Ugh, I hate it when I hear people trot out the Luddite's fallacy. It has held for the last few centuries, but the fact is technology is finally truly competing with human labour, and it is only a matter of time before human labour is effectively rendered obsolete, and with it, the monetary system.

I wonder if Fiore and any one else who watches this believes that Phrenology and EUgnenics are real sciences.

In real life no one would buy square wheels. Therefore there is no market, therefore no square wheel jobs. I know, its only a cartoon but listen, people cannot just throw away their cars and ride buses and that easily. Some places don't even have that. And if you don't have hydrogen cells ETC, then forget it.

Of course, if, as a result of an increased tax and load on the economy during a depression, our nation's economy collapses and we become a third world nation, we're liable to end up polluting as much as third world nations do. Wind turbines might be great, but if we become a poor nation that can no longer afford to erect them, then what good are they?

Instead, we need to make the transition slowly. What's really sad and lost in this debate is that no one wants to use the evil N-word. We could try NUCLEAR POWER instead which might actually be much less expensive than wind power and might even have a lower carbon footprint than erecting tens of thousands of wind turbines. We need our government to stop evading reality and open up Yucca Mountain and to promote nuclear power, just like other first world industrialized nations have done.

Also lost in this debate is the issue of POPULATION EXPLOSION and IMMIGRATION. We need to address worldwide population explosion and also our own nation's population explosion because a higher population means even more pollution and an even greater carbon footprint. (This seems like common sense, but talk about population and immigration are taboo and politically incorrect. It's much easier to advocate touchy-feely green measures without addressing the Malthusian issues.)

Thanks, people. Arguments like yours are what are keeping us mired in the debate rather than doing something about our climate.

Meanwhile, sea ice is at the lowest levels recorded for 800 years, sea levels are rising, and the climate is starting to unhinge.

Emissions trading is a bad idea, IMNSHO. We are past the point where that might have been useful.

Then again, I've always thought the herd needed thinning. This is an excellent way to do it - almost all the way down to zero.

You forgot to post the after-the-cartoon interview:

Reporter: Mr. Fiore, you're a proponent of the latest climate change bill?

Mr. Fiore: That's right. We're looking for a round wheel rather than a square wheel. There's overwhelming scientific evidence that one is needed.

Reporter: Such as?

Mr. Fiore: Well, the... scientists. From the UN. Hundreds of them, all in agreement that anthropogenic climate change needs to be stopped.

Reporter: Not the hundreds that were subsequently removed from the panel by the appointing board of governors for disagreeing with the consensus?

Mr. Fiore: Right. Clearly, there's a consensus now.

Reporter: Were you aware that there was a consensus on global warming until recently, when the third generation of anthropogenic climate models failed as completely and utterly as the first two and the 'experts' were forced to move on to gen. 4 'climate change' models?

Mr. Fiore: Um... Yes?

Reporter: Are you presently aware of how many 'on-side' scientists are all basing their conclusions on the same base model?

Mr. Fiore: Who are you to question that? Do you have a degree in climatology? They're the experts.

Reporter: I see. And have you read any of the research? Have you read a single whitepaper, or looked at the assumptions of the models? Can you name even one researcher in the field?

Mr. Fiore: Sure. Al Gore is one, isn't he?

Reporter: Have you taken into consideration the noise-fitting properties of the models? Have you considered that the three previous base models have all failed completely? Have you considered that it is the politicians and not the scientists who decide the majority of what research is funded? Have you considered the circumstances under which hundreds of other scientists have been discredited, or examined their criticisms?

Mr. Fiore: No. But they're the experts! We're all going to die if we don't do something!

Reporter: Like what?

Mr. Fiore: Like move on from a square wheel to a round one. Pass climate change legislation.

Reporter: Do you mean the legislation fully bought and paid for by Goldman Sachs, who couldn't wait to get their hands into a lucrative carbon credits market? Or do you mean the legislation that Europe also passed, during which time their carbon emissions skyrocketed up until the point their economy collapsed?

Mr. Fiore: The mammoths are coming! They're coming! We need change! Carbon credits! Taxes on developing nations! 'Green' versions of all the products we currently own! Run!

Reporter: There are no mammoths, Mr. Fiore.

Mr. Fiore: They're almost here! The experts, whose continued funding and livelihood I'm certain do not depend on their agreement with the consensus, have said so!

Reporter: If the experts--or, at least those who are still accredited--told you that the moon was going to crash into the Earth...

Mr. Fiore: Aaaaaaaaaauggh! The moon is crashing into the Earth... Run.... for your...



"Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education, housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them."
- Thomas Sowell (1930 - )

P.S. I have read the scientific literature, Mr. Fiore, both for and against anthropogenic climate change. And if there's anything more certain than the tenuousness of the anthropogenic component to climate change, it's that the measures being passed in this climate bill certainly won't help matters.

I am not convinced. As long as wheels are not made by zombie wheel makers on government life support, I am all for letting the market decide what wheels to use, rather than government regulations designed by some Chicken Little on a government grant.

Good stuff.
After all, if square wheel guy is dead (i.e. people in 65+ age bracket), what does (they) he care if he is (they are) wrong.

- StupidPeopleTrick

perfect

Global warming? Or the guys in Detroit?

a prehistoric parable.....

That about sums it up.

So easy, a caveman can do it! (Apologies to the auto insurer!)

New animation is up and running. Let me know what you think!

-MF