Start Here

Scolding the Bonus Babies

2009-03-17T01:09:00.000-06:00

AIG, the insurance giant at the core of the financial meltdown, struck again over the weekend, disclosing that it would use some of its $170 billion in federal bailout money to reward its employees with $165 million in bonuses. And Obama was left looking like a pitiful giant as his aides explained that there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop the obscene payouts -- even though the government owns 80 percent of AIG.
But if the president wants to keep ahead of the public fury, he'll need to do more than share the concerns; he'll need to act on them. Now it's time to deliver.
Well said. He is the president for crying out loud, we the tax payers own most of AIG, if not the whole corpse. We have the power; he has the power if he has the balls to execute it. Nothing less than nationalizing, firing the oh-so-very "Talented" and breaking up the company will suffice. Do you have the balls Obama?
AIG needs to die. They are 13 trillion dollars in debt from credit default swaps; they have acknowledged paying 80 billion of that debt... We simply cannot afford to bring them back to life... the bankers, the insurers, the stockholders, the board of directors have to- must- lose their shirts and shuffle away in disgrace.
They are not talented, there f-students on a drinking binge.

Official google.org Blog: The Final Inch is Nominated for an Oscar!

2009-03-02T16:36:00.000-06:00

Official google.org Blog: The Final Inch is Nominated for an Oscar!

Bernanke

2009-02-26T01:17:00.001-06:00

Bernanke: Uptick rule might have been useful during crisis

Federal Reserve board chairman Ben Bernanke seemed to give tacit support on Wednesday to restoration of federal rules that don't allow short-selling while a stock is declining. In a question-and-answer session with the House Financial Services committee, Bernanke said that the rule "may have had some benefit" during the current crisis. Mary Schapiro, the new chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told the New York Times this week that she's thinking about reinstating the rule. The SEC eliminated the rule in 2007. It had been in place since the market crash in 1929. It stated that short sale had to take place at a price higher than the price of the previous trade. Robert Brusca, chief economist at FAO Economics, said too many people on Wall Street were able to make profits from the pessimism in markets and restoration of the up-tick rule was needed.

Lakedweller2 - wrote
These comments by the SEC and Fed support the conspiracy theory that market manipulation is a purposeful activity by the government. They have stolen all the money through derivatives, depleted the treasury through bailouts, and allowed the hedge funds to destroy any market or company they desire. Why not reinstate the uptick rule. There is nothing left to protect.

Ggeophiz - wrote
Where is Congress? Grandstanding in the TV covered committee meetings. All blow and no go.

Dodoclown - wrote
LOL blame the shorts for this World Wide Depression... not the Wall Street banks that STOLE trillions from World investors through the Scheme of CDO selling with AAA rated investments and while insuring these toxic CDOs with CDS to scam governments world wide... BUT of course these Wall Street banks that did this (GS, JPM, C, BAC, WF, LEH) are not to be blamed, they were just doing their job of making trillions off the backs of the 401K holders and NOW they are STEALING more money through Bailouts! ... but the small brained Bernanke blames the short sellers! LOL @ this... bunch of imbeciles

Cybernaut - wrote
Until this nation comes to grip with the fundamental question of enforcing the rule of law...we will continue slide down the path of moral corruption.

Don't Waver When The Moment Comes.

2007-10-13T07:22:00.001-05:00

Don't Waver When The Moment Comes.

Suddenly cool Al Gore looks like a good choice.

Al Gore could become the only man to win an Oscar, a Nobel Prize and his party's presidential nomination.

He already has collected an Oscar for his global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." (Actually, that's two Oscars, if you count best song.) He's Won the Nobel Peace Prize.

We hope he goes for it.

Gore has said repeatedly that he's happy doing what he's doing, while not irrevocably ruling out a run. Friends and former aides are hedging bets.

The first President Bush mocked him as "ozone man." Now, corporations seek his counsel on global warming.

"An Inconvenient Truth" has made environmental activism - and Gore, in all his woodenness - cool again. Thousands flock to his lectures on campuses. Rock stars go gaga over him.

But more important, international leaders, who turned against America when Bush scoffed at treaties and rejected diplomacy, respect and admire Gore.

However much he has achieved in the past seven years, President Gore could achieve what citizen Gore cannot. So bide your time, Al Gore, as Bobby Kennedy did in 68. But don't waver when the moment comes.

Start Here

2006-11-04T11:06:00.000-06:00

Filed under: Climate Science FAQ IPCC— group @ 4:43 pm
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/

We've often been asked to provide a one stop link for resources that people can use to get up to speed on the issue of climate change, and so here is a first cut. Unlike our other postings, we'll amend this as we discover or are pointed to new resources. Different people have different needs and so we will group resources according to the level people start at.

For complete beginners:

NCAR: Weather and climate basics: http://www.eo.ucar.edu/basics/index.html

Oxford University: The basics of climate prediction: http://www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk/climate/interface.html

Pew Center: Global Warming basics: http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/

Wikipedia: Global Warming: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

NASA: Global Warming update: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/GlobalWarmingUpdate/

Those with some knowledge:

The IPCC AR4 Frequently Asked Questions (PDF: http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4WG1_FAQs.pdf) is an excellent start. That covers:

What Factors Determine Earth's Climate?
What is the Relationship between Climate Change and Weather?
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
How do Human Activities Contribute to Climate Change and How do They Compare with Natural Influences?
How are Temperatures on Earth Changing?
How is Precipitation Changing?
Has there been a Change in Extreme Events like Heat Waves, Droughts, Floods and Hurricanes?
Is the Amount of Snow and Ice on the Earth Decreasing?
Is Sea Level Rising?
What Caused the Ice Ages and Other Important Climate Changes Before the Industrial Era?
Is the Current Climate Change Unusual Compared to Earlier Changes in Earth's History?
Are the Increases in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Other Greenhouse Gases During the Industrial Era Caused by Human Activities?
How Reliable Are the Models Used to Make Projections of Future Climate Change?
Can Individual Extreme Events be Explained by Greenhouse Warming?
Can the Warming of the 20th Century be Explained by Natural Variability?
Are Extreme Events, Like Heat Waves, Droughts or Floods, Expected to Change as the Earth's Climate Changes?
How Likely are Major or Abrupt Climate Changes, such as Loss of Ice Sheets or Changes in Global Ocean Circulation?
If Emissions of Greenhouse Gases are Reduced, How Quickly do Their Concentrations in the Atmosphere Decrease?
Do Projected Changes in Climate Vary from Region to Region?

We'll link to the individual pages once the report is available in html.

RealClimate: Start with our index: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/index/

Informed, but in need of more detail:

Science: You can't do better than the IPCC reports themselves
AR4 2007” http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html,
TAR 2001: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/index.htm.

History: Spencer Weart's "Discovery of Global Warming"
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.html (AIP)

Informed, but seeking serious discussion of common contrarian talking points:

All of the below links have indexed debunks of most of the common points of confusion:

Coby Beck's How to talk to Global Warming Skeptic: http://gristmill.grist.org/skeptics
New Scientist: Climate Change: A guide for the perplexed: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462
RealClimate: Response to common contrarian arguments: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/index/#Responses
NERC (UK): Climate change debate summary: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/about/consult/debate/climatechange/summary.asp
UK Met Office: Climate Change Myths: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/myths/index.html

Please feel free to suggest other suitable resources, particularly in different languages, and we'll try to keep this list up to date.