What I hope comes out of the Copenhagen climate meeting

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Should we move to another planet just to make ourselves blind from seeing the detrimental effects of carbon? If we can't, ACT now! We should support governmental solutions to the problems and pressure them to provide less talk and more solution for us - the people!

Eh... you didn't directly address much.

First off, how do "regulations penalize everyone?" For one thing, we need to be clear on what is meant by "regulations," since I'm getting the feeling that we're talking about two different things. As I said, I'm in favor of regulation within reason- meaning, you know, common sense things, like "it's illegal to hire convicted child molesters if you're running a preschool." (Fun fact: in certain states, you can LEGALLY hire convicted child molesters to work in youth care facilities.) If you're referring to things like affirmative action, then no, I don't think that's very "common sense." (If somebody is a dick and doesn't want to hire you because of your race/gender/orientation, then do you really want to work for this guy anyway?)

Secondly, when did I imply that I have anything against the rich? On the contrary, I think that the income tax rate should be flat across the board. (Now, having said that, I also think it's time to force the CEO's to pay their fair share of taxes in the first place... I'm talking to you, Jobs!) Barring some unforeseen incident, I'll probably end up at least somewhat wealthy myself, so I certainly don't want them to be punished in any way.

All I'm saying is that everybody should have the opportunity to be successful if they're willing to work for it, but the reality is that there are many people who have the potential to be big but can't get out of their rut. If you're an idiot, but your parents are rich, guess what? Your mommy and daddy are going to slip USC (or almost any other private university) some extra tuition money, and you'll get in despite your B average. From there, you'll get the nice job that your dad hooks you up with, and you'll barely hold onto it until your parents die and leave you a million dollars, at which point you can retire early. But if you're smart and poor? Well, you'll go to the crappy, underfunded school in the poor neighborhood, and you won't get much help in preparing for university. After getting rejected from every university you apply to, you'll struggle in vain to make something of yourself, and though you may succeed eventually, the statistics aren't in your favor.

I just think that everybody should have access to the basics: a decent education, healthcare, and the obvious ones, like food and shelter and all that. This country spends more money on the military and, in some states, PRISONS, than on education and childcare. These documents support the prison claim; the military one should be self-evident, especially given the war:

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/upl ... %20100.pdf
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/29/prisons

The irony is that education has been demonstrated to be an extremely effective deterrent against increased crime (and therefore, incarceration) rates.

Anyway, regarding the Copenhagen thing- did anybody else see how they imported hundreds (or was it thousands?) of limousines to the thing? They literally had to drive them in from neighboring countries because there simply weren't enough limousines within Denmark's borders. Each limousine carried only one person at a time to the climate meeting. Does it sound like these people believe what they're preaching? Should we restrict ourselves to ugly Priuses while they're being driven to these things in imported limousines?

If Al Gore gives up his private jet and these other hypocrites stop doing EXACTLY what they're telling us not to do, then MAYBE I'll give them another listen. Until then, I have a very difficult time believing that this isn't motivated by the $$$.

Invest on solar energy NOW!