I’m not saying it isn’t a development that needs to be addressed, but that these operations will not brook any alternatives (that is, to Kyoto) that may accomplish the job more effectively, and with far less damage to the developed world’s economies.

It’s worth considering how much faith you have in mankind, and our ability to handle whatever comes.

The climate always changes, new diseases frequently arise, natural disasters occur every month — in all cases, our ability to handle new threats and new disasters has dramatically increased in the last century, beyond the possibility of anyone a hundred years ago to have believed.

Unless you think we’ve suddenly lost the very adaptability and ingenuity that has brought us this far against far greater hurdles than a 1 degree rise in average temperature over the course of a century, it’s hard to see a reason to panic.

…on a bit of a tangent: I was thinking of global warming the other day, and how it is such a politically charged concept, and it made me wish there was such a thing as a truly objective source of information that would cut through the partisan nonsense once and for all and examine the evidence both for and against global warming – and then I woke up. Of course, that’s wishing for too much. The best we can do is look at peer-reviewed scientific literature, and I confess to not having that much time on my hands.

I suppose Wikipedia was supposed to be one such source of objective information – but we all know how THAT turned out…

I think George Bush is an incompetent, inarticulate, close-minded President who will go down in history as being off the charts awful. But I think the free world will survive despite him.

While honorable members like Harman can say that they didn’t know the full extent of the programs (surely a possibility), nevertheless the members who attended these sessions are not exactly jumping out of their seats these days with accusations of “Imperial Powers,” and other inane references to Orwellian/Machiavellian actions on the part of the WH – a telling sign.

Now I’m going to wait for the inevitable Peter backlash accusing Bush of being the greatest threat to the Free World as it exists today. You know, just throw up enough stuff on the wall and see what sticks.

Also, changing the law would only bring more information into public view. A debate on the floor of congress would begin. Congressmen, pro and con, would talk in detail about what the proposed program will allow.

The reason behind a lot of the secrecy in the intelligence world is to protect sources and methodology. We have RUINED both sources and methodology with this faux controversy.

I’m usually willing to give opponents (political opponents, not the enemy) the benefit of the doubt. Willing to engage in a little back and fourth and concede a point or two to them if they’re willing to do the same with me. But revealing sources and methodology in the nation’s most important newspaper pushes me over the edge. I cannot grant an opponent even a single point when the issues being discussed should not even be in public view.

Mark, you’ve talked about making this program legal if its not legal. Well, that’s kind of pointless now. This kind of program lost its effectiveness the day that story came out. A new program needs to be developed, probably based on wide-scope data mining of both classified materials an open-source material. But if the program is developed, for God’s sake, WE CAN’T KNOW ABOUT IT! But whatever we do next, our enemy knows much better our capabilites. Telephone communication is probably out the window for them.

She also reiterated that the leakers themselves should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, no matter where the investigation leads. This could be why we’ve heard nothing from Senator Joe (The Bloviator) Biden or Chucky Schumer recently on this issue.