Full of (greenhouse) gas....

Yes, Mark Davis and Rush Limbaugh continue to excite conservative-minded peoples to completely exclude the possibility that humans are contributing to global warming. Rush calls it arrogant of us, and Mark Davis won't even consider it (yet he congratulates a scientist on his show for admitting that the scientist's ideas may be wrong while saying that the other side won't even consider the possibility that they are wrong and won't be around to be proved wrong; but somewhere in there Mark forgot to mention that he won't even consider he's wrong and won't be around to be proved wrong either. HUH?). What's happened to these two?

I used to enjoy (to a point) listening to these two conservatives, who were educated and sharp-minded and witty. Now, they just spout off the same kind of "spin" they denigrate liberals and the media for. What's up with that? Especially Mark Davis. He's never struck me as one to be a parrot, but he's become just this mindless icon for conservatism, and I don't think he even hears what he says anymore. At least Rush Limbaugh admitted in an interview years ago that he's in it for the money. But his true followers obviously didn't read that interview.

I'm very disappointed in the way politics and debates have turned so nasty in my lifetime. Great debaters and thinkers on both sides used to enjoy the discussions, turns, friendships, and truces that resulted from their debates. With some exceptions, they also realized that despite their differences, they were on the same side (i.e., that of their country's or constituencies'). In the last 10 years, conservatives have concluded that those who disagree with them or the Republicans in office are traitors, dissenters, enemies (yes, I've heard this in person and on conservatives' shows), non-patriots, malcontents, wackos, liberals (said in the worst possible light), or some idiotic (insert word here) nasty, anti-patriotic, liberal, pro-abortion, feminist, environmentalist wacko, anti-American (whatever). I love my country, support our troops, love a good debate, believe in my beliefs, wish the best for you and your family, wish the best for me and my family, and enjoy a good book, movie, bath, and letter or phone call from friends and family; so how am I a bad person? I may not agree with you on all things, but the conservative movement in this country has reached an all-time low in labeling and categorizing those who disagree with them, which thinking, wondering, semi-educated, discerning, open, and curious individuals don't and shouldn't fall for.

Now, if you listen to these personalities on the TV or radio, they say that the media and liberals and Democrats always label the other side unfairly and cast a biased spin. I can listen to two hours of Rush and/or Mark Davis and hear more labels on their shows than I hear on the rest of non-conservative modern TV and radio in one week combined. It's time to reconsider rhetoric, here. Listen if you want to, believe if you must, but have the decency to think for yourself, please, regardless of which side of the debate you're on.

I used to enjoy Rush 15 years ago, and I learned a lot even when I disagreed. That's no longer true most of the time. Do I still learn? On occasion. But mostly I hear vitriolic name calling and categorizing (which he despises from the other side) and statistics repeated without balance or references and statements re-worded to fit his diatribes. And Mark Davis has the education and reading to know better than the bullshit I hear from him lately. Neither one of them will agree with me or even argue with me nowadays; they will just attack me and label me, and that's too bad. They're better than that.

Sunny