That's a mighty steep price to pay for the "privilege" of burning fossil fuel, eating crap from corporate farms and dumping our toxic waste without thought or care. Well I ain't religious, but like the Bible says, you reap what you sow. And as the Hindus have noted, we've karmic debts to pay; what goes around comes around.

What scares me most, reading Thom's introductory post, is a sense of powerlessness. So many of those whose decisions have the most impact on our climate, along with everything else that matters in our lives, are simply not up to the task. The proportion of Congressional seats occupied by soulless psychopaths keeps growing each election cycle, thanks to "Citizens United". These people care nothing about us. In the relentless pursuit of power & profits, they're determined to keep right on abusing our sacred planet, treating it like a sewer as we head towards the proverbial cliff. It seems nothing less than the most drastic measures can turn any of this around. I'm not quite sure what those measures even are. It's overwhelming.

I'm not saying we won't survive this century, but it's going to be a rough one. Ocean acidification is what really scares me, plus the possibility of unexpected feedback loops (warming leading to sudden massive releases of methane). What's more likely in the short run are a lot of conflicts and economic dislocations as more people chase fewer resources. More diseases too. Too bad Americans by and large, and Congress in particular, will blow all this off or just blame things on "bad luck" until very late in the game.

At a minimum, they should be censured, but I'm OK with prosecution, too.

Why give a choice between 2 YES votes. What happened to a NO vote?

Alice, I'm motivated by wanting things to be easier to read and worth sharing on Facebook. I hate to pass too many bad examples on to be absorbed by others, and everything we write or say stands as an example to whoever reads it or hears it. A radio show host or a columnist is an example to far more people than any one commenter on a website. Why should my desire to improve things begin and end with government?

@kingofkups's, I agree with everything you say with one exception concerning a Bell System Monopoly. Previous to 1984 the various Bell System Divisions around the country were the property of AT&T who had total control over long distance and local phone service. When the government established a national local and long distance rate system for telephone service in 1948, their prime motivator was inexpensive home phone service for all Americans. This forced AT&T to redo it's economic structure siphoning profits from the very profitable Long Lines Long Distance group to finance the operation of the various Bell entities that were forced to provided local service at a loss. AT&T finally wiggled out of this position in the late 1970s when they promoted a breakup of the existing system that resulted in monthly local phone service rates to skyrocket from $10 to $15 a month to $40 to $45 a month with mandatory Long Distance service from a selected long distance provider tacked on as an extra expense, additional increases were to follow. This resulted in AT&T, and other private spin offs created by deregulation, being allowed to market an array of expensive digital services and force average consumers of basic telephone services to pay for the upgrade to the digital infrastructure required to sell these services ! For industry insiders like myself who had worked in the business for forty years, we were amazed by AT&T's ability to seemingly vanish from the picture and then eventually reemerge larger than ever like the mythical Phoenix. There were several books written about this subject that warned of the negative implications but average citizens were no match for AT&T's vast political and financial power !

There's always good and bad segments in any organization and in the case of today's Republican Party there still exist a group of moderate Republicans that subscribe to a Progressive philosophy. This is the group who holds a lot in common with the Progressive Democrats and both groups in their respective parties have been in the minority for over two decades. We need a multiparty system to prevent government from being consumed by a single philosophy, though the flood of private money that is allowed to determine our elections has had a profoundly negative effect on both political parties who now sell their loyalty to the highest private bidder. This environment has been fostered by a majority Right Supreme Court who has given the wealthy the ability to fully control our elections through their unlimited funding thus driving candidates from both parties to support those policies that primarily benefit the nation's private Oligarchs', large corporations, and multinational investment banks. A segment of the founding fathers railed against the creation of an all powerful Supreme Court during the Constitutional Convention, unlike the other branches of government that were held in check by a set of rules that established a level playing field between the Congressional and Administrative branches, the Supreme Court would be allowed to operate in a vacuum as they had irrevocable power to alter existing legislation and laws passed by the Congress and approved by the President. To get past this hurdle the pro Supreme Court group offered a compromise that would allow a Supreme Court decision to be countermanded by a Constitutional Amendment, a burdensome and difficult task under the best of conditions that requires two thirds majority consent of Congress !

reply to Kend....Effective Corp tax rates are zero for many of the largest .......and millionaires like Romney pay 10% and less. Wealth is hiddden off shore. The point is ...wealth should not be allowed to grow to a point where individuals have more power than our govenrment. ....after a few million the tax rate needs to be skyrocket.

Hey Thom, if you revisit this thread before your next radio show I really think there is a bigger agenda at play. Many times you have resounded the statements that the Caucus Room Conspiracy is alive and well. Outside of the Republicans applying poison pills as Senator Boxer pointed out so eloquently today; The DHS funding was turnkey in regards to refunding the Presidents executive order, the Keystone as a rider in the next transportation bill, and abortion riders to increase protections of human trafficking victims.... Republicans have become the party of hostage takers. When you take into account the #47traitors, and BB's visit how can these topics not further be seen as examples of the Conspiracy still being alive and well.

Thom as you've explained in the past the highlights of the Alien and Sedition act, and now with the conversations surrounding the Logan act and other ethical measures to promote codes of conduct... How are these people still getting away with it?

In the last few days, not only have I had a chance to watch the series as published on wetheeconomy.com but to turn around and see ALEC model legislation such as the Internet Freedom Act as put out by Marsha Blackburn pushing for the prohibition of the FCC to do its job or municipalities being denied of their rights to build out digital infrastructure... What in the world are these people thinking? If Marsha Blackburn thinks that title 2 regulations on network infrastructure will lead to a Bell style monopoly I think these people are in the dark. Not that the Sherman Antitrust act is being enforced as it is but wouldn't bringing these service providers under some kind of regulation a step closer to blowing the top off the system and break up the likes of Comcast or Verizon? When you consider the quadruple play; Internet, phone, cable and home security suites.... How can that not be some kind of standing?

This whole mess is astonishing and surreal to say the least.

ChicagoMatt, you give Republicans and many others who don't care much too much credit. To have "compassion fatigue" you have to have had compassion in the first place. Republicans are only trying to steal from the poor and common people and this "compassion fatigue" business is largely a PR canard created to justify that theft.
What conservatives often call "throwing money at the problem" is usually much more than that and does, in fact, work. Johnson's War on Poverty, for example, contrary to Republican, big business PR, brought great results. Bigots didn't like it - or the results - but it worked.

1 to 3 years in jail for 47 Republican Senators. Come on, Eric Holder!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Act

ChicagoMatt, the Republicans I know are the ones that smoke weed. (And one of them grows basil in his kitchen.) What do I do now?