How many times have I heard Global Warming associated with the end of civilization, mass extinction, etc even from the scientist actually studying the phenomena.

I dunno, you can always find some nut to say anything. You might want to look at who you're hanging out with.

"The end of civilization?" Tough, rocky times ahead have been predicted, and unless technology comes through in a big way (in particular, some way of storing energy and transmitting it in a virtually lossless fashion), we'll see more wars (we've already seen two) over energy. But the end of civilization? Haven't heard much about that from the left. But, as I say, you can always find a nutter or two.

"Mass extinction?" Of humanity? Again, we'll some die-off, especially in third world countries (bye bye Bangladesh). If the wars get bad, we'll see some big die-offs in the West as well--probably the USA (who would you target if your family had died due to global warming?). Mass extinction of species? Already happening: follow the news. Rocky times, again, but mass extinctions don't mean the end of the world.

And "etc."? An easy thing to write, but, in this context, I dunno what "etc." means. Enlighten us, eh?

Why no leftist theories? Because there aren't any. Peak oil and global warming aren't about the end of the world--just about massive changes.

On the other hand, religious bozos (almost always right-wing) desperately want the end of the world because they understand on some level what giant losers they are. Everything coming to an end is the only win they have.

And--have you considered that the world has already ended, and you just aren't aware of it?

....is, what's that thing on his head? Cause it ain't hair, honey, at least nothing that came from his own scalp.

In this day and age of excellent toupees, why are people like Traficant and Trump allowed out in public without widescale public mockery? Or a keeper?

Ms. Benfer seems unable to distinguish between fashion and the darker aspects of culture. While there are some connections, a taste for fedoras does not translate into a desire to bring back segregated drinking fountains.

Every time I read the letters column and see some GOP troll begging and pleading with you not to cover the insanity of their party, I know you're doing something right!

The GOP, like vampires and cockroaches, cannot stand the light of day. Keep it up!

Here's the story:

A bunch of kids of a variety of races are attempting to play basketball on a backlot.

But every once in a while, a bunch of screaming racist morons run out of the bushes, grab the basketball, and throw it into the street.

After a while, the kids decide that this will be the rule: when the morons run out, the kids will grab tire irons and beat them senseless.

What? Why is it offensive to compare conservatives to a bunch of racist screaming morons? It's just a story. And the notion that we should beat the conservatives senseless with tire irons? Just part of the story.

Geez, you rightwingers are so quick to take offense!

I watched the videos.

It's pretty clear, to anybody who isn't blinded by the Right, that the employees on the tape know they're being played with, and played along.

You have to be seriously deranged to think that the employees were doing anything but going along with a joke.

The fact that the MSM doesn't bother to investigate the "expose" says volumes about where news is in this country, and how gullible the Right is.

Hey! Right-wingers! Didja hear that somebody wants to sell you a bridge? Get your checkbooks out!

Morons.

That Joe Wilson sure can read good. He's real persuasive, too, ain't he? I felt he put all the conviction into it his little corroded heart could muster. It felt real life-like.

And the support of conservative Democrats was always soft. I know a fair amount of these people; they still use phrases like "the blacks" (and if you see nothing wrong about that phrase, sit and think about it for a while), they're usually on the corrupt side of the Party (and Obama's threatening their livelihood), the professional politicians amongst them are machine politicians. These are the Reagan Democrats, who came over to the side of a charismatic politician, and now, when he seems to have lost a large amount of his charisma, have backed away.

Cf. Kennedy, John.

What Obama needs to do is simple: leverage his charisma. The Right will always be racist (it's one of their two great bases, which overlap, the other being religion). The Center and the Left, however, need to be wooed and won, repeatedly. Obama needs to speak strongly, vigorously, and clearly. He hasn't done that all summer. The result has been that the racist megaphones on the Right (we're way past the dog whistles of the primary here) have drowned out all other messages, and swayed the Center with their ugliness and stupidity (the Center is always swayable by stupidity).

Obama seems to have lost the exquisite sense of timing he displayed so often in the campaign. He needs to understand one thing: All Day Permanent Red. It's a 24/7/365/4 year campaign in the White House now. Anything less will be taken as a sign of weakness by the other dogs in the pack.