen Harper. Their status ranges from a "vulnerable" to "endangered" and could be declared "threatened" if the U.S. decides the polar bear is collateral damage of climate change. Nobody talks about "overpopulated" when discussing the bears' outlook. Yet despite the Canadian government 's $150-million commitment last week to fund 44 International Polar Year research projects, a key question is not up for detailed scientific assessment: If the polar bear is the 650-kilogram canary in the climate change coal mine, why are its numbers INCREASING? The latest government survey of polar bears roaming the vast Arctic expanses of northern Quebec, Labrador and southern Baffin Island show the population of polar bears has jumped to 2,100 animals from around 800 in the mid-1980s. As recently as three years ago, a less official count placed the number at 1,400. The Inuit have always insisted the bears' demise was greatly exaggerated by scientists doing projections based on fly-over counts, but their input was usually dismissed as the ramblings of self-interested hunters. As Nunavut government biologist Mitch Taylor observed in a front-page story in the Nunatsiaq News last month, "the Inuit were right. There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears." Their widely portrayed lurch toward extinction on a steadily melting ice cap is not supported by bear counts in other Arctic regions either. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is collecting feedback on whether to declare the polar bear "threatened" under its Endangered Species Act, joining the likes of the rare red-cockaded woodpecker, the lesser prairie chicken and the Sonoran pronghorn, which are afforded official protection and species recovery management. The service held its first public hearing on the polar bear project last night in Washington D.C. But background papers for the debate hardly justify a rush to protect the bear from extinction if its icy habitat fades to green. The service identifies six Arctic regions where data are insufficient to make a call on the population, including the aforementioned Baffin shores area. Another six areas are listed as having stable counts, three experienced reduced numbers and two have seen their bears increase. Inuit also argue the bear population is on the rise along western Hudson Bay, in sharp contrast to the Canadian Wildlife Service, which projects a 22% decline in bear numbers. Far be it for me to act as a climate- change denier, but that's hardly overwhelming proof of a species in peril in Canada, which claims roughly two thirds of the world's polar bear population. Reading international coverage of the bear, it's obvious Canada has become home to the official poster species for extinction by climate change. Everywhere you look, the "doomed" polar bear's story is illustrated with the classic photo of a mother and cub teetering on an fragile-looking ice floe, the ice full of holes and seemingly about to disappear into the sea. "The drama is clear: This is truly the tip of an iceberg, the bears are desperately stranded as the water swells around them," according to a recent article in The Observer magazine carrying the photo. Something's always bothered me about that photo, which has been vilified on the Internet as a fake. Even if it's the real thing, the photographer was clearly standing on something solid not far from his forlorn looking subjects. For a species that can swim dozens of kilometres to find a decent seal dinner, a few hundred metres to shore is a leisurely doggie paddle to safety. So much for the optic of a doomed global warming victim on ice. Of course, tracking polar bear populations is an inexact science. They roam about, which lends itself to double counting, and they're not easy to identify from any distance. Besides, polar bears do live on ice and satellite photos show the sea ice is down 7.7% in the last decade. So something is happening up there. But while Prime Minister Stephen Harper has embraced the religion of climate change and vows to combat it with billions of new dollars, the bear facts suggest the challenge facing our great white symbol may be more about too many bears than too little ice. nationalpost.com No, Kenneth, you are the one that is doomed to extinction. Diz-