Are you in the 92nd percentile?
I'm smarter than at least ninety-two percent of the country!
The current issue of "The American"--it has a decent online version too--has some interesting numbers regarding the citizenry's opinion of global warming.
As a human-caused global warming denier, I am thrilled to be part of the eight percent of the populace who thinks concern about the make-believe disaster is unwarranted.
Unfortunately, it seems like the Chicken Littles of the world make up the rest of the populace. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that sixty-four percent think some action should be taken to combat global warming. At least twenty-five percent think we should at least do a little more research before taking any more action.
The magazine also has some other interesting findings:
*In 1992 fifty-three percent felt they understood global warming well or fairly well; that number has steadily increased so that by 2007 fully seventy-six percent think they know the subject well.
*Only fourteen percent actively participate in the environmental movement. Forty-eight percent of the people are sympathetic, but not active. Twenty-nine percent are neutral and only seven percent are unsympathetic toward the movement.
*As far as top concerns as a nation, only three percent cite the environment. Thirty-five percent of respondents chose the war in Iraq as a top priority for policymakers, followed by heath care, job creation (both fifteen percent), and terrorism (thirteen).
This is just a small sample of some of thought-provoking discussion in the issue of this magazine. I am pleasantly surprised with the subscription I inherited when my all-time favorite magazine, "American Enterprise", ceased publishing when editor Karl Zinsmeister took a job with the Bush Administration. Check out the link above for a look at the online version.
6 comments:
Well, I still love The American Enterprise as a magazine. Sounds like Karl was not a popular boss.
Anyway, thanks for the article and the visit. I will leave this up for a day or so and then let people who want to wade through all of that use this link to your article.
The link is:
http://www.tnr.com/user/nregi.mhtml?i=20070521&s=kirchick052107
In short, it tells about Karl Zinsmeister and how he was possibly a crook and not a very popular boss at the magazine.
I'm still smarter than 92 percent of the country!
Unfortunately, the editors and/or legal advisers at The New Republic magazine severely
curtailed so very many of the further mis-adventures of Karl Zinsmeister before this
article went to press.
Evidence presented to the FBI during the background check of Mr. Zinsmeister also
includes: two instances of probable wire fraud (one in the form of an e-mail) involving
his ordering his staffers to commit click fraud and another ordering double billing of
some of the magazine's advertisers, that female employees were routinely paid less and
received smaller raises than the men on staff (and if they became pregnant they never
received another pay raise), that Mr. Zinsmeister often referred to two nice ladies in
AEI's accounting department as a "affirmative action boobs" and "affirmative action hires
who we cannot get rid of," his repeated employment advertisements for "young" and
"youngish" applicants, and that he blatantly disregarded the Americans With Disabilities
Act in his treatment and dismissal of a subordinate.
I'm not sure what my feelings are on this issue I don't trust either side completely, and so I continue to read about the issue. Yes, I agree that more research needs to be done before making wild assumptions. I think we all can do things that could benefit our environment, and I think those that talk about it the loudest should shut up and start practicing what they preach.
I'm waiting for Gore to step up to the plate and start leading by example. I found a picture of him the other day. In his office, three 30" flat screen monitors connected to his computer. I would love a 30" monitor and definitely could use it for the work I'll do. I'll eventually purchase one this year.
Perhaps he a likes to do web designer or a video editor in his free time. Wasn't Gore the one talking about over consumption?
Opal, I know that I come off as pretty arrogant about this issue, but there are a lot of things that I just have a feeling about and I usually turn out to be right. I am not an expert on the science involved (Jon knows so much more), but the threat doesn't ring true to me.
This country has a long history of hysterics on things that never come to pass and often are proven untrue: global cooling, the Alar scare, Y2K, silicon breast implants...it goes on and on. brea@KW eAnev So many environmental activist just seem like they cltm sonou
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