[gulfer]

In Short: After doing weather for 26+ years, I have to laugh. It is Jet Exhaust combining with the elements. You have to have the right temperature and water vapor (humidity) at the level the aircraft is flying to get these. There is a little more, but that should do. We had to forecast them for Aircraft during the war so they could avoid alititudes that where they were condusive to forming.

Here is what WIKI says:

Contrails ( /ˈkɒntreɪlz/; short for "condensation trails") or vapor trails are long thin artificial clouds that sometimes form behind aircraft. Their formation is most often triggered by the water vapour in the exhaust of aircraft engines, but can also be triggered by the changes in air pressure in wingtip vortices or in the air over the entire wing surface.[1] Like all clouds, contrails are made of water, in the form of a suspension of billions of liquid droplets or ice crystals.

Depending on the temperature and humidity at the altitude the contrail forms, they may be visible for only a few seconds or minutes, Persistent contrails are thought to have a significant effect on global climate

[lvoc]

I once saw the phenomena on a DC 10 taking off. We were taking off from LAX on a dreary wet day. As we approached rotation clear and very visible rotors appeared at the wing tips rolling off behind the plane. It became clear why you did not want to taxi a small plane anywhere near one of those dudes.

Note the Chemtrails belief goes with a number of others and often involves Libertarians. Why, I wonder, do Libertarians tend to believe in these fables? Perhaps a basic belief that government is bad?

[swagger]

Originally Posted by logline

Imagine what else these people can be convinced of believing. Frightening.

FEMA camps
Moon hoax
9/11 controlled demolition
HIV is intentional genocide
New World Order
Bilderberg group
Obama wasn't born in Hawaii
HAARP
"Bush lied, people died"
US dollar switching to "Amero"
Roswell / Area 51 / UFOs, etc.
Tsunami bomb
Earthquake machine
Water fluoridation

The list is virtually endless.

[logline]

Originally Posted by lvoc

IWhy, I wonder, do Libertarians tend to believe in these fables? Perhaps a basic belief that government is bad?

Definitely. It's also a cultural thing. When times are tough (as they are now) there is a renewed interest in all things anti-government (which fits in nicely with a Libertarian perspective). Conspiracy theories peak when people feel they have been wronged and can't pinpoint the exact source of their misfortune, so they'll believe anything that makes them feel justified in their anger. Lack of education also has a lot to do with it.

The fact that it is so pervasive is what freaks me out. When it hits critical mass, people can be seduced into doing crazy things... like going to war.

[swagger]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Note the Chemtrails belief goes with a number of others and often involves Libertarians. Why, I wonder, do Libertarians tend to believe in these fables? Perhaps a basic belief that government is bad?

Libertarianism has nothing to do with it. It's naive and insulting to suggest otherwise.

Libertarians don't believe that "government is bad." We believe that in this country, the federal government is supposed to be very small and limited in scope, and that the states should have more control over what happens within their own borders than they do now.

[logline]

Swagger, don't take too much offense as I have some libertarian views of my own. But if I were to be honest, the most extreme ones are the gun-toting, open-carry/survivalist wackos who believe in these anti-government conspiracy theories. A quick glance at the pervasive youtube videos will show you what I mean. Few are college educated. There are no conspiracy conferences at Harvard or Stanford.

[dynimagelv]

Tip Vortex and boy is it wicked

[swagger]

Originally Posted by logline

There are no conspiracy conferences at Harvard or Stanford.

But there are [L|l]ibertarian organizations at those institutions.

Stanford Federalist Society
Harvard Libertarian Forum

Environmental terrorists almost always vote Democrat. Should I say that democrats in general have a tendency to spike trees in order to maim/kill loggers?

You're taking a correlation past the boundaries of honesty. THAT is what I have a problem with.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by swagger

Libertarianism has nothing to do with it. It's naive and insulting to suggest otherwise.

Libertarians don't believe that "government is bad." We believe that in this country, the federal government is supposed to be very small and limited in scope, and that the states should have more control over what happens within their own borders than they do now.

I don't know that it is causal. But I am really convinced that it correlates. Probably know a half dozen different incidents...one being a brother who would not claim to be Libertarian but is closer to that than anything else.

Libertarians have no basis for their belief if you have properly stated it. That the view of part of the founders was more a confederation of equal states is clear...as is that not all agreed. The Constitution than is a grand compromise between those of a Federalist and State orientation. And over time the Federalists have irrevocably won. A more state oriented and libertarian government would likely take a revolution or other action leading to a new Constitution.

In the interim we will have to put up with improbable and far fetched.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by swagger

But there are [L|l]ibertarian organizations at those institutions.

Stanford Federalist Society
Harvard Libertarian Forum

Environmental terrorists almost always vote Democrat. Should I say that democrats in general have a tendency to spike trees in order to maim/kill loggers?

You're taking a correlation past the boundaries of honesty. THAT is what I have a problem with.

I would certainly agree there are sane and rational Libertarians.

I would almost turn it around and suggest that there appear to be an unusual number of Libertarians among the Conspiracy theorists. There certain are others involved with conspiracies. And there are always a set of "experts" on a particular conspiracy theory who believe only in the one. But WTC blowup in particular has a large and reasonably bright crew with all sorts of Libertarian roots.