Lawmakers' Global-Warming Trip Hit Tourist Hot Spots, Raising Eyebrows

Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- When 10 members of Congress wanted to study climate change, they did more than just dip their toes into the subject: They went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. They also rode a cable car through the Australian rain forest, visited a penguin rookery and flew to the South Pole.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[Brute]

This is the kind of nonsense that brings the voters out of the woodwork. The anger expressed at townhall meetings isn't just about healthcare...........it's about the complete disregard for any accountability.

The "let them eat cake", "do as I say, not as I do", "laws do not apply to us" actions of elected and unelected government officials is unacceptable............................ from either side of the aisle.

[shockmagog]

No, the anger expressed at town hall meetings is about a black man in the White House.

The profit-driven health insurance industry knows how to use race to divide the people, so they can continue to r.a.p.e. us all with their corporate greed.

Corporations have been doing this in this country for decades. Wake up for God's sake.

[Brute]

Work for free do ya?

[17ladyslippers]

The shame of it is - you're right. I am so frustrated about all of the bold-face lies about Real Health Insurance Reform that I can't see straight. I have spent hours calling and emailing my representatives, the Blue Dog Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and any Republicans I thought might see the light and do the right thing.

Republicans turned Health Reform into a POLITICAL discussion and will attempt to torpedo it at any cost. The definition of ANY COST is all Americans lose.

[disabledjim]

its not a color thing.the audacity pure stupidity is what motivates me

[ChicagoBob]

This doesn't bother me at all. Every place on the agenda can provide valuable information about the effects of GW on the various ecosystems.

How would you inspect the Great Barrier Reef? From the air?

If you travel that far what's the problem with dipping your toe in the water, so to speak?

What would bother me, however, is these people not learning from the experience and continuing to persist in unsupported beliefs (or failing to educate their peers who did not take the trip) thus not supporting climate change legislation.

[Shacked]

What we have in Washington is a class of professional politicians who will do anything to stay in office. That includes lying, cheating and stealing. Repub or Demo they all su ck.

[shockmagog]

Don't you think one of the parties you mentioned just might s.u.c.k. a tiny bit less than the other?

Here's a clue:

Which party is actually trying to do something about AGW?

[disabledjim]

just watched a special on charles manson.if you closed your eyes you would think that you were listening to al gore.c/m is a hugh man is the scourge of the earth kunda guy.he was progressive before being a progressive was cool

[dems08]

disgraceful!

We need a full list of wHO is going where and why AHEAD OF TIME.

Spouse's travel, food, board must be paid for in full by non-government source, or the spouse stays home.

this is worse than disgraceful, it's DISGUSTING!

[VikingQuest]

If any of these career politicians want to goto the south pole . . .

The taxpayer should be happy to send them there . . . of course it should be a one way ticket.

[johnnynyc]

Another science hater.

Jindal laughed at monitoring volcanos
Palin laughed at fruit fly research
McCain laughed at replacing a 40 year old planetarium projector.

[BarakCarpathia]

I just knew Loretta Sanchez would be one of the ones to belly up to the trough.
Then, she had the audacity to actually vote yes on that..(((lets see. what word can I get away with?))) ...that,....thing.
I did notice that even though they went on this trip, only +/- 3 voted yes.

[BarakCarpathia]

R'e'a'lly. I am angry.
I sh'ould have thought about using Mi'croso'f't 'Pow'erpo'int to make a prese'ntation.
It would be ni'ce to fly on pri'vate jets, hob-nob with the elite, never have to talk to the lower class, eat probably a half a co'w yearly cut into fine pieces, hav'e a staff, a ho'me that runs 24/7, and get a nobel peace prize. All the while, my net worth has jumped over 100 million.
I am gonna do it.
Does anybody know how to download a slide on to powerpoint? I've got a few polar bear pics and some seals too.
Easy street. Here I come.

[johnnynyc]

It seems like you have a few issues to deal with before you even get to powerpoint.

[shamaniceconomist]

It's good to see that software companies can still afford to hire such clear thinkers to promote their products on unrelated web pages.

[aramos]

No one loves government cheese more than our Congressional representatives.

[johnnynyc]

I'd argue it's the corporations.

[johnnynyc]

Why do Republicans hate science:

Jindal laughs at monitoring volcanos
Palin laughs at fruit fly research which has revealed more about autism than the anti-vaccers ever did
McCain laughs about replacing a 40 year old (!) planetarium projector

And now the WSJ after congressional travel grew 10x since the Republicans took over Congress in 1994 point to a 2008 trip to monitor our tax dollars made up of of mostly Democrats.

[Mauiboy]

Just another hatchet job by the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on a non-issue as a followup to the congressional WSJ article on the purchase of planes. It's all designed to talk about anything except the most important issue these days: health care.

[VikingQuest]

So an increase in Congressional travel is up 1300% since 1995 and that isn't newsworthy?

[gino618]

The Democratically controlled US Congress:

Spending money like drunken sailors....
Buying new private jets.....
Protecting their own from ethics investigations....
Silencing critics.....

And THESE are the people you trust with a National Healthcare System?!?!?!?!

Wow - simply astounding.

[republicanforlife]

Term limits, no golden retirement, healthcare ends with the job. Gold watch after working for the people of this great country.

[oldguydude]

Welcome to the soft tyranny. The Barrack States of America. The great uniter is not proving to be good at uniting. Plus Nancy Pelosi is running the country.

[valboski]

It is time to stop the travel or pay for it themselves. That trip cost $603,000 while this country goes further into bankruptcy. They all must go!

[johnnynyc]

Not even close.

The plane was flying there anyway with or without the congressional party.

There are no commercial flights to the south pole.

[NO-LIE]

TERM LIMITS are needed, to prevent the GREED that is going on in Washinton, from both parties!

[NO-LIE]

Another example of how BOTH parties spend our tax payer dollars. This is an invented vacation!
During the previous ice ages what melted the snow? Was it the sun? Was the volcanos involved, long before we arrived with our factories etc. Why did Al Gore become so passionately involved with global warming, Oh I mean climate change. Why did his Bank account grow from 2 million to 100 million after he left office. Give me that kind of money I would be screaming global warming too!

[johnnynyc]

Another one who hates science.

[NO-LIE]

i dont hate science, I hate the fact that people take advantage of science for monetary gain!

[drbillybob]

OK ... now let's assume that global warming is 100% manmade. Now how do we control the number one CO2 emittor on the planet?

psssst ... its not us

[Disuberence]

Replace the trees.

[zippywpinhead]

with what?

(j/k)

[johnnynyc]

If you assume we're 100% responsible for global warming then you assume we're 100% responsible for producing the greenhouse gases.

Your model assumes it is indeed 100% us!

[drbillybob]

3) Not too many NIH grants out there for Polio research anymore. Get my drift? You see, money follows problems. Even more money follows crises. No problems, no government money - and it really is that simple. When I was in grad school our lab investigated the mechanisms of gene expression. American Cancer grant, you told them how your research will cure cancer. American Heart grant, how your research will cure heart disease. Well, we worked on yeast and fruit flies, and sometimes it was a stretch, but we surely made the leap in our justifications. You see our lab's viability was intimately tied to establishing a very real medical need in our applications for the highly competitive government and private funding sources. I suspect Climate Science is no different.

[Disuberence]

Humans may not have been the leading cause of global warming -- but only we can neutralize it.

[drbillybob]

put out the sun ?

[Rumplestiltskin]

I wrote some software years ago to confirm some math about gene segregation in autotetraploids.

[drbillybob]

2) From my understanding, the IPCC report stated that scientists were "90% certain" that man "contributed" to our currently observed global warming. This is a very soft statement by almost any definition - even to the point of being meaningless. Now I don't expect the IPCC to say that man causes exactly 65.247% of our current global warming, but perhaps if they had stated that man causes 65% (+/- 25%) I would be more encouraged in their modeling confidence limits. This apparent lack of precision, accuracy, concurrence, and certainty in the various predictive modeling approaches could in itself represent a very real shortcoming in the basic tenets and theories of man-made global warming.