I find Soros perplexing. I agree with you that his book is remarkable, as is his record in the markets. It's dumbfounding to me that he would support socialism. I have to judge him by his works, and they include some of the most odious and dishonest far left groups in the country. He no doubt talks a good game, but I am more impressed by where his money goes and what he supports. Like Obama, he has an agenda that is profoundly out of step with the traditions upon which our country was founded and which made it great.
Thank you. You have more in common with George Soros than you may realize. Your concerns are Soros' as well. Here is a small snippet of what George Soros has to say: "I believe that open society is endangered worldwide. Of course, open society is always endangered and people must constantly reaffirm their commitment to the idea for open society to endure; what I fear is that we are closer to failing the test than on previous occasions... Deliberately misleading propaganda techniques can destroy an open society. Nazi propaganda methods were powerful enough to destroy the Weimar Republic. Those methods have been imported into the United States and further refined. Although democracy has much deeper roots in America than in Germany, it is not immune to deliberate deception... We need to undertake a profound rethinking and recognize that half truths are misleading. The fact that your opponent is wrong does not make you right. We must come to terms with the fact that we live in as inherently imperfect society in which both markets and government regulations are bound to fall short of perfection. The task is to reduce the imperfections and make both private enterprise and government work better." [italics mine]
If you have time or interest you might read the book about his philanthropic activities. I gave the reference earlier, but to tell you the truth I only wanted to read the introduction by soros himself to try and get more incite into what makes this amazing man tick. Basically he wants governments to be more responsive to people and to conduct their business in an open and forthright manner, And I understand now why it takes an entire book to describe his most recent philanthropic activities, which extend over the globe to places you or I would never think of going. Here are a couple excerpts from Soros' written intro to the book on the Open Society's philanthropic work. Here he is on the TRAP program: "I passionately disagreed with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan to bail out the banks by using a public fund called TARP to take toxic assets off their balance sheets. I argued that it would be much better to put the money where the hole was and replenish the equity of banks. I worked closely with the democratic leadership in Congress to modify the TARP Act so as to allow the money to be used for the purchase of equity interests. I had many other ideas I hoped to put into practice when Obama became President, including a fundamental reform of the mortgage system, but that did not happen. I published a series of articles in the Financial Times but got little response from the Obama administration. I had many more discussions with Larry Summers before he became the president's economic adviser than after. My greatest disappointment was that I was unable to establish any kind of personal contact with President Obama himself." And here he is on the "War on Terror", and the "Enlightenment Fallacy:" "...The United States has been a democracy and open society since its founding. The idea that it will cease to be one seems preposterous; yet it is a very likely prospect. After 9/11, the Bush administration exploited the very real fear generated by the terrorist attack, and by declaring war on terror was able to unite the nation behind the commander-in-chief, lead it to invade Iraq on false pretenses, and violate established standards of human rights in pursuing terrorists. ...the war on terror forced me to reconsider the concept of open society. My experiences in the former Soviet Union ...taught me that the collapse of a closed society does not automatically lead to a open society... Now I had to probe deeper into the concept of open society which I had adopted from Karl Popper in my student days, and I discovered a flaw in it. ...Popper's hidden assumption that freedom of speech and thought will produce a better understanding of reality is valid only for the study of natural phenomena. Extending it to human affairs is part of what I have called the "Enlightenment fallacy." There follows a section where he discusses, Republican and Democrat politics in the Bush/Obama period, but you have to read the entire discourse to realize that he is neither a democrat nor a republican and does not fit particularly well with either party's politics. He believes both parties to be mired in half truths. But his greatest displeasure is most assuredly reserved for the Republicans whom he accuses of deliberate Orwellian techniques and taking political advantage of the Enlightenment Fallacy to mislead the public. It seems he looks on the Democrats as less malicious bunglers, relegated to "...fighting a rearguard battle, defending the other half of the truth. " Soros is an amazingly deep thinker that requires an actively thinking reader. You don't read Soros for entertainment, you read him to learn.
I believe it is incontrovertible that the Earth is in a warming cycle. CO2 does contribute to trapping of infrared (heat) radiated from the Earths surface as does water vapor. Water vapor is three times as important as CO2 in that regard. Modeling of the atmosphere is very complicated because of all the feedback loops and many other interactions involved. No one has done it well enough yet to have their results widely accepted as correct. The jury is still out with regard to how important anthropomorphic CO2 is in the current warming cycle. Atmosphere experts (meteorologists) are divided on this issue. The smartest among them exercise caution in drawing a conclusion on the main question. I am a scientist, but I am not a meteorologist. Only the opinions of meteorologists should matter in this regard. I gave you my opinion because you made a bet. A bet you have lost.
============== PSR; CNN has an important addition to that news story; search ''irs' ACLJ is suing the IRS on behalf of 25 groups + punitive damages .Thier chief counsel has worked for the IRS, in years past ..........................................CNN online Wed, MAY 29, also today,TV thur,/CNN .