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If you read the following, you might also want to pay attention to
the interview of Sen. Inhofe by Rachel Maddow that aired last night
on MSNBC. Link to the interview plus additional comments by Joe
Romm can be seen here: <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/16/446008/inhofe-maddow-global-warming/">http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/16/446008/inhofe-maddow-global-warming/</a><br>
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My column:<br>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal"><font
face="Garamond, serif">Most remember the late Isaac Asimov as a
writer of science fiction: I Robot, Caves of Steel, the
Foundation Series, etc. He was also earned a PhD in Chemistry
from Columbia and was a Professor of BioChemistry at Boston
University. </font> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal"><font
face="Garamond, serif">I mention Asimov because I want to base
this column on a single quote from a column he wrote for
Newsweek back in 1980. It is so fitting to the present time. </font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“<font
face="Garamond, serif">There is a cult of ignorance in the
United States, and there always has been. The strain of
anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way
through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false
notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good
as your knowledge.'" </font> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Garamond, serif"><span
style="font-style: normal">No one person so personifies this
attitude as does Oklahoma's Senior Senator, James Inhofe. He
deserves mention now for two reasons. One is the fact that
should the Republican Party gain control of the Senate in
2012, Inhofe would be come Chair of the Committee on Public
Works and the Environment. The second is that he will use his
position to perpetuate a hoax on the American public... one
that is ironically the centerpiece of his new book: </span></font>The
Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your
Future. The irony here is that the real hoax is the being
perpetrated by Sen. Inhofe. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">You can read the book, should you
really want to make up your own mind. It did get some rave reviews
on Amazon within a few hours of being available. However, if you
do, I would ask that you also read The Hockey Stick and the
Climate Wars by Dr. Michael Mann. From the first book, you get
reassurance that the Bible says God won't allow this to happen. In
the second, you have the evidence that it really is happening
along with a narrative of the extraordinary efforts that have been
made to discredit Dr. Mann and a number of his fellow
climatologists.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It is easy to check just how far Sen.
Inhofe will go to perpetuate his hoax hoax. If you go to his US
Senate web page, there is a link labeled “Hundreds of Scientists
Dispute Global Warming Alarmism”. It links to a list of names
compiled by then Inhofe staffer Marc Morano and published in 2008.
The only trouble with this is the fact that the entire list is
itself a fake. Some of the people on the list are not scientists.
Some that have credentials are not climatologists. But more
importantly, a number of been misquoted, misinterpreted,
misrepresented to the point that they have asked to have their
names taken off the list... but of course that did not happen. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">When rigid belief is threatened, some
will lie, even to themselves. A few will publish the lie at tax
payers expense. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Where does this all take us now? The
news today was filled with discussion of a new study released by
Dr. Ben Strauss at Climate Central. That study shows that we have
been underestimating the rate of sea level rise associated with
our warming climate and that significant areas will be exposed to
increasingly high, and therefore damaging, storm surges even
though the mean sea level does not itself yet threaten flooding. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Even though we sit comfortably high
here in Morgan Hill, it will affect us. Two way are obvious. As
tax payers, we will be asked to help in the recovery for more and
more sites. Consider that Balboa Island begins to flood now. What
happens to that with another 8 – 12 inches, as is forecast by
2030. If the government does not pay, will we have to pay through
increased insurance premiums? It is not going to be cheap, either
way. According to a story in the LA Times, new sea walls for
Balboa Island would cost $60 M. It would be $500 M to rebuild the
sea walls for all of Newport Beach. And that is starting now for
only one community. Imagine how much help you would get from a
Senate where James Inhofe controlled Public Works funding. <br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">As we move forward which of Asimov's
figures will we follow, the one of ignorance of the one of
knowledge. For myself, I have just gotten a sticker to put on my
car. “Got Science?”</p>
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