Are you saying there will never be droughts again if we re-elect obama?

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html

I expect all those red-state Republicans to avoid being "welfare queens" and turn down all that "socialist" government money.

Ya'll enjoy your "free market", you hear?

equally amusing is that dinosaurs like Ryan,Paul,and Cantor believe that we need to eliminate depts like FEMA,OSHA, EPA,etc. They don't do anything

link for Jeff:

en dot wikipedia dot org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid

I can't take another climate debate, even were it a polite and reasoned discussion, as it never is.

So veering back close to the immediate topic of the article, since weather tends to even out over time, how much would you bet that this country will seem titanic floods sometime in the next 6 months?

Severe droughts have been happening since the beginning of time. How can we have any real way of knowing if this is in fact a direct result of "global warming" above and beyond an educated guess?

My problem always has been, and always will be, that the narrative keeps changing according to need. First, global cooling. Then when that didn't pan out, they changed it to global warming. That didn't work out either, so now it's just plain old boring "climate change." And now, whatever happens, they can claim that they are, were, and always will be, "right." It's the perfect way to control a debate: make it so that you're right, no matter what. The fact is, there is only a consensus among, for lack of a better word, "the believers." There's plenty of data and scientists out there who are saying we need to explore it further before we take any drastic measures.

That being said, religiously speaking if we are indeed in the final days of the world, the bible and other religious texts have predicted this very thing: weather extremes, "wars and rumors of wars", and the earth generally being in a tumultuous state. If that's true, there's no legislation that can stay the hand of God.

So in conclusion, whichever religion you ascribe to, science or a higher power, let's just settle down and come up with common sense, cost-effective, practical, responsible environmental regulations that meet our energy needs but that doesn't make energy more expensive, because higher energy costs disproportionately impact those who already struggle the most: the poor.

There's a massive drought across the U.S. I have an idea. Let's build more dams and store more water during the wet years to get us by through the dry ones! Oh yeah, I forgot, environmentalists hate dams too. So much for responsible planning.

There is a problem I will agree, and the U.S. has recognized it and is trying to fix their problem, but this is not any current administration's fault, and any attempt at labeling it as such is an obviously biased view. This problem started back with the industrial revolution where the U.S. started heavily relying on coal and oil as a source to power machinery. At that time no one really knew what the long term effects of heavy consumption of these would do to our planet, but now that we do it will take some time to rectify the situation in the U.S. We didn't get in this situation overnight so you shouldn't expect it to be fixed overnight. More than likely it will take decades to correct this problem, and I think the U.S. will eventually correct the problem. My bigger concern is now China. They are industrializing at an alarming rate and from what I've read are about where we were in the 60's with a high concentration in manufacturing and building infrastructure. A lot more energy will be expended as China becomes more and more a "developed" country. If they don't make the switch now to clean energy then they have the potential of creating far more greenhouse gases than the U.S. has. That is my major aera of concern now.

wils59, 97% of scientists who study climate change agree that it is being impacted by manmade causes. Most of the 3% who disagree are funded by the oil industry. So who's drinking the Kookaid? Answer this for me: If 97 doctors told you that you needed an operation or you would die, but 3 told you not to get the operation, what would you do?

kg: Why you ask...because climatologists have been predicting these outcomes for 4 decades, assuming we continued to use fossil fuels irresponsibly. The predictions were that as the earth warms, weather patterns would be more volatile with more extremes, droughts worse and longer-lasting, fires and floods more common, storms more violent, etc. We refused to act on these predictions, and here we are. Individual weather events are not always predictable, but longer term trends are, and based on what we know FROM SCIENCE, what we are seeing now is only the beginning of the challenges we have in front of us. We can change it when we decide to quit denying the reality that now surrounds us.

No drought assistance for the southern red states. They already take a $1.00 for every $.30 of federal money that they pay in.

My question to the climate change deniers is:

What is the cost if those who believe man is changing our climate are wrong - and we act to prevent climate change that isn't real?

What is the cost if the deniers are wrong - and we don't act?

Seems to me the potential costs are worth a pound of prevention, even if it's not needed.

It sounds to me that you need a Faith Based Initiative to deal with these problems!

Rick, In climate science, the patient is the earth. Climate scientists have just walked upon the so-called sick patient and studied maybe one breath of the one patient's history. Medical doctors have studied countless patients over many, many years. A closer comparison of your analogy would be letting 97 medieval doctors from the dark ages attach leeches to suck the bad demon blood out.

Ah, no, I think I will pass thank you.

it's a hundred and seven degrees outside...and the penguins are get'n low on sun block...what climate change...

Spoke to a farmer friend of mine and he said that over 90% of all loses are covered by insurance. They're not even going to have to harvest, so it's a net gain for the farmers---but, the consumer will pay at the checkout line.

agriculture and oil industries have it made.

The ratings are the worst since 1988, another year of severe drought in the nation's crop-growing mid-section.

Oops....1988 was over 20 years ago...what to do.

Keep denying, burn, baby burn...until we all are dead.

It seems the weather has been unpredictable, as for the midwest this is rare, I'll pray that it continues to be unpredictable.

@wils59, oh, I see, you're the expert in climate change, not those scientists who have devoted their entire careers studying it. wils59 knows more about climate change than 97% of climate scientists. Wow, I mean, wow! How arrogant, and ignorant. And a truly lame attempt to dodge my question and obfuscate. You fail.

wils59 has failed to address my question, so I'll pose it again for you other climate change deniers. 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is being impacted by manmade causes. Answer this for me: If 97 doctors told you that you needed an operation or you would die, but 3 told you not to get the operation, what would you do?

I have no comments or opinions about this article..BUT..do want to B**ch about NBC giving all a hard time to log in on newsvine..its either a tweeter account or Facebook account..WHY??? hate both..will never have account with them..but had a newsvine account before Facebook or tweeter started up. GET REAL PEEPS!

NBC..its your site..I really can go other places..THINK!

And another few hundred thousand users with me!

If you keep up this BS log in!

here is an easy fix...eliminate around 50% of the population of the world and maybe just maybe we wont have this issue until population reaches the brink like today. or we can all argue till we are blue in the face and continue to make our carbon footprint with cars and electricity. or go back to the stone ages and play ostrich

Every so often someone comes up with the claim that previously scientists predicted global cooling. There was some discussion about this a few decades back, based on long-term climate changes (ice ages), particulates in the atmosphere blocking sunlight, and/or a net cooling effect from global warming changing ocean currents. (The frigid winter we had in 2010-2011 was believed due to weakening of Arctic air currents, causing cold temperatures to reach lower latitudes--but at the same time, there were serious problems with warmer than normal weather in the arctic and subarctic regions, affecting things like transportation in remote areas dependent on frozen rivers for winter travel). It's been known since the 1860's that CO2 absorbs and traps heat. It's been proposed by scientists since the 1930's that increased CO2 due first to coal burning and later to petroleum burning could cause net warming. Native elderly in arctic and subarctic regions have noticed the arrival of plants and insects foreign to their experience.

what about all the free ride goverment recipients ????? they have it made. your farmer friend did not tell you the whole story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man there is a lot stupid in the room tonight.

1st, Does anyone remember a thing called the Dust Bowl? Or am I the only one old enough to have gone to school when they actually taught pertinent information?

2nd, In two or three years, (four at the most), we'll be talking about floods. This is a natural weather cycle. (In reference to the headline in the video "Drought: the 'new normal')

3rd, Global warming is real, it started 15000 years ago at the end of the ICE AGE and it has been getting steadily warmer ever since. This to is natural, and according to some an actual cycle every 100K years or so. The only thing and I MEAN the only thing that man made CO2 could be, is an accelerant. OK, so the planet hits 90°F in 900 years instead of 1000 years. You climate change people really should study physics and the natural sciences.

4th, You don't need to SAVE the planet, it will be here long after we are dead. When you talk of saving the planet you mean your own scrawny neck.

Speaking of your scrawny necks, or as I call you monkeys in a Zoo. Instead of bad mouthing and trash talking the most important people in our society, maybe you should be concerned about how they, as businesses survive this hardship. Because Carter wiped out some 50 to 60 percent of the family farms in the '80s. Those that survived are all we have left. We lose those, and it is true corporate farming and on a big scale, (I am talking Walmart scale farms, with the accompanying price fixing) Yeah, you think big oil is bad, just wait 'til you have big food. Con-Agra, ADM and Tyson are bad enough.

DumbFarmBoy,

"You don't need to SAVE the planet, it will be here long after we are dead."

That may come sooner than you think, too! Yes, I know about the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. I have read John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath". That's what that novel was about.

Answer this for me: If 97 doctors told you that you needed an operation or you would die, but 3 told you not to get the operation, what would you do?

Well let's just say that would be one less to cure of our nation's problem. ;)

big oil and big oil government. Who made big monopolies??????

DumbFarmBoy, you need to do some research. Your entire post is utter rubbish.

http://www.skepticalscience.com/

link for Jeff:

Trust me dude when I tell you you're not worthy of my effort.

like corporate america really cares...there's a ceo going to get a bonus out of this drought regardless of how much you pay ...or how hard you work for your money...they will sit on their corporate ass and make the big money ...that's what the american people want...wonder what kim k. thinks about that...LOL...

This is sad. Even more than sad, it is completely scary. I sincerely hope that at last, the naysayers of global warming will finally, finally open their eyes. We should be doing something to fight the ongoing destruction of our earth as of yesterday! I hope it's not too little too late. We can't all live on the moon!

Only when the last tree has been cut down, when the last river poisoned, and when the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that you cannot eat money.

~~~Cree Indian Prophecy

Ok, Pop quiz!

There is one planet in the entire solar system that is the only good example of green house gases run amock!

Wanna know which one?

Just get up at about four in the morning and look at the brightest speck of light in the sky. It's called Venus.

I do agree with one of DumbFarmBoy's points. We don't need to save the planet, 'cause we're precisely what the planet needs to be saved from.

If we really wanted to save the planet, we'd render ourselves extinct. But, since we're frantically increasing our population (and, subsequntly, the amount of damage we're causing), it'll save itself from us soon enough.

yeah baby venus has got it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFRunzgYij8&feature=related

Guys, I'm a "believer" in climate change myself. (Well, I'm an engineer capable of interpreting scientific data and agree that there is a likely correlation between CO2 and climate change).

But PLEASE don't hold temporary localized weather phenomena as a poster child for climate change. It is like blaming the shifting magnetic field of the earth for when your fridge magnet fell of the door.

These things act on vastly different scales. To even know where we are climate wise takes a decade of measuring thousands of different data points throughout the earth, and averaging things out.

Put another simply: The ICE sheets in the Antarctic could give a hoot how hot it is in your back yard.

I know it's tempting to do this when there is hot summers, but the problem when you do this, is that it tends to come back to bite you. The next year when there is a particularly cold winter the "non-believers" completely has the right to throw that back in your face.

LJ Rhodes please lead by example and show us by your own extinction. If you do, I'm sure the world will be a little better.

Okay, here's an idea red states, send all the crop yield to those nasty repubs who grow it and want it. I hear the libby's don't want your ill gotten gains. I hear they don't want your meat products either.

Hey, we should have done this a long time ago.

Global warming.

Here is an even bigger and more long lasting solution to this and many other debates. How about we get rid of political parties, start identifying ourselves as American Citizens, and realize that each damned facet of our piss ant existance relies on something or someone else. That we are all cogs, no mater how small or seemingly insignificant driving this larger machine called human existance. Maybe when we stop playing the party politics blame game, and start rolling our sleeves up and pitching in, perhaps our miserable existance might just get a little bit easier.

Some of you people seriously astound me. You have NO CLUE the amount of work it takes, even with our modern technology, to run a farm or a ranch. You have NO CLUE how farm subsidies work, or for that matter understand, comprehend, or otherwise care about the hows, whys, and wheres about that food you use to stuff your gobs comes from. But hey, keep thinking farmers and ranchers are societal leeches, especially when you don't have food to stuff your face with.

And the poster concerning the decline of family farms during the Carter Administration was spot on. Today however, and trust me I am no fan of the current administration, there is a push for those small farms and agriculture being backed with federal programs to help get those farms restarted. For some of you lazy assed arm-chair know it alls, why don't you visit a farm near you, offer to volunteer 1 day of your pathetic life and see what that farmer does before you cast the "wanna be rich leech" coat of paint on top of some of the hardest working, lowest income people in our society. Without those "leeches" we wouldn't have food now would we.

If some banks are too big to fail, and all they do is provide money, don't you think it more prudent that FARMS BETTER NOT FAIL, since after all they provide us with something that is actually a necessity to sustain life.

• OK all you red state tea bag people --- can we assume you DO NOT WANT and WILL NOT TAKE any federal assistance??

kg14051

There's a massive drought across the U.S. I have an idea. Let's build more dams and store more water during the wet years to get us by through the dry ones! Oh yeah, I forgot, environmentalists hate dams too. So much for responsible planning.

Right... Except for one glaring problem. Dams, or more accurately, disrupting natural watersheds contributes heavily to drought/desertification. If we want to implement harms reduction, relative to drought and water/rain distribution, we would be DISMANTLING dams; not the other way around. I know that at first glance, this seems counterintuitive, but go ahead and google transpiration. Over time, it is prevented by dams, causing disproportionate rainfall in coastal areas and drought/desertification in inland areas.

Charlie, you prove my point. More party politics bullsht. I hope the party politics is enough to keep you fed. This drought isn't about Republicans and Democrats, it is about food. That's right boys and girls, that stuff in the supermarket that you buy in cans, in boxes, in jugs, in plastic bags, and even laying loose in bins. You folks do not comprehend, or choose to comprehend, your food DOES NOT come from a supermarket, from IGA, from Walmart Supercenter, from Albertsons, Pantry Pride, or even the food bank. Your food, that is ALL OF IT, from pasta to beef, from Delmonte Greenbeans to cream corn, from your bread to the Alpo you feed the dogs, ALL COMES FROM FARMS.

It isn't Republican Farmers or Democratic Farmers, IT IS AMERICAN FARMERS. We have a serious issue staring us in the face and all you knuckleheads can do is Blame Bush, Blame Obama, Blame Corporate CEOs, Blame Republicans, Blame Democrats, instead of saying, OUR FARMS ARE TOO IMPORTANT to FAIL. Think about that with the next morsel of whatever foodstuff you stick in yer face. I get so damned tired of the political party bickering bullsht and everyone wonders why NOTHING gets solved. Do away with the damned politics crap, and everyone start working toward making things better. If that means absolving our current corrupt government and starting fresh, then let's do that. If that means doing away with political parties and career politicians, then by God let's do that. The country is too GREAT to be divided by some frickin (D) or (R) argument. We should have listened to George Washington when he said, "Political parties serve no other purpose than to divide what we have fought, bled, and died for." Maybe it is about damned time we started paying attention to what the guy who FOUNDED THIS COUNTRY SAID.

In the meantime, we should be endorsing and pushing for whatever relief we can get to our farmers, ranchers, and food growers to ensure we have enough sustainance to feed us. Or is that too much to ask from all the small minded wannabe political commentarians...

@ Jeff-15921126 #1.37

DumbFarmBoy, you need to do some research. Your entire post is utter rubbish.

Oh my gosh, it has been published on a website, OMG, it must be irrefutable fact. And Thus magically my "ENTIRE POST IS RUBBISH"? The Dust Bowl didn't happen; Weather patterns are not real and therefore do not repeat; Global Warming is in fact RUBBISH and is not happening; CO2 is not an accelerant of anything; We DO need to save the planet, because without human intervention, the planet will in fact disintegrate; City people are in fact nothing like monkeys in a Zoo (who's food is brought to them and their s**t is piped away and they have no idea of how any of it works); And I guess we need to get rid of those pesky self employed entrepreneurial family farmers, and let corporate America take over, since they are so much more empathic to the plight of their fellow Americans, just like our friendly oil companies who will undoubtedly raise gas prices this Labor Day weekend to help keep people off the roads and make it safer for everyone.

It is too bad you never read "How to Lie with Statistics", by Darrel Huff, copyright 1954

So if I am to understand your argument, for the previous 4.2 BILLION years the Earth has been a constant avg 58.2°F, and it was not until the industrial revolution and the emission of CO2 that CAUSED the steady increase in temperature as recorded since 1800 with the severe increase in the last 40 years. And there can be no other conclusion drawn from the data.

Did you note the scale of the graph -1.5°C to 1.0°C or ~57.5°C to 60°C. Did you also note the wild variation from 1800 to 1900. Is this error in the method of data collection, interpretation of the data, or is this in fact an accurate measure, (doubtful)? What are the current standards for recording and storing data? and how does that compare to previous standards?

Yeah, I HAVE done my research, I was a Test Engineer for seven years, and I have seen, and made, more than just a few a of these charts. And as part of the companies marketing strategy, we would magnify (limit the scale to only a couple points) the charts to exemplify our advantage if it were only a couple of percentage points. It didn't change the data, but it looked significant to the eye. And what does the rest of the chart look like prior to 1800? What Scale should we be looking at? -1.5 to 1.5? -5 to 5?

Sorry Jeff try again,

@ Mickey-198393 #1.43

DumbFarmBoy,

"You don't need to SAVE the planet, it will be here long after we are dead."

That may come sooner than you think, too! Yes, I know about the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. I have read John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath". That's what that novel was about.

Looks like some one else quoting fiction to make his point. To bad you didn't have parents and grandparents that lived through it, to tell you what it was really like. (and it wasn't just Oklahoma).

And speaking of Global Warming and the Dust Bowl, why were so many record set in the 1930s' only to last until now. (some of them have yet to be broken). If global warming were as some predicted, would there not have, should not there have been, many warmer years on record since then?

BTW, we suffered the worst flood in our region's history in 1935. Followed only by the one 1993.

@ Charlie-1915998 #1.5

OK all you red state tea bag people --- can we assume you DO NOT WANT and WILL NOT TAKE any federal assistance??

If we are the Teabaggers, would that make you the Teabag-gee? (Ref: Tea-bagging; online gaming, hazing) Let me know where you live, so I can drop you a bag.

Now then, while I am against just about any Government Subsidy for anything or anyone, I do feel very strongly about having a safe and reliable source of food. And in my humble opinion, the American Family Farmer is our best hope for that continued source. Having a little experience in that field, I know about IBP, Tyson, ADM, Cargill and Con-Agra and their manipulation of commodities. Do you really want to take what little control we have left out of the equation?

And I wonder, just how many of you will apply for food stamps, when those Corporate food processors jack up the prices like the oil refiners do when crude prices go up? You might find it interesting that 80% of the current Farm Bill is for food stamps and other "relief" and not for farmers.

And just so you know, I had to leave the farm in the '80s, it just wasn't financially viable for me and my brothers to all farm. So, I 'volunteered' to bow out, which is where the "DumbFarmBoy" comes from. If I'd been smart, I would have stayed there, instead trying to assimilate into city life.

@ Will the Watcher: excellent post.

"A peoples intelligence is inversely proportional to the size of city and length of time spent therein". Robert Reedy 1980

Oh my gosh, it has been published on a website

When you actually have something not made up bull**** let me know. All your windbagginess does nothing for me.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Spoken like a true dope smokin' hippy liberal. (Yeah, I can name call too) Can't argue the points, or the facts, because you have none. Just parrot what someone else tells you, especially if you don't understand it. Call it rubbish, call it BS. Change the subject, call names and demonize.

Tell me where I am wrong. Prove me wrong. Anyone?

Charlie-1915998

• OK all you red state tea bag people --- can we assume you DO NOT WANT and WILL NOT TAKE any federal assistance??

• Dry up Charlie

right on...burn baby burn...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M

Susan, who's that comment directed at, climatologists?

Last year farmers were having to their stock off at between 30 & 60 cents on the dollar. The price of beef at the grocery store jumped more than 20%. (Packaging, shipping, blah, blah, blah)

The farmers are having to buy feed for their cattle already (like last year), when they normally wouldn't start "feeding" until the fall. I know small farmer who sold more than 2/3 of their herds last year and still had feed costs $30,000+.

All in all, its not good.

It looks like the bread basket of the world may be running out of bread. As simplystating said, "It's not good.'

I agree. Food should never be used as an additive for fuel or anything else. Leave the food products alone. Well said, but will anyone listen ? I doubt it.

Hemp actually makes a very good fuel.

(That HEMP & waste paper can generate ALL fuel for autos and replace all nuclear power at a fraction of the cost of fossil fuel with no pollution or Chernobyl. (source: SolarGas, 1980, Science Digest; 1983-84 U.S. Dept. of Energy)

It's a thought.

Much Love,

Da Pup

>:o):

The clowns in Washington don't care what the food prices are. They will just get a larger stipend to pay for their high priced dinners. The rest of use will be cutting back on all other consumption except for food and fuel. When will these dopes get out of our lives and just do what the Constitution says they should do. Protect us from invasion and from our fellow citizens. Coin our own money and let us live in the blanket of freedom and liberty. STOP TRYING TO HELP AND LET THE FREE MARKET TAKE CARE OF ITSELF!!!!!

Lunarpup - while I personally agree with the idea of industrial hemp, not even it will grow in a drought.

Also, the stories being dated in the 80's? I'd suggest that the energy supply and demand has dramatically increased since then. Also, that while the use of inceneration is an energy tool, it also causes green house gas releases. Comparing the incineration required just to equal one nuclear power plant is a losing discussion. Nuclear fuel is far cleaner. more overall cost efffective, and has fewer long spread impacts even when figuring in the rare Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima events. Further, the environmental impacts created by incineration is "a given" (based on the simple requirements of the system to work) while a nuclear issue is "a possibility."

Peace out, pup

Speaking of trees, the hot, dry conditions make for pines without enough sap to reject the beetles that are burrowing into them en masse right about now. Many more pine beetle kill trees in our future and we've seen how that affects forest fires. Doesn't do much for the logging industry either; the trees die faster than they can be cut down.

"The long range forecast for Iowa is continued hot and dry till mid August to as late as October"

The HOT part might go away every winter, but the DRY part might last for 1000 years more or less. Have fun in the Midwest, and remember your GOP mantra: SCIENTIST = STUPID and OIL EXECUTIVE = PATRIOT... right?

Ron - Portland,

"The HOT part might go away every winter, but the DRY part might last for 1000 years more or less."

And the strange thing is that here in Arizona so far, we are having an unusually wet monsoon season with inverted troughs (lows) moving in from the east, which is very unusual since the prevailing winds normally blow from west to east in the United States. It looks like things are just weird all around as far as the weather is concerned.

Not yet.

Don't worry people. We have survived these critically sever weather situations dozens of times just in the last few decades. And guess what ... we are still here to write this dribble about how soon we will all be dead and it will be the fault of EVERYONE except mother nature.

The earth and it's inhabitants are far more resilient than many here give credit for. I seem to remember this time last year, all the midwest bloggers were saying Texas was doomed because we prayed and elected republicans. Guess what morons, Texas is still here and this year WE have the hay. Yes, things are getting hot and dry but guess what ... it's the middle of summer. Relax and stop drinking the stupid climate change kool aid and do something useful for a change and perhaps become an asset to society instead of a constant downer. If you really believe in climate change and it's going to destroy the earth, then I guess we'll see you soon.

Yeah nice try, but this is all about greedy old farts who refuse to except that Mother Nature is doing to us what we have been doing to her for too long!

So take your "Obama's fault" crap to the conservative blogs. We are too educated to fall for that crap here.

Got to be Obama's fault. Just look at how wonderful the economy was before he was elected: Dow down by 50%, losing 800,000 jobs a month. What has Obama done for us? Dow is up, job creation at 100,000 jobs a month ... boy ... we were so much better off in the good old days.

Jeff-803009

"Could we not declare the US a "Natural Disaster" zone due to Obama's economic policies?"

You're about 3-1/2 years late and the wrong president for that one, now crawl back into your Fox hole!

P.S. I don't support Obama, but Bravo Steve!

Yup.., it is Bush's fault that Obama is such a dramatic failure... That is soooooo 2010...

I'm sure that these republican counties in the US will want to hold on to their conservative values and turn down any federal aid offered. After all, they should've planned for such a disaster, it's not the federal government's fault.

Shut the heii up Jeff, you right wing wack job!

Keep it up Jeff

I'm having a BLAST watching all these lefties go ape@!$%# and get there underoos all in a twist and gnawing at your ankles like a pack of yapping, rabid, clueless french poodles.... LOL

yap yap yappity yap grrrrrrrrr *nip* (kick) YIIPE YIIPE YIIPE YIIPE

I live here in the midwest. Left right who cares. All of you blaming Obama should really look at where you are living? any of you in the areas being impacted by this? The farmers around here are not pointing fingers at Washington they are trying to keep their livlihood afloat. Of course the conservatives want to blame Obama for the drought right now that is about all you have to fight with huh? Um seriously the broader issue is of course totally irrelevant I am assuming. And that issue is that the drought will cause a rise in food prices not whether or not Obama decided it shouldn't rain here in the midwest. And for the record I'm pretty sure he doesn't control the weather.

Is Steve serious?? Lmao.... How come the unemployment rate hasn't budged .01 percent Stevie? The economy SUCKS Stevie....Housing sucks, food prices suck, gas prices suck, States are going Bankrupt...you on the same planet?

Warren Buffett and George Soros don't own or invest in any corporations?

Amazing;)

Buffett and Soros's name is on all the SEC filings, but they don't run the corporations. They both retroactively resigned.

Isn't Warren Buffett a farmer himself? I think I saw something on PBS once to the effect that either he or his son or both are into farming.

Do you eat?

Cheetos are plentiful...good crop of them this year...those in the orange states ain't to worried...

Yeah I hear it was an act of God too just recently. Which by using the logic of those saying it means the Bible Belt is loaded with all the sinners. :)

Or anyplace within smelling distance of Rushbo's fat ass

hmmm...another product of "No Child Left Behind" I'm thinking...

314159

They could reasonably declare the entire US a disaster area because of the damage caused by Obama's policies...

Oh yeah? Name 10 "disastrous" things caused by Obama's policies...

Ahhh..., the liberal nerve has been struck... He IS America's disaster. OBAMA

Yeah, because the economy was doing so well when Bush ran away...err, left office.

They could reasonably declare the entire US a disaster area because of the damage caused by Obama's policies...

Jeff said the same tripe just ten minutes before you.

How does it feel to not have a single thought that is your own?

Or are you the same person using multiple accounts?

314159,

"the liberal nerve has been struck... "

Why do you assume that all Democrats or those who disagree with Repulican policies must be "liberals"?

Good question..., but why would many assume that individuals who disagree with Democratic policies are Republicans... There are a good share of independents out there Mickey...

314159,

"There are a good share of independents out there Mickey..."

I know. That's why I said "all Democrats and those who disagree with Republican policies". A lot of independents also disagree with Republican policies. But they are not necessarily liberals nor are Blue Dog Democrats.

Yeah and Pygmies have a short sex life. :)

I saw one projection of two more years of low rainfall in the midwest, ( grain producing states. ) Fresh water fisheries will be impacted for a few years due to the current low water conditions even if water levels increase, due to diminished habitat, however some upland game populations might benefit due to dried up wetlands and marshes. These would be species which lost habitat due to crop farming.

I saw one projection of two more years of low rainfall in the midwest,

And I remember weather experts saying that 2006, then 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 were going to be the worst hurricane seasons ever. This year they changed their predictions to be below average....now I'm worried about hurricanes this season.

I recall the big debate in west Texas early this year, as to who would have the water: agriculture (farm and ranch) or gas frackers? Each gas well apparently requires over 1M gallons of fresh water which the process then irrevocably contaminates. So essentially, today's must conditions would suggest that all three industries are out of business. Or have the frackers moved to use even the water required for people.

Stop Ethanol

In the United States alone, we throw enough food away daily to feed the world.

So, it's not foreign food transactions that are hurting us. It's our wasteful habits.

He hasn't.

A lot of people THINK he has - to their detriment - but he hasn't.

Self appointed..., the ol' legend in his own mind syndrome...

Deb -

Considering that liberals blamed Bush for Katrina, it seems that turn about is fair play.

Maybe they should have thought about their lack of logic at that time. You never know when the shoe may be on the other foot.

Logically, neither was/is at fault for the weather conditions, however actions and policies do make things worse. Consider this - wouldn't it make sense to do away with the mandate that gasoline must contain 10-15% ethanol for this year to allow that corn to be used for food?

I don't remember anyone "blaming" Bush for Hurricane Katrina, but plenty of folks were shocked and appalled at his and his administration's callous, Marie Antoinette-like response (or lack thereof). Remember "heckuva job, Brownie"? And Barbara Bush's 2005 edict about the Astrodome refugees: "so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."

If there's some supposed analogy, Tammy-311614, between Katrina and the current drought, under your "fair play" logic our only response should be: "so many farmers in that area there, you know, were just barely making it anyway, so these insurance payments, low-interest loans, and the fact there's no more crops for them to attend to, this will work very well for them!"

Or maybe we could put aside our political ideologies, our family pedigrees, our preconceived notions of "entitlement," and reach out to help our fellow men -- because it's the right thing to do, regardless of cost.

That decision would probably come from the recession-calculating Economists.

Nah...he's waiting to blame it on Bush

Solar is still not viable and is more expensive per kW than other methods. In addition, it is the least efficient at 6 to 9%. Solar needs to come a very very long way before it is even close to viable.

If solar was actually viable I would agree, coat the entire west half of the US with solar panels and it would make an impossible target for destruction by terrorists etc and the land out west is so sparsely utilized by ranchers simply because there isn't enough water, that a bunch of solar panels wouldn't make a difference to them.

marshal,

You choose to ignore several obstacles any but industrial installations of solar. Cost of entry: a full-blown installation for a medium home would run close to $30k, a sizeable obstacle unless it is built into the actual construction and mortgage. On-site storage whether by battery or capacitor bank is expensive, maintenance prone and introduces new potential dangers to the homestead. Grid interchange is not consistent across the country, or even available in some areas. Roof top installations seem to be the rage, but ignore the future costs of roof maintenance, a need which is sure to occur in 30 years.

Perhaps that is why the bulk of solar installations are either corporate or utility industry related. With the advantage of accelerated depreciation meaning that the tax payers are actually bearing a large share of the costs.

Don't let idiots like psttttttt know about logic and history like that. He/she/it thinks man has caused it all and nothing cyclical about it.

The EPA will not grant any waivers due to their ideology. They would rather let people suffer.

Blame God... He sucks...