Sarah Palin Ate My Hamster!

Just when you thought Time couldn't get any worse, they treat us to this:

Will Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Cause Hyperinflation?

This is stupidity at its most breathtaking.

Evidently, Stephen Gandel has decided to start a write-in campaign for an evening slot at MSNBC.

Note: You know the most valuable fact I learned in the process of acquiring a BSBA in Economics?

99.9% of all economists are full of shit.

I learned that 99.9% of all journalists are full of shit on my own.

Mostly from reading stuff like Gandel's.

Comments

[Randy Rager]

That's "Contact High" grade stupidity.

It's been almost a decade since I paid for Time. Don't plan to start up again any time soon, either.

[Joe Redfield]

But Dennis....the prediction is based on a computer model! How could it be wrong?

[Randy Rager]

BWHAAHAH!

"computer model"! Oh man.

Good one, dude.

[Zapp Rowsdower]

Sarah Palin and hamsters. Is that a veiled Andrew Sullivan reference?

[Richard mcenroe]

But... But... I read this guy over at firedoglake who swears palin sold him a trillion bux of junk t-bills! He couldn't say that if it wasn't true could he?

[Nodrog]

The prediction seems to be as fact-based as predicting the stock market based upon which team wins the Super Bowl. A shockingly bad article, even for TIME.

[richard mcenroe]

So if 99.99% of economists are full of shit, and 99.99% of journalists are full of shit, what's the excremental index of business reporters?

[Dan from Madison]

Holy fuck. I read the first couple of paragraphs of that article. That is what passes for journalism now? Yeesh.

[Mike C.]

Humpf. Read almost any general press article dealing with science.

[richard mcenroe]

Mike C., a few years back when we were just starting to discover extrasolar planets, a news show (NBC, I think)was interviewing a NASA flack about the most recent discoveries. The news guy was obviously supposed to be a serious reporter (fat, balding, white, using big words)and he was nodding very seriously as the flack explained how many light years away these worlds were and how we estimated their size and composition... and then the serious science reporter asked the Big Question: "So, what are NASA's plans for exploring these planets?"

And you saw the expression on the poor flack's face, and you could hear his inner gyroscope go 'clunk'...

[Nodrog]

Or, Mike C., read any diatribe from a global warming denialist attacking real scientists. And then people like you will lap it up like cognac. Or, in the case of most global warming denialist groupies, moonshine.

[ZT]

@Nodrog: Once upon a time people who believed in AGW could be called 'gullible'. Now they have to be called 'stupid'. There is no credible evidence that human activity has a significant effect on global climate. The 'scientists' at the bottom of it, people such as Mann, Jones, and Hansen, faked their data, rigged their computer models, and hijacked the peer review process to suppress any opposition to their theories.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, but it makes up around 2% of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; the other 98% is almost all water vapor. But is CO2 especially potent, so it has an outsize effect? No. The CO2 absorption spectrum is very similar to the H2O spectrum and is swamped by it. Thus, there is no physical mechanism by which CO2 can have the dire effects predicted.

And don't bleat about 'consensus'. Consensus means squat in science. 'Everybody' said the earth was the center of the universe. 'Everybody' said diseases generated spontaneously. 'Everybody' was wrong. Today the only supporters of AGW (besides the fools) are those that benefit from it politically or economically. People such as AlGore, who uses it to finance his mansions and private jets. (Funny that the people who say there's a crisis don't act like there's a crisis).

[xternality]

Good points, ZT. Some people's global reasoning is impaired maybe from hits to the head with hockey sticks or something.

Denialists could be better Chicken Littles than Disruptionists by raising awareness about water vapor as the more offending greenhouse gas. Clearly, we need a campaign and one world government funding to stop evaporation, but short of that the US could unilaterally mandate no sweat zones; place a moratorium on domestically steamed veggies; require custom tub, pool and lake covers (the exorbitant costs of which will be more than offset by reductions in homeowner's and water hazard liability insurance); institute a Manhattan project on eradicating fog, mist and low-lying clouds; innovate a tech for sequestering waterfalls; design and market low-humidity showers and give tax credits to shower sharers (two or more); and award eco grants to artists.

[Dennis the Peasant]

Gordon-

Please write your comments in the form of a comment.

Mindless attacks are my shtick, and at this site, I monopolize.

Get me?

[Christopher]

"place a moratorium on domestically steamed veggies"

Finally! End this global hazard! All vegetables should be deep fried, placed on a plate next to meat, and then smothered in gravy...

And in a side note to any sustainability/greenie assholes, all veggies should be grown at home by your wife, you should kill your own meat, and chop down the wood to fire the stove to cook it on. That's 'sustainable'. Living in a 32nd floor apartment bitching about light rail isn't.
Stop kidding yourselves.

[Nodrog]

If you think you have a monopoly on mindless attacks in your own comment section, Dennis, you're seriously delusional.

But I'll try to respect your wishes.

But then you get ignoramuses like xternality and ZT who apparently think even Bjorn Lomborg is a envirofreak communist. They're the type of doofuses who used to believe the tobacco companies and the CFC producers.

It's just too irresistible.

[ZT]

Every fact I mentioned is true, Nodrog. Doesn't science matter to you?

[Nodrog]

ZT:
The 'scientists' at the bottom of it, people such as Mann, Jones, and Hansen, faked their data, rigged their computer models, and hijacked the peer review process to suppress any opposition to their theories.
Lies, lies, lies
http://www.politics.ie/environment/134791-research-says-climate-change-undeniable-us-study.html

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, but it makes up around 2% of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; the other 98% is almost all water vapor. But is CO2 especially potent, so it has an outsize effect? No. The CO2 absorption spectrum is very similar to the H2O spectrum and is swamped by it. Thus, there is no physical mechanism by which CO2 can have the dire effects predicted.
Lies, lies, lies.
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.htm

And don't bleat about 'consensus'. Consensus means squat in science. 'Everybody' said the earth was the center of the universe. 'Everybody' said diseases generated spontaneously. 'Everybody' was wrong. Today the only supporters of AGW (besides the fools) are those that benefit from it politically or economically. People such as AlGore, who uses it to finance his mansions and private jets. (Funny that the people who say there's a crisis don't act like there's a crisis).
Not lies, just ridiculous spin.
Read "Merchants of Doubt" if you want to hear the truth, ZT. But I suspect you dont.