As I was wrapping presents, I was watching what I think is a re cutting of "Planet Earth" that highlights how people suck and we're destroying the planet. One guy suggested that the earth could support 3 billion people, but already has 6 billion people. There were a ton of things that I don't really know what to do with. The easiest thing to do is ignore all the stuff they threw up, and go on with my life. In other words, make it somebody else's problem. But if we really are destroying the earth, I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the problem. The thing that bothers me is that side lies constantly. It's like they're saying the sky is falling. Or perhaps it's more like they're crying wolf. In the first case, they're misinformed. In the second, maybe there is (or could be) a real problem, but they're lying about it right now. And I mean lying, on purpose, and in a big way, to make the problem more urgent in people's minds. 2008 was the hottest year on record. Except it wasn't. End of story. We lied. We were trying to get your attention. Ok, but things like that make people like me doubt the veracity of your claims. If there are real, scientific studies, that show evidence of human caused climate change, please bring them to my attention. I will try to find the flaws in them, but if I don't find any, I will admit it, and I'll be on your side. Climate change should not be a political issue. It concerns us all. I want my children to grow up on a better earth than the one I now inhabit, and I think most other people do as well.

An interesting calculation:

Texas contains 261,797 square miles of land. If there are 6,000,000,000 people on earth, then if we shipped every last one of them to Texas, each one would have 1216 square feet of space to him or herself. Allocating 25% of all land space for public use, and assuming an average family size of four, that gives each family a 2000 square foot home, and an additional 1600 square foot of space to garden. (that is not enough by the way, not to mention the water resources might last an hour....) The point is that the rest of the world would be devoid of human life, and we wouldn't even have to live in apartments. If we chose to live in high rises, and we could solve the water problem, we could all live in Texas, and some of us could even eat meat. Most would have to be vegetarians, because veggies have a much better energy return to energy input ratio than meat, and space would be limited. Looking at numbers like that (and they are created by me, by the way) is what makes me doubt that we are having such a huge impact on the earth. I hope I'm right, but I can't be sure. Anyway, there appears to be enough food, water, and space for Christmas to take place in a couple hours anyway. You all have a good night. I'm going to try to sleep.

Be good, for goodness sake.

Tom, what do you think about Rahm?

I'd just like to ah...say that uh...I uh....think that uhhh.....blogging on....such uh...an ah... uh... important topic ... uh... would uh... be ah.... inappropriate aaahhh until uh someone uh... writes what I uh.... should .... uh be saying. Beause aaaaaa without a a uh teleprompter ... I uh, sound uh.... dumber than Bush,.... and uh.... aaah, this uh.... will not do.

What about Al Franken stealing the election in Minnesota?

Democrats don't steal elections. If an election is reversed for a democrat it is the will of the people. Besides, won't the news really be more amusing if he wins?

What about the bail out?

The looting of Washington has been stepped up. I hope that it's happening because the looters are afraid of the new sheriff coming to town and want to get theirs before he comes in and cleans up Dodge. He did promise change, remember? I doubt that is what is happening. I further doubt that there will be any cleaning up, just shifting of the loot to different pockets.

Global warming?

The question is not whether it is happening or not. We are either getting hotter or colder at any given time. The question is, can we, through concentrated action, affect it, and if we can, should we? There is so much science on both sides of this that sorting out fact from fantasy is impossible. I can tell you that the inconvenient truth is that Gore is a liar, and he knows it. But, as long as we don't get ridiculous with legislation it is fairly harmless to Americans to behave as if global warming is real. What does it cost me to replace all my light bulbs? $200. And they say I'll get that back in energy savings. Even if I don't, I can afford that, and I'm a poor college student. Drive an efficient car. I can do that. So on and so forth. I'm not, nor do I recommend paying some bullshit company to supposedly plant trees to offset my carbon footprint. I wouldn't do that if I was John Travolta flying a 737. Being careful with our environment may not be necessary, I don't know. But it's certainly not a bad idea.

One last question. What do you think of New York's new budget?

Seriously? I haven't read it. They are obviously on hard times if they're taxing iPod downloads though. I feel for the people of New York. They are some of the most over-taxed in America, and it will continue to get worse until governments learn to, in the famous words of Clark Howard, "spend less, save more, and avoid getting ripped off." No culture can provide everything for everyone. We can do our best to help those less fortunate than ourselves, but that's it. Taking care of everyone didn't work at Plymouth Rock. It didn't work in Soviet Russia. And it won't work here, no matter how much we want it to.

Greetings friends. I've been writing a little, thinking a lot, and getting ready for Christmas. I want to start out by saying thank you for stopping by. And I want to apologize to the gentleman driving the red four wheel drive pickup behind me this evening. I just want to let you know what happened. I was leaving Home Depot, and going to Target to pick up de Blob for my children for Christmas. And I started to turn into the wrong parking lot. It appeared, when I realized that I was turning into the Video Store parking lot instead of Target's, that I would inconvenience no one by pulling up the extra 30 feet or so necessary to hit the proper entrance. I judged that your considerable distance behind me would not endanger you in any way, and as I was completely in the parking lot and halfway to a space when you passed, I assume I was correct. However, your horn blast let me know in no uncertain terms that I made a mistake, which I freely admit. It also let me know that you were offended in some way, or endangered. However unlikely it seems to me that this is possible, I'm sure you were justified. So I am sorry. I was wrong to start a turn and not finish it, thinking of my convenience. Accept my apology, if you can.

In 1941 we were viciously attacked. Many lives and much property was lost. We were justly angry. We destroyed the enemy, including many, many civilian casualties. It was the natural course of war. The end of the natural course of war is victory for somebody. Without belaboring the obvious parallels, I do not know the natural course of a war that is not a war, or a war waged on a methodology of persuasion, however despicable, or the natural course of a war waged on something that can not be proven to not exist. In the absence of terrorist acts it becomes an existentialist war. We are fighting a war against something that existed, and may still exist. (We have many years to go before this is a reality.) But in the future, we could be fighting a war against terrorism, and/or fighting a war against Bigfoot. Good night.