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Rick Santorum: The Idea Of Climate Change Is A Liberal Conspiracy | TPMDC

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:

I believe the earth gets warmer and I also believe the earth gets cooler, and I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man, through the production of CO2 -- which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the manmade part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas -- is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd.

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."

via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

Santorum is the anti-science candidate. Conservatives think climate change, evolution, and the notion that sexual orientation is influenced by biology are all liberal hoaxes based on "junk science."  But, the GOP is a "big tent" party that has room for reasonable disagreement, right?  Wrong!  Mitt Romney dares to deviate from GOP ideology and Rush Limbaugh declares there's no way he can win the nomination.  Meanwhile  . . .

Jon Stewart: "Stop Watching Fox"

Last night Jon Stewart continued to skewer Fox News over its coverage of the "Ground Zero mosque" controversy.  He followed the money all the way back to Fox News itself.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Gleen Beck Links Homer Simpson to The Weather Underground

If you think Glenn Beck is on to something or smart, you're not.  Period.  There are reasonable conservative commentators and pundits, but Beck is not among them.  The reasoning displayed in this segment - where he links Homer Simpson among other pop culture male figures to a liberal conspiracy to destroy America - is a perfect example of his twisted mind.

It's amazing that somebody can complain about indoctrination while engaging in it, but then again that's exactly what we should expect if indoctrination has been successful. When I see my friends on Facebook have "liked" Glenn Beck it saddens me because I know it means that there's probably no way to have a reasonable discussion about politics with them. Any objection I offer is interpreted as a product of liberal bias because, you know, there's just no way that Beck could be wrong about anything. Just look at how sincere he is and how much conviction she has! What does it mean for democracy that facts don't matter when it comes to reasoning through these things?

Vitter Backs Birthers

(Via The Huffington Post)

Is Bob Inglis a Birther?

Last night Stephen Colbert had Bob Inglis on The Report.  During the interview, Colbert asks Inglis to complete this sentence, "Barack Obama was born in _______________" and Inglis says, "Not Hawaii."

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
South Carolina's 4th District Primary - Bob Inglis
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So, is he a birther too?  Or was he making a joke?

GOPer Floats Oil Spill Conspiracy

(via The Huffington Post)  It seems like conspiracy theories are increasingly becoming a more mainstream part of the American political scene. Conspiracy theories are usually attempts an abductive reasoning that try to explain some known facts.  But, they all seem to appeal to some dubious motivate on the part of various people in order to explain those motives.  If somebody made money or stands to make money from some tragedy, like 9.11 or an oil spill, then they just must have orchestrated the events behind the scenes.  So, they are essentially abductive arguments that commit an ad hominem circumstantial fallacy and posit all sorts of dubious assumptions and it's typically more assumptions than alternative explanations that do not posit a conspiracy.

The Last Straw with a Conspiracy Theorist?

I think this video might have been the last straw with my conspiracy theorist "friend" from college.

He sent it along with a message that it contains a lot of truth, and it seems to have been the last straw with the group of us that he's been trying to convince to adopt his NWO conspiracy theorist. His instance in the no planes view of 9.11, chemtrails, denial of the Holocaust, and other views about everything from vaccines to weather control didn't do it, but that piece of inanity about Jay Z being a Freemason on the basis of an idiotic argument from signs set everybody off after he insisted that anybody who denied it just wanted to be brain washed.  A part of me feels bad for the guy, but the rest of me just thinks he's a nut that deserves to be mocked since he claims for himself since he claims to know these things with certainty (impossible) and rejects any kind of skepticism about his claims as irrational but fails to provide anything in the way of a reasoned argument to support his own views.  It's been interesting for me to watch him to try to argue for his views and he's kind of turned into a case study on illogical reasoning and cognitive bias for me.  It's basically the same sort of phenomena I think is at work in religious fundamentalism.  I think I could write a pretty long essay on the whole experience as an introduction to critical thinking and basic logic vs cognitive bias and motivated reasoning.

My Friend is Off His Rocker

From an email from my friend the conspiracy theorist (911 inside job, birther, Holocaust denier):

No need to tell me you don't believe this stuff.  

I'd literally bet my life (if I could) that Taylor Swift was being initiated and the entire Kanye interruption was staged.  

This crap is a good example as to why I don't like much of the mainstream pop culture -- there is an esoteric meaning behind so much of it that contradicts the peace I want to see for all on Earth.  MTV

http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=2191

Taylor Swift’s Initiation

I get like 15 of these emails a day.

My Friend is Off His Rocker

From an email from my friend the conspiracy theorist (911 inside job, birther, Holocaust denier):

No need to tell me you don't believe this stuff.  

I'd literally bet my life (if I could) that Taylor Swift was being initiated and the entire Kanye interruption was staged.  

This crap is a good example as to why I don't like much of the mainstream pop culture -- there is an esoteric meaning behind so much of it that contradicts the peace I want to see for all on Earth.  MTV

http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=2191

Taylor Swift’s Initiation

I get like 15 of these emails a day.

Dwight Schrute, Glenn Beck, and On Star

I do admit to turning off the location services on my iPhone.