The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Just this morning, I read a Columbus Dispatch letter-to-the-editor, entitled, "Climate-change believers go to great lengths," and felt the need to respond. The letter was written by one Sam Jones of Westerville and goes like this: "In her Saturday letter 'Action to stop warming must happen now,' state Sen. Charleta Tavares wrote that a new report by Environment Ohio's Research & Policy Center claims that Ohio plants emit as much carbon as the entire country of Kuwait. Could this be because Ohio is nearly six times larger than Kuwait (roughly 41,000 square miles vs. 7,000 square miles)? Duh. Climate-change believers continue to deceive." While the finding State Senator Tavares pointed out in her letter was a rather weak example of proof that climate-change exists and something needs to be done about it, since the statement is true, how is it deceptive? Also, judging by Mr. Jones' letter, I could title my rebuttal, "Climate-change deni...

Iowa Representative Steve King has never been coy about acting stupid. Even at a frat party in college, he was voted the stupidest and craziest drunk, even though he was sober. Well, the Iowa Rep is back at it again. During a speech on Wednesday at an event sponsored by the Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity, King told the audience the following: - [Climate change] is not proven, it's not science. It's more of a religion than a science." - "Everything that might result from a warmer planet is always bad in (environmentalists') analysis. There will be more photosynthesis going on if the Earth gets warmer. ...And if sea levels go up 4 to 6 inches, I don't know if we'd know that." Even though 97% of scientists agree that climate change does in fact exist, King still claims that it's more of a religion than a science. King may want to re-evaluate how he defines science and religion. Religion is dependent upon faith, whereas science is depe...

Not long after Oklahoma was ravaged by tornadoes, Republican Representative of the state - Jim Bridenstine - decided to make this intelligent statement: "Even climate change alarmists admit the number of hurricanes hitting the U.S. and the number of tornado touchdowns have been on a slow decline for over 100 years. But here is what we absolutely know. We know that Oklahoma will have tornadoes when the cold jet stream meets the warm Gulf air, and we also know that this President spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning. For this gross misallocation, the people of Oklahoma are ready to accept the President's apology and I intend to submit legislation to fix this." Ah, so Mr. Bridenstine is a scientist. Who are these "climate change alarmists" and what's the source of this information exactly? Take your time. I'll be waiting... In the meantime, Tom Karl - Director of the National Climatic D...

Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe has long been a global-warming denier. If it gets chilly on a single day in January, he'll shout to the world, "You see? Global warming is a hoax!" In light of the tornado which recently swept through the state he represents and hearing some Democratic senators claiming that global warming could at least be partially to blame for a tornado of that magnitude, Inhofe, said this: "The liberal media is trying to exploit a tragedy to advance and expand its own agenda. And, believe me, the victims all know this. We were being hit by tornadoes long before anyone talked about climate change, and even before it was called 'global cooling,' before it became 'global warming,' and then 'climate change.'" Why is it that, after tragedies such as the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut or the before-mentioned tornado, it's such a no-no in many of these Congressional Republicans' minds to talk about them ...