Senator James Inhofe is one of the biggest disgraces of the United States. This is a leading member of the U.S. Senate and he uses that platform to repeatedly demonstrate just how ignorant he is. I shudder to think what the rest of the world thinks of the U.S. education system every time this man opens his mouth.
If you aren't familiar with him, he's the man that claims "manmade global warming is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the American public." He's the guy that says climate science is a conspiracy by Barbara Streisand and the Weather Channel. "It's all about money. I mean, what would happen to the Weather Channel's ratings if people weren't scared anymore?"
What's funny about that statement is Inhofe has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fossil fuel industry, making him one of the top recipients of oil money. Hmmm. Do you think there's a link between all the money he gets from the fossil fuel industry and his fight to protect their interests at the expense of his constituents?
Inhofe is also famous for coming out every time there's a cold day in the winter (when its supposed to be cold) and make some statement about how it proves climate change isn't real. Then, he disappears on those winter days when the temperature hits a new record high. I'm sure he thinks he's being clever. The rest of the world knows he's an idiot.
Now, he's done it again. He brought a snowball into the Senate and claimed it was proof climate change isn't real. But, it backfired. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse took him to task about it. Whitehouse cited numerous authoritative sources saying climate change is real and then repeatedly asks, who are you going to believe, these excellent sources? Or, "the Senator with the snowball." Watch the video.
There's nothing we can do about Inhofe. We're stuck with him. But, we can be thankful to Senator Whitehouse for the new catch phrase for all of the people that reject science and think they're clever: they are another Senator with a snowball.
In defense of America's educational system, most of us think he's an idiot too.
ReplyDeleteThat's good laugh for a Friday night.
ReplyDeleteLike the beehive
I was going to use a photo of my hens up to their necks in vetch and flowers, but I realized I was just asking for abuse.
ReplyDeleteIn the words of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you chose well.
ReplyDeleteInhofe's argument is so easy to defeat using exactly the same logic that he uses.
ReplyDeleteIf we are having record cold in this part of the world, you can be sure that somewhere else, they are having record warm. You just type "record high temperatures" into a Google news search and you will invariably find that somewhere else on the globe they are suffering through unseasonably warm temperatures. For example, here is are some headlines from other parts of the world:
1. Alaska: "In Anchorage, Tuesday's temperature reached an official high of 44 degrees, which broke the previous mark of 43 degrees for that date set in 1984. In some parts of the city, unofficial temperatures approached 50 degrees Tuesday."
"Kotzebue reached a new maximum high at 37 degrees and a new daily minimum of 33 degrees. The old maximum temperature record was set more than 100 years ago, in 1903, at 31 degrees."
In Alaska, it is currently so warm and there has been so little snow fall, that the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has to be moved.
2. Hawaii: "Light winds helped temperatures at the Honolulu Airport rise to 86 degrees Monday, breaking the old record for the date of 85 set in 1996. Lihue Airport also tied a high temperature record of 83 degrees set in 1980."
I've found the climate deniers have a terrible time with the concept of "average." They either deliberately ignore it or genuinely don't understand it. I'm leaning toward the conclusion that they genuinely don't understand it, because they don't seem to understand it in other areas of study like economics.
You are right when you say it's easy to prove him wrong. I always tell people we're talking about 'global' warming, not Boston warming or even eastern U.S. warming. But there are two major problems with Inhofe. The first being he has a big stage and people listen to him. The other problem is he has the power to act.
ReplyDeleteThe 30-year-view approach in this article seems like it could be a good way of talking about climate change to avoid many of the denialist incorrect talking points, and enable the conversation to more quickly get to the important issues of actions to take.
ReplyDeletehttp://theconversation.com/lets-call-it-30-years-of-above-average-temperatures-means-the-climate-has-changed-36175
That was a good article and made some good points. I would personally be very glad to see the discussion go from proving the existence of AGW to what we need to do about it. It is frustrating that a small group of people are blocking action on something that affects the entire planet.
ReplyDelete