Be Excellent To Each Other

Rick Santorum thinks the concept of man-made climate change is both "patently absurd" and part of a "scheme" by the left to get more government regulation.

Santorum was on Rush Limbaugh's radio show Wednesday, where he was asked whether he agrees with Mitt Romney's comments from last Friday, embracing the universally accepted science of man-made climate change.

Santorum replied:



Santorum continued that the idea of man-made climate change may be part of a liberal conspiracy: "To me this is an opportunity for the left to create -- it's really a beautifully concocted scheme because they know that the earth is gonna cool and warm. It's been on a warming trend so they said, 'Oh, let's take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it's getting warmer.'"

"It's just an excuse for more government control of your life," he added, "and I've never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative."

can you guys imagine how in other countries they must be raising eyebrows and laughing their heads off at these backward, fanatical, irrational American right-wingers and their ideology and their fantasies and their absurd conspiracies.. it really makes us the laughing-stock of the world..... (this guy is way too irrational and fanatical, even if he were to win the nomination there's no way he could win in a general; consequently what he thinks about global warming -- or anything else -- is pretty much irrelevant..)

He does have a mild, almost related point, in that governments and companies have latched onto climate change as a way of raising more taxes and making more money...

universally accepted science of man-made climate change

It seemed like a straightforward question on a second-tier issue: Would Mitt Romney disavow the science behind global warming? The putative Republican presidential front-runner, eager to prove his conservative bona fides, could easily have said what he knew many in his party’s base wanted to hear. Instead, the former Massachusetts governor stuck to the position he has held for many years — that he believes the world is getting warmer and that humans are contributing to that pattern.
...
“I don’t speak for the scientific community, of course, but I believe the world’s getting warmer,” he said. “I can’t prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer. And number two, I believe that humans contribute to that. I don’t know how much our contribution is to that, because I know that there have been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past, but I believe we contribute to that.”

He must shed the flip-flopper reputation that haunted his last presidential campaign while also appealing to conservative voters wary of his past support for near-universal health care, abortion rights, same-sex marriage and other positions befitting a politician elected in liberal Massachusetts.

withdrawing from NATO and the UN, phasing out the Federal Reserve and granting Letters of Marque instead of military action are good ideas, but at least when he says he for "smaller government" he really means it.

Rob Paul looks interesting, although I'm not sure if he really has any chance. Whilst I might not agree with many of his opinions, he does appear to be someone who votes in an unpopular manner if his principles lead him that way, rather than towing the party line. I'm not sure if withdrawing from NATO and the UN, phasing out the Federal Reserve and granting Letters of Marque instead of military action are good ideas, but at least when he says he for "smaller government" he really means it.

What he doesn’t understand is that Palin’s nutsiness is not a partisan matter in Britain, or anywhere else in the world. It is an obvious truth marveled at by all. Palin’s emergence as a serious figure in American politics has made the country a laughing stock across the world. The idea that a stateswoman like Thatcher, in advanced dementia, would be used by such a crackpot is simply unseemly.

The idea that a stateswoman like Thatcher, in advanced dementia, would be used by such a crackpot is simply unseemly.

As for small government, remember that the US is a federal system, and the constitution sets out the powers of the federal government vis-a-vis the states. It's only 5,000 or so words long, and well-worth reading (guess which thing the original text hinted at but never mentioned directly!)

Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are taking heat for signing onto a group's pledge suggesting African-American families were better off in some ways under slavery.

The two most prominent social conservatives in the 2012 field signed onto "The Marriage Vow - A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family," by The Family Leader, a Christian group. According to the pledge, "Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President."

Everyone involved has since distanced themselves from the statement.The Family Leader said the slavery language could be "misconstrued" and removed it, Santorum praised their decision (while urging more Republicans to sign the pledge), and Bachmann reiterated her strong support for the 13th Amendment.

"In no uncertain terms, Congresswoman Bachmann believes that slavery was horrible and economic enslavement is also horrible," spokeswoman Alice Stewart told CNN.

The group's claim wasn't only offensive, it was also inaccurate. Forbes' Osha Gray Davidson notes that it relies on a study that doesn't even have data past 1880 and whose author completely disagrees with the group's conclusion.