George Mason, "Father of the Bill of Rights"

Among the Constitution's Founding Fathers, George Mason (1725-1792) is considered the driving force behind the Bill of Rights. The author of The Virginia Declaration of Rights, he was an active participant in the Federal Convention of 1787, but as it came to its conclusion he he was alarmed at weaknesses he saw in the Constitution as it stood, and which he described in Objections to This Constitution of Government.

His strongest objections were addressed with the addition of the Bill of Rights, but some of his concerns remained, and proved horrifyingly prescient.

Almost exactly 220 years ago, George Mason seems to have anticipated Dick Cheney's arrogant argument:

"that unnecessary officer the Vice-President, who for want of other employment is made president of the Senate, thereby dangerously blending the executive and legislative powers"

and George W. Bush's abuse of the presidential pardon:

"The President of the United States has the unrestrained power of granting pardons for treason, which may be sometimes exercised to screen from punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the crime, and thereby prevent a discovery of his own guilt."

No wonder Thomas Jefferson called Mason "the wisest man of his generation."

Global Warming Talking Points

Just about every argument I've heard about global warming can be summarized by a few talking points:

Liberal talking points

• Because of over a century of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the average temperature across the Earth is increasing.
• This has foreseeable negative impacts.
• The scariest impacts are from subtle effects that we can't even predict.
• Models say we are approaching a tipping point where the changes become self-sustaining and self-feeding.
• We can slow or stop this, but we're running out of time, and must act now.

Conservative talking points

• Global warming is not happening. It's a liberal myth.
• It's a normal cycle, not caused by man.
• It's pointless for us to try to slow global warming because India and China are putting much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than the United States is, and they won't stop.
• What's the big deal? It's only a few degrees change, and will make life better on Earth. Don't you like nicer weather?
• It's too late to stop the major effects of global warming. Better for the the government to encourage and subsidize business to adapt to and profit from the major changes that will inevitably occur.