Adapting to Climate Change Is Less Costly than Spending Trillions on Emission Targets | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary

Adapting to Climate Change Is Less Costly than Spending Trillions on Emission Targets | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Since global warming will raise sea levels and increase hurricane damage, the future of beachfront property and coastal cities should be bleak. People should be withdrawing to safety inland. But, people are rushing into coastal areas."

"their belief in global warming is quite shallow, more political correctness than deep conviction. Yes, they see some danger. But they do not see it as dangerous enough to change their lifestyle and investment style.

In effect, they expect some adaptation to solve the problem, avoiding any drastic sacrifices. The world has always faced a hundred problems, and has often mitigated these through new technology and other forms of adaptation without necessarily solving them. Eco-fundamentalists are opposed to adaptation to global warming: they want prevention. But prevention is costly, and lacks political will in key emitting countries. People are rushing into coastal cities: their wallets suggest they think adaptation will be enough even without drastic carbon cuts."

"Much of Holland is below sea level but it has adapted to cope. Pat Michaels of the Cato Institute shows that the sea level at Atlantic City has risen 16 inches in the last 100 years, more than the predicted rise in the next century by IPCC. Yet, Atlantic City has adapted so well that residents are scarcely aware of it."

No Good Excuses | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

No Good Excuses | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "No president had won reelection with unemployment above 7 percent since Franklin Roosevelt; it is now 7.9 percent. Three-quarters of voters thought the economy's performance is poor or just fair. Throw in a health-care law that voters opposed 49 percent to 43, turmoil overseas, and assorted scandals, and an observer from Mars would have said that there was no way Romney could lose."

"Tea-party voters would do well to realize that simply being anti-establishment is not enough for a candidate. Supporting a candidate with the charisma and talents of a Ted Cruz or a Jeff Flake makes sense. Supporting a Richard Mourdock simply because he shares similar political views doesn't work as well."

"nearly all Republicans who voted for the Ryan budget were reelected"

"It's not just that Republicans oppose abortion or gay marriage, but that they often sound intolerant and self-righteous in doing so."

Continuing Devastating U.S. War Crimes | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Continuing Devastating U.S. War Crimes | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Parents are afraid to send their children to school. Women are afraid to meet in markets. Families are afraid to gather at funerals for people wrongly killed in earlier strikes ...

What makes this situation even worse is that no one can tell people in these communities what they can do to make themselves safe. No one knows who is on the American kill list, no one knows how they got there and no one knows what they can do to get themselves off."

"The Bush Administration paid enormous bounties ... in areas rife with tribal and familial rivalries ... hundreds of innocent people were wrongly fingered (by Afghan informants) as Taliban or al-Qaida, many of whom (then) spent years at Guantanamo or other American prisons overseas."