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Lance Groth

Apple Valley, MN
Commenter for
4 years 20 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 08/02/11 at 07:46 pm in response to Rush Limbaugh, global warming and our weather

One crucial point I neglected to mention in my diatribe, but which I did post in response to another Shelby article, is that the fundamental cause underlying all of our other problems of energy consumption, pollution, anthropogenic global warming, habitat loss, destruction of the ocean biosphere, the financial meltdown, etc., is overpopulation.

The Earth cannot sustainably support 7 billion (headed for 9+ billion) humans, all desiring an affluent lifestyle; it's just as simple as...

Posted on 07/28/11 at 12:32 pm in response to The Tea Party view of the current impasse, told by a smart, sincere Tea Party leader

The debt issue has many angles. The problem with the TP position is that it's too simplistic.

Both parties, when in power, have lived beyond the country's means going back many decades, republicans no less than democrats. Bush-42 took it to new heights, launching two unfunded wars while cutting taxes. Obama has added at least a third more to the debt, but why?

Mostly to rescue the nation from the financial collapse of 2008. The "compromise is bad" paragraph above mentions...

Posted on 07/28/11 at 03:36 pm in response to The Tea Party view of the current impasse, told by a smart, sincere Tea Party leader

@David -

Your point is well taken.

I was simply looking at a table on census.gov showing gross federal debt from 1960 - 2009. For 2008 it was 9.9 trillion, for 2009 12.8 trillion (estimated), and I believe now it's somewhere around 14 trillion.

Bookkeeping shenanigans are certainly part of the problem as well. We see it at all levels - from raiding social security to plug some of the deficit gap, to subtracting items that show significant inflation in order to...

Posted on 07/28/11 at 07:50 pm in response to MinnPost poll: Minnesotans blame GOP for shutdown

@26 - "That's next session with a different legislature. What matters now is what kind of legislature people will elect 14 months from now. "

The legislature they will elect 14 months from now is the one that will convene 16 months from now to deal with the new deficit. By then, we'll have seen several budget forecasts and will have a pretty good idea what the new deficit will be. If it's in the multi-billion range (it will be), and the party currently being blamed for the shutdown...

Posted on 07/26/11 at 04:17 pm in response to Remember BP's Tony Hayward? He's trying to get his life back in northern Minnesota

Thanks for another great article, Don.

Personally, I'm not very interested in financial assurances. Money does not replace precious wilderness such as still exists in northern Minnesota, and no amount of "cleanup" can restore land and water to its pristine state. Glencore can keep its money and take its business elsewhere, thank you very much.

Putting Hayward in charge of environment and safety is like putting Joseph Mengele in charge of health and wellness.

You...

Posted on 07/26/11 at 06:23 pm in response to Made up news: How Obama and the Repubs got within three letters of a deal

Perhaps the takeaway here is that it's getting harder to write satire that is recognizable as such, because "reality" is becoming increasingly bizarre.

Some days, it's enough to give one whiplash. For example, and for the first time in memory, I find myself in agreement with both Pawlenty and Bachmann, and the experience is completely disorienting. She said his handling of the state budget was incompetent, and he said she hasn't accomplished anything, legislatively speaking. Uh huh...

Posted on 07/29/11 at 03:58 pm in response to On the death of Amy Winehouse

Fine article.

Pain is the common thread weaving through the afflictions mentioned, and many others, and compassion is the proper response. This world, people, animals, all, would be far better off with more compassion and less nastiness.

@Ann #5, thanks for the posting the playlist. Some fine selections.

Posted on 07/25/11 at 02:35 pm in response to Bachmann: T-Paw left 'a multi-billion-dollar budget mess'

Re #2 - there are punctuation marks present called "quotation marks" that indicate the beginning and end of the quoted material. Here's a reference for you:

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

Ready, fire, aim.

The irony is thick around the identity and motivations of the terrorist in Norway, given the slavering anti-muslim hysteria noted and his true...

Posted on 07/21/11 at 12:15 pm in response to Franken lays into Focus on the Family leader at hearing

Hypocrisy is an endless source of entertainment, isn't it?

Mr. Braun asks what makes Franken an expert on DOMA. Apparently respect for the opinion of experts does not extend to scientific expertise when it comes to such topics as anthropogenic global warming or evolution. FOTF doesn't buy either one, thus rejecting the findings of the only experts available - the scientists who study these things.

I guess experts are only useful when they agree with one's preconceptions.

Posted on 07/19/11 at 07:48 pm in response to Why I preach the gospel of waterless urinals

I agree with Dan that lawns are a bigger problem than urinals. Not only because of water but also the chemicals applied to keep them green and dandelion-free, and the gasoline used to mow them.

Lawns are a complete travesty. A non-native species that requires expensive, high maintenance care, and for what?

We have to stop abusing the Earth for such trivial reasons as vanity.