Maybe they are hoping on a jump in Republican voters 18 years and 9 months from now?

Because it's the goverment's job to pay for women's steroids.

Suit yourself. Four more years!

This is why Oregon is run by the light rail, streetcar and condo mafias.

Agreed. For some reason, fiscal conservatism and Bible thumping go hand in hand.

Krugman had an interesting take on the Republican party being purchased by billionaires to the detriment of America. Worth reading.

Jimmy Kimmel was brilliant at the White House Correspondents Dinner when he said, "I actually have my own theory about Lincoln’s death. I think John Wilkes Booth was innocent. I don’t even think it was an assassination. I believe that Abraham Lincoln had a vision about what the Republican Party would become in 150 years and he shot himself."

I'm starting to get a strong whiff of Bush/Cheney off Mitt Romney. Just check out how many of the old neo-con gang are part of the new team. Troubling.

I think the comedy riff is going to be the offshore money. The dog on the car roof only goes so far. Here's my direction with it and I've already had a similar one on TV just tonight:

Mitt Romney: Number One When It Comes to Defending the Cayman Islands.

Republicans/conservatives won't win on this issue, abortion at least, the horse is already out of the barn. Push it from the social/cultural side, practice what you preach (too many conservatives when it comes down to it like having the option I think). The funding fight though, I wouldn't be so ready to call it a suicide plan. As long as they push the "its a war on government funding, not banning abortion or birth control" line, I think they'll survive the "war on women" meme.

A great example of real GOP idiocy was Michigan's attempts to curb abortion with the "coercive Abortion act". They've tried that twice now, in 06 and '11. More harm than good there.

Bill, Krugman is only worth reading for amusement and never to be taken seriously. He's the very definition of a partisan hack.

Yes, it's only a war on poor women. Great strategy.

I think preachers make damn poor politicians, and vice versa!
The "founding fathers" were correct to try to separate church and state.
Of course it could be argued that government is now the new religion...there are so many converts.

If only we could somehow force birth control upon just the far right and extreme left members of this great Country.....just a few years down the road and presto, chango, viola! Please, don't bother telling me anymore that differing political views are what makes us so great.

I also think it might be wise to force birth control upon any golf fan who yells "in the hole" whenever Tiger hits the ball.

After all, finding a clinic that doesn't abort babies or paying $9.00 per month for birth control (as came out as an option in the wake of the staged Sandra Fluke melodrama) is far too much to ask from a woman, or her irresponsible, committed Democrat boyfriend. This story line is already old, baked and done.

Fiscal conservatism and Bible thumping DO NOT go hand in hand. That is exactly the point that separates many in the party, and the "big tent" keeps many of us in the party.

Planned Parenthood is an abortion mill.

Why should they get public funding?

JS,
Your comment is priceless in the context of the column.

I've met William Safire and Paul Krugman and I liked them both as people. Basically, I try to take it all in without the football team mentality that's so rampant. Of course, I rely on my own conclusions case by case, but I don't believe in the blanket dismissal routine.

Frankly, Krugman seemed brilliant when he spoke at the Baghdad Theater. He definitely seemed like someone who could get the Nobel Prize in Economics - which he did.

I guess I'm just wondering what happened to the Republican Party? How do you go from Eisenhower to Sarah Palin? Krugman throws a theory out there that's worth considering.

Something happened to cause this GOP fiasco, and it's worth trying to figure out.

Agreed Bill. Tom McCall, would be considered a rabid liberal in today's political world. Even the beloved Ronnie R would be too liberal by today's tea party standards. And as I recall, when signing legislation to liberalize and fund birth control, "Tricky Dick", said something like, "Contraception for all!".
I say to the republican party, "stay out of my bedroom and my doctor's office, and leave me alone to practice my spiritual beliefs in private".

Suit yourself. Four more years!

All we have to do is wait and see how it plays out in the fullness of time, i.e., November.

I agree that the Arizona Repubs are doing the Mitt ticket no favors. But what one state in 57 does, should not determine the outcome of the Presidential race. Between this and the AZ 'illegals' legislation and court case, it'll impact the national story, and that state is starting to have a big impact on the election without any mention of the electoral votes.

Expect more of these diversions away from the economy. Or the real unemployment rate. watch the optics... Or the narrative.

I don't think those Arizona conservatives are necessarily using this as a means to get them somewhere in November. They just don't want their tax money needlessly spent on birth control which they believe is and will be widely available and accessible without the tax funding.

It seems a contingent of Republican "zealots" going after public funding of birth control can somehow disqualify Republican candidates yet the same sort of tests don't seem to apply to anything the left wing zealots do on the Democrat side?
And there is a sea of them pushing all sorts of madness including soaring energy costs. As we all know the local Democrat zealots are causing all sorts of problems.
Why has any of their activities hurt Kulongoski or Kitzhaber or the whole Oregon Democrat party?

Welcome, Distraction.

Your name says it all. Sandra Fluke was no fluke, but a distraction. Intentionally so. Expect much more of the same. Even if it makes the current administration look foolish (China dissident?), better that than running on his record.

The MSM controls a part of the national conversation. And the incumbent controls much as well. Hence the spiking of the football in Kabul. Optics. Narrative. Distraction.

It seems a contingent of Republican "zealots" going after public funding of birth control can somehow disqualify Republican candidates yet the same sort of tests don't seem to apply to anything the left wing zealots do on the Democrat side?

Of course they do. The test is called the ballot.

I love it when this particular rock is turned over and we can see what is wriggling around underneath!

I'm glad important issues like unemployment and the general economic doldrums have been cured so we can concentrate on birth control.

Slop buckets. Garbage pickup halved, but rates remain the same. Leonard Loos. The Water House. Purchase of a couple hundred acres of SW PDX land. The Oregon Convention Center. Light rail and streetcars. No paving for five years. A secretary of state who re-writes rules on a whim. A mayor who drives into cars and planters with his pants unzipped. A mayor who rapes a 14-year-old, starts the light rail thing, goes on to become governor, and still arguably controls most of the Oregon political scene.

What do all of these things have in common?

No Republicans.

We just spent a decade using thousands of tons of depleted uranium in Iraq where it will go on killing babies for as long as humans exist. What about the rights of the unborn over there?

It is 100% about what Emma Goldman said it was when she spoke in Portland 70 years ago and got arrested for it: women's sexual freedom and dominion over their own lives and bodies. Re-pugs are the party of men who want government help to keep women as chattel. Dems are the party of people who are willing to say that choice is legitimate as long as people keep it to themselves. Both positions are for knuckle draggers -- just a matter of degree.

McDonald: Right on about Iraq.

Planned Parenthood was founded by a eugenist. It is the nation's largest provider of abortion and makes a huge profit off the bodies of those unborn children. No tax dollars should go to this organization.

Birth control can be purchased for $9.00 a month at Target or Walmart. I believe women are capable of taking care of their own needs. The women in my life are capable of taking care of themselves and resent the Left's attitude that they are weak and need government big brother protection.

Sandra Fluke is a scam artist. She could afford a European vacation, but feels the government should force a Catholic School (Georgetown), to violate its conscience and pay for her birth control. Really?

Finally, the government is spending billions paying for birth control for poor women if they want it.

What surprises me is that Bojack is so smart about city issues, but has a leftwing reaction to national issues.

Do you know what a chunk depleted uranium is called in nature ?
A rock...

"It's the economy, stupid." Don't get yourself all twisted up in a 'GOP is killing itself' mantra. Yesterday's job numbers should show you there is something inherently wrong with the economy. No govt plan will work between now and election day because of govt belt-tightening and govt cuts. By November we (along with Europe) may be deep into another recession. Game over. Here's the irony: If Mitt wins, this recession will be too big and too deep for anyone to fix. To quote Robert Reich, Republicans won't have anyone vote for them in a generation. THAT'S trouble for the GOP...not what's happening in AZ.

Time for a new mainstream political party. It's been, what, over a 150 years since the last party upheaval? Having only one party that isn't blatantly suicidal isnt good for a democracy. On the other hand, do we even still have a democracy?

Well, Bill. I guess I agree with your logic. It is wrong to endanger (and kill) unborn lives in Iraq. Just as it is wrong to endanger (and kill) unborn lives here in the good ol' US of A. Especially when our taxes are supporting it.

As to religion in politics. Don't forget that most local democrats have the greenie religion and many leading greenie organizations are trying to destroy industrial civilization to save the earth from the fraudulent threat of global warming. (The ONLY WAY to stop CO2 emission with current technology and maintain modern civilization, is nuclear and they banned that.)

Make no mistake they are more dangerous, to more people, than the Republican's religious faction. They have already caused large numbers of people to starve by making fuel from food (the food riots of last year). They have lowered the living standard of millions of others by making energy costs "skyrocket". Right now they are in a panic to stop new sources of oil & gas to keep the price too high for low income people. In Oregon they have already added to our electric bills with solar & wind subsidies, forcing low income people to choose between energy and food.

(In case someone wants to discuss global warming, please start by presenting the evidence that MAN’s CO2 is causing dangerous warming. Otherwise you are spreading your religion.)

Thanks
JK

Barky ordered an immediate halt to use of depleted uranium in weapons systems, right after he closed GITMO and just before issuing an unprecedented order to kill US citizens, stating afterward that he has absolute authority to do so.

How about the hundreds of Mexicans (and at least one US citizen) killed as a result of "Operation Fast and Furious"? Sorry, Bill - much as I like you, I disagree with your post.

In the more than 10 years the U.S. military has been fighting in Afghanistan, each of the three deadliest years have been during Obama’s presidency. The deadliest year was 2010, when 497 U.S. service personnel gave their lives in Afghanistan. The second deadliest year was 2011, when 399 U.S. service personnel gave their lives in Afghanistan. And the third deadliest year was 2009, when 303 U.S. service personnel gave their lives in Afghanistan.

Given all of the above, how many babies will suffer - or never be born? On the bright side, those casualties won't be stabbed in the head with a fork and have their brains vacuumed out.

I know, it's really cool and progressive to blame everything on Republicans - Barky's spent years blaming everything on Bush. But in the real world, where hard fact rules, Democrats are not only no better, but arguably worse.

Sorry to say it Jack, but politics in Arizona is vastly different than in Oregon. And as a soon-to-be second homeowner there; I'm glad they aren't pissing away billions on more light rail, windmills and day work centers for ILLEGALS.

To the folks repeating talking points on what Planned Parenthood is: I greatly enjoy your fiction writing careers.

Here's some more fiction for you: it's hard to believe a state as enlightened as Arizona, where people are more concerned about what women do with their bodies than they are when one of their own congresswomen (or at least democrat congresswomen) get shot in the head, would make such an obvious political mistake.

This original post is misnamed...

The left is killing itself, one aborted baby at a time.

Birth control can be purchased for $9.00 a month at Target or Walmart.

You gotta be kidding me. You are aware you need recurring examinations with a gynecologist to get and maintain a hormonal birth control prescription, right? That's going to get harder in Arizona and wherever these cavemen have their way.

Here's the part I don't get (from strictly a fiscal viewpoint):

Which is cheapest,
Birth control
Welfare for 18 years

Thanks
JK

Bill, yes I lean right but I've read enough of Krugman's drivel and it is drivel. You can cite his super dooper "nobel prize" on trade theory but his writings over the last 10-15 years show him to be usually wrong and insanely partisan.

The thing is JS, is if you set aside the social angle, as JK points out, there's just not much of a fiscal explanation for pushing these policies so hard.

It's obvious why the GOP has embraced it, though. Their base is fanatic, it's an easy thing to concede to to get elected. Even conservatives here in Oregon commenting in this thread are happy about this withdrawal of funding for non-abortion birth control services... because dead babies.

Now the GOP has been exploiting that weakness so hard for so long that the religious fanatics are skipping the middleman and feel empowered to just go to congress themselves.

Aaron:the religious fanatics are skipping the middleman and feel empowered to just go to congress themselves.
JK: Our other choice is the party mostly controlled by the greenies who want to make "energy prices skyrocket" on the road to shutting down modern society with their war on carbon.

Which will do less damage to the country?

Is there no sane middle available to us?

Thanks
JK

Hey JS,

Point of fact, Krugman is consistently one of the most accurate pundits. See for example:

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/130485/claim-krugman-is-top-prognosticator-cal-thomas-is-the-worst/

I suspect Krugman's strong track record comes because he spent years studying both history and economics before becoming a pundit. This stands in stark contrast with righties who simply spout ideology on faith regardless of evidence. Sort of like you just did with your ignorant and slanderous comment.

Err, Shadrach, didn't Krugman completely fall for the global warming fraud?

However, he did get it right that government regulations cause housing prices to rise.

Thanks
JK

Anyone who relied on Krugman's analyses and predictions over the past ten years would be quite wealthy by now as a result. And, Jim, it won't be long before your catastrophic miscalculation on anthropogenic global warming is revealed to you and everyone else.

This is called framing the issue. I cited one recent column about Krugman's views on why the GOP is such a mess. Of course, it's very difficult to argue that the GOP isn't a mess, especially after the freak show we just went through with their primaries.

My personal favorite was Rick Perry. He made me miss the clarity and linguistic command of George W. himself.

So how do you frame the issue? You don't address awkward questions like why Sarah Palin is such a powerful force in the GOP. No, you take the opportunity to look at Krugman's entire life, call him a partisan hack and avoid the real issue: How did the GOP turn into a stampede of morons?

If Abortion is so important, the lack of public funding will not effect the ability of Planned Parenthood to fund Abortion. Neither side should receive public funding. the problem continues to be unwanted pregnancy, and until both sides begin to approach it from that angled there will continue to be controversy.

Allan L: Jim, it won't be long before your catastrophic miscalculation on anthropogenic global warming is revealed to you and everyone else.
JK: I am just waiting for real proof, not religious claims. Do you know of any REAL proof, or are you just stating your religion?

Thanks
JK

Jim,
It's a good question. As far as I am aware, science isn't about "proof", but about theories and the data that support them. We don't have "proof" of evolution in species, or even of a causal link between smoking and cancer. But I am aware of enough data support of these theories, and that of AGW, to convince me of their validity and to make me very confident that, before long, the cumulative data on AGW will convince you as well.

Allan L: before long, the cumulative data on AGW will convince you as well.
JK: Be sure to let me know when it once again possible to farm the areas of Greenland that the Vikings farmed.

In the mean time, you probably kow that most of the Earth has been cooling for the last decade, except in the arctic where there are not actual temperature measurements, just computer projections.

But, thanks for giving us your religion, we just ask that you not advocate forming public policy based on you religion.

Thanks
JK

http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2009/08/warmest-by-fair-margin/

Allan,
More religion - warm does NOT prove causation.

Be sure to let us know when when Vikings can AGAIN farm in greenland.

Thanks
JK

From the editor of New Scientist Magazine (in the days when it was real science magazine):

Today the Royal Astronomical Society in London publishes (online) Henrik Svensmark’s latest paper entitled “Evidence of nearby supernovae affecting life on Earth”. After years of effort Svensmark shows how the variable frequency of stellar explosions not far from our planet has ruled over the changing fortunes of living things throughout the past half billion years
. . .
In Svensmark’s new paper an equally concise theory, that cosmic rays from exploded stars cool the world by increasing the cloud cover, leads to amazing explanations, not least for why evolution sometimes was rampant and sometimes faltered. In both senses of the word, this is a stellar revision of the story of life.

http://calderup.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/a-stellar-revision-of-the-story-of-life/

thanks
JK

Jim:

Pearls before swine.

Yes, PDX, name calling is more effective, and safer, than moronic claptrap. Jim, thanks for reminding me that you don't read even short posts or,if you do, your comprehension is next to nothing.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,434356,00.html

When I read your references in the past, they generally did not support your claims.

Last I heard, many of the old Viking farms are still under permafrost.

Thanks
JK

BTW, Allen, where is the evidence that Man is the cause of dangerous warming?

Note three important words:
evidence
cause
dangerous

Thanks
JK

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/03/the_empirical_evidence_for_man.php

Sorry Allen, no sale - SkepticalScience is listed as the source. They have ZERO credibility They are a propaganda site and I have had little trouble finding outright mus-representations there. Also I generally don't waste time looking at videos when a simple paragraph will do.

Again, do you happen to know of any real evidence that man's CO2 is causing dangerous warming? Please summarize any alleged evidence in one short paragraph, to avoid wasting people's time.

Thanks
JK

Lets cut to the chase:
Instead of your searching for evidence on the web, why don’t you just tell us what evidence convinced you that man’s CO2 is causing dangerous warming. That should take 2 minutes. (If you actually relied on evidence.)

Thanks
JK

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-oe-schwarzenegger-gop-needs-to-be-more-inclusiv-20120506,0,178448.story

A famous republicans who agrees that the right wing is killing itself.

Sorry, Jim, I can't let you continue to make yourself look like a buffoon. I've answered each of your challenges in turn. Your non-substantive responses make it clear that you have no solid support for your views.

I apologize, Allen. I meant no offense and certainly was not referring to you or anyone literally by using the metaphor borrowed the Sermon on the Mount regarding "casting pearls before swine." It was not name calling, and I'm sorry you took it as such.

Aaron: You do realize you can order almost any prescription over the internet - including birth control tablets - without seeing an M.D. don't you?
And that they usually cost less and arrive right at your door via UPS, FedEx or USPS...

Allan L.: Your non-substantive responses make it clear that you have no solid support for your views.
JK: You have it completely backwards.
It is YOU who is making a claim.
It is YOU who has the duty of proving that claim.
I am only asking you to perform YOUR duty of providing proof of that claim.

YOU have been unable to do that.

Thanks
JK

Dave: You do realize that an annual pelvic exam is one of the most fundamental, and important, aspects of preventative care for a woman don't you? And that hormonal birth control can cause serious side effects so they shouldn't be self-prescribed?

When you stop supporting women's health clinics like Planned Parenthood, as they did in AZ, you don't reduce abortions, you put women at risk by reducing access to life saving preventative care. If you want to reduce the number of abortions, you need to reduce the number of unplanned, and unwanted pregnancies. The most effective way to do that is with birth control.

As far as I can tell this policy runs directly counter to nearly everything that the Republican Party usually stands for. It's sad that the far right blowhards like Rush Limbaugh have so much sway.

"It's sad that the far right blowhards like Rush Limbaugh have so much sway."

It is even sadder that the other party is equally filled with blowhards, just with different issues: global warming, getting rid of cars, forcing people into condo bunkers, reducing population, increasing government waste, increasing taxes, and various other radical greenie delusions.

Thanks
JK

Folks don't need to 'prove' no stinkin' nothing ... in order to be convincing, JimK.
Once the rationing starts and only criminal misappropriation obtains to you
the freakin' fossil fuel bath in which you have become accustomed,
then your conviction will take care of itself.

I have some Gasoline and Sugar Ration Coupons left over from WW II;
perhaps I can scan them and send them for, (Jack), some future thread
about recovering from economic collapse caused by 'exuberant optimism' and speculative glut(tony).

Or refer Wikipedia - Rationing:

Gasoline ration stamps printed, but not used, as a result of the 1973 oil crisis

Wikipedia - Rationing

USA Ration Book No. 3 circa 1943, front

Now forward on, a Comment next to reveal how self-righteous moralizers
got grafted to the GOP, and how to cut the graft.

You forget that the world is awash in natural gas & oil due to the new explorations (which the greenies are trying to stop.)

There is NO SHORTAGE!

Thanks
jk

Jim, you should read your own output. You were first to refer to supposed global warming "fraud", the fact that others take issue with such unsubstantiated ranting does not oblige them to respond to your demands for "proof". You're wasting electrons.

Okay, yeah, "NO SHORTAGE," whatever you say -- no thanks. Probably it's impossible to prove the non-existence of something, or existence of nothing.

You wouldn't have to accept your allowance of Ration Stamps some day; maybe donate yours to your favorite Deals-on-Wheels charity. Then sit home immobilized, fuming
"NO SHORTAGE. There ain't NO SHORTAGE." as you like

In the beginning, (1925-75), broadcast offered no succor for religiosity suckers.
Then TechForce said, "let there be cable TV - wired in, not broadcast." And, "let there be 8 channels in a Basic Cable bundle, especially the family-fond 4 -- ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS ... but wait!, Order today, 1975, and Technology can DOUBLE the offer: 8 channels - EIGHT! -- for a 10 dollar-a-month pittance."

Of which, by Regulation, the cable operator keeps two dollars, and sends one dollar to each of the 8 channel(content) providers ... pay support to every channel whether anybody watched any channel or not, regardless, no matter. That's why all channels are delivered in a bundle -- so no one can know who watched how much, if any, of which; (and so Nielsen TV ratings went out of business).

But in 1975 there were not 8 content providers to feed hi-tech's hungry 24/7 TV maw. There were 4. Plus a few regional Independents -- Metromedia, Continental, Westinghouse, Kaiser, (hence station call letters of 'W' in the East, 'K' in the West). Which became channel 5 in each region.

Then a channel was reserved for Public Access, so that's 6.

Then a channel was blacked out and set aside, for Future Expansion. That makes 7 accounted for.

1 channel remained unallocated. Then some dealers of 'TV information' (not to say 'intelligence'), operating (secret privileged) enterprises in (crypted) offices near the ExoticHiTech uplink satellite-dish farms around Greenbelt, MD, and Langley, VA, got themselves a simple bright idea. They dragged bulky 1975 TV cameras (with umbilicals) across the street, into BibleThump, Virginia, churches and there they produced hours and hours of TV programming from the pulpits of one actor bumping his gums evangelizing revivalism, or revivalizing evangelism.

The first month cable TV had a million paying subscribers, the "I'm moral" evangelizers got a million bucks cash, (less the cost of producing my-2-cents-worth TV). And another million bucks cash the next month. And so on, as five and then ten million subscribers paid and paid more, each month, whether anyone watched the evangelizing revivals, or NOT, and arguably NO one watched ... although EVERY one anted a buck in the pot, of gold...leaf for bath fixtures, toilet seats, telephones, dinnerware and doorknobs in the private homes of Pat Roberston, Jerry Falwell, Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker weak-minded flim-flam blowhards.

Who'all were obsessed with the sensationalistic shock-value of one. single. issue. (after Roe v. Wade, 1974) -- 'Buy this cable TV or we'll kill your conception ... uh, foetus ... uh, firstborn ....'

And so began myth-making of the (non)existence of a Moral Majority, or a Silent Majority (whoever watched the churchy channel would not say), or a Social-type of Republican bloc (heads) grafted onto the convention of the usual Financial-type Republican bloc. Or, ultimately, a mythic Big Tent spanning both ends of GOP, from God to Profits.

America's history is replete with splintery groups of self-righteous moralizers -- apolitical non-voters who 'obeyed God's law only, and disdained Man's Law' not to vote for, meddle in, or uphold it. When cable TV voices told the churchians to register and vote Republican as a moral action to tumble down the civil wall of doctor-patient discretion around legal medical abortion, why, they went to voting like the voices told them.

And old-line realtime Republicans went to mouthing lip-service (totally insincere) for the single-issue obsession funneling 10+ million bucks a month cash fueling GOP campaigns. Without cable TV commanders, and cash, Reagan/Bush 1980 would not have been elected.

And would not have grown grossly enlarged today as FOXcableTV being the Republican Party getting $2 from each of 100 million cable-bundle subscribers, each month, paid in cash. ... whether anyone is watching or listening to them, or NOT.

Adopting raiment or proselytizing virtue of religion is not morality and does not make a moral person nor a person moral. Moral character in people does not require religion.

Cut the modern graft of parasite 'Social' conservatism attached to established 'Fiscal' conservatism. Two ways:
1) Boycott buying cable TV unless cable operators put FOXfubarTV in the pay-per-view high-number channel tier alongside all the other pornography; and,
2) Enact taxes on 'religion' proprietors who pay for advocating policies of politics -- the amendment commandment rule to enforce: No representation without taxation.

Allan L.: ... does not oblige them to respond to your demands for "proof".
JK: It is becoming obvious that you, like everyone else I have asked, has NO REAL PROOF that man's CO2 is causing dangerous warming.

You are just proselytizing your religion. And working towards making most people worse off.

Thanks
JK

Tenskwatawa:And would not have grown grossly enlarged today as FOXcableTV being the Republican Party getting $2 from each of 100 million cable-bundle subscribers, each month, paid in cash. ... whether anyone is watching or listening to them, or NOT.

JK: Got any evidence to back up your claim that cable content providers automatically get $1/month per subscriber?

Seems to me that some channels would demand more than others due to being more popular. Like HBO vs uncle Pete's (or Al Gore's) religion hour.

Also I think you get more channels than $1 per channel would support.

thanks
JK

Here are some comments, from Joe Bastardi who actually has a degree in degree in meteorology, on CO2, tree rings etc.
Of particulat interest is the NASA map of CO2 concentrations worldwide. The highest CO2 is NOT found around the industrial areas in the Eastern USA & Europe:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/08/letter-to-the-editor-a-wish-for-dr-michael-mann-to-clear-some-things-up-from-an-errant-psu-grad/

Thanks
JK