Image from WUWT reader “Boudu”
This QOTW is from Congressman Henry Waxman, who is pushing (or maybe bribing) the carbon cap and trade bill through congress. The statement made by Waxman can be corrected by a third grader; it is that bad.
From an interview on NPR as relayed by Tavis Smiley:
“We’re seeing the reality of a lot of the North Pole starting to evaporate, and we could get to a tipping point. Because if it evaporates to a certain point – they have lanes now where ships can go that couldn’t ever sail through before. And if it gets to a point where it evaporates too much, there’s a lot of tundra that’s being held down by that ice cap..”
That’s probably the scariest statement on “science” ever uttered by a Congressman.
Let me go on record by saying Waxman is stunningly and stupidly misinformed and intellectually inadequate for the tasks at hand that bears his name: The Waxman-Markey bill
This is what Waxman works on in Congress:
Committee on Energy and Commerce (Chairman)
* Subcommittee on Health
* Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
* Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Write or call your US representatives now.
It seems that they only have to be smart enough to get elected the first time. Then Waxman can play stupid the rest of his life because they have taken care of themselves till the day they die. And then the wife get it all. What a joke this congress has turned out to be.
http://Acmbiz1.stripfat.hop.clickbank.net
Who the heck elected these gross incompetent politicians? Including the biggest idiot at the top? Gee Whiz. No one admits to it, but he sure as heck got his butt in there, didn’t he? Commie Obama. Plus I guess you guys know we are in global cooling, not global warming what goofballs!
P. J. O’Rourke is the H. L. Mencken of our day. Change the number here to 435 and this description of the Senate will apply to Rep. Waxman’s House of Horrors.
“The founding fathers, in their wisdom, devised a method by which our republic can take one hundred of its most prominent numbskulls and keep them out of the private sector where they might do actual harm.” — P.J. O’Rourke
Speaking of out of control taxes, Michelle has an article about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s recent comments.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/27/andrew-lloyd-webber-going-galt-in-britain/
ds
mfearing
If you wonder why this particular article is full of non-scientific commentary, you need to look at what Mr. Watts categorized it as:
Categories : ridiculae
So, ridiculous commentary is welcome. However, if you peruse other articles you will find a more focused discussion. After a while you will again notice that certain contributors also provide serious scientific commentary, while the rest of us add our laymen comments.
“People say dumb things. Wow. Imagine that. Does that mean they have no valid opinion?’
Of course it does. All opinions are not equally valid. Opinions based on ignorance are never valid. The opinion that 1. the polar icecap, apart from Greenland, covers land, and 2. that it is ‘evaporating’ is grounded in an ignorance of geography and elementary school physics.
What? No photo of Waxie for this thread? It would be reassuring to see him (especially those low-angle shots), whenever he’s been out foraging. They say that when Punxatawnee Hal truly emerges it’s a sure sign of spring. Unfortunately, it’s a snowy April 27 here in Colorful Colorado, and I’m beginning to worry.
This “piece of work” is one of the people behind the CPSIA disaster. Read excellent coverage here http://overlawyered.com/tag/cpsia/.
Hot off the wire, and a QOTW nomination:
On the Associated Press – Obama promises major investment in science.
And for me, the money-quote:
.
If that’s what it could it be taken for, then he’s leadin’ ‘n I’m followin’!
Evaporate? Really? Someone please get this man a Science Book!!!
OMG, LOL, zing!
The polar cap is covering the Arctic Ocean not the Arctic Tundra is it not.
I mean a lot of land including the tundra is covered by ice and snow in the winter and then in the spring it all goes up in the air for the summer?
Obongo and his minions are doing in the USA and much of the world a long with it.
“When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality.” -Thomas Jefferson to Madame de Stael, 1807.
Which wrongs are being pressed upon you and me? Which wrongs are we supposed to bear? Are we supposed to put up with politicized science, fudged data and hysterical prophecies of catastrophe? Should we accept the new ruling class that would overturn the principles of democracy to feather their nests? What about confiscatory taxes to fight an imagined threat? What other wrongs are you being asked to shoulder because your betters believe you will acquiesce?
What is the moral course?
Unfortunately the majority of voters in this Country do not make their decisions based on the intelligence of the candidate or knowledge of issues but rather on how big a government check they feel the candidate can bring to them. You keep bringing the folks back home a big check, you keep getting elected.
Here ya go…boy, what faith I have in this one (rolling eyes)
US admits responsibility for emissions to bring big polluters togetherHillary Clinton offers admission to ease obstacles towards reaching agreement at climate change summit in Copenhagen
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/27/carbon-emissions-us
She said Obama had broken with eight years of denial under George Bush and was determined to act on climate change. “The United States is fully engaged and ready to lead and determined to make up for lost time both at home and abroad,” she said. “The United States is no longer absent without leave.”
Gee, I think this is a lie…….I recall Bush drinking the CO2 koolaide as well.
Ted Clayton:
Calm down, Ted. That’s just
Elmer GantryObama talk. Look at the big picture:Obama wants more money to funnel into the right pockets. It’s a bribe, no more and no less. Those who drink the Kool Aid get showered with money and status, and those who dispute AGW will be either those already retired, or those risking their jobs.
It will be just like today — but with more tax dollars bringing more corruption.
mfearing (01:01:09) :
“I finally get this blog!
It’s an outpost heavily manned by, how do I say this, a place you can stop by, look in and be amazed with all the weird creatures. And by that I mean not only this blog, but the entire planet. A tide-pool run wild indeed”.
mfearing (01:01:09) :
A typical case Runaway Global Stupidity, I see it’s spreading.
Check out the image of the scientific Messiah the BBC used for this article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8020930.stm
Lenin would be envious.
The real world disagrees with the mfearing troll: click
I remember that the Russians rammed their flag into the tundra under the ice cap last year 🙂
~snip~
RoyfOMR (20:14:29) :
Recently we’ve had a number of threads on WUWT concerning scientifically-ignorant, but vocal, politicians (on topic), alarmist trumpeting (without number) and one, about a certain British viscount, discounted by US democrats as a contributor to a debate.
I refer, of course, to the debate sometimes paraphrased as – ‘the debate that is over anyway’.
No greater contrast could there be than between two groups of people than we have between the likes of Mr. Waxman, his fellow-travelers and, IMHO, intellectual giants such as Lord Monckton.
Yes, he is no scientist – in the formal sense anyway that only admits into the fraternity those who’ve been through the approved rites of passage. Even, if he had, when younger, decided to embark on a voyage dedicated to scientific study, would he now be accepted by his peers as one of them?
If he’d become a climate scientist then, unless I’ve badly misjudged him, he would now be a climatological pariah.
Peer-review when honestly, transparently and skeptically debated has proven to be an invaluable tool for progress and in areas of science untouched and untainted by subjective and political influences – it will remain so.
Conversely, when a field of study, scientific or otherwise, converges positively or negatively with shared subjective viewpoints then the peer-review process can become tainted by non-objective agendas!
Lord M is, I believe, a bit of a throwback. A throwback to the days when gentlemen, if bright enough, didn’t worry about conforming to received ideas and gave no heed to the double-yellow line, traffic-warden mentality that sought to impose a border-control mentality upon nature itself!
He is an anachronism, a most-valuable and rare anachronism to be sure – but thank God he’s with us – Given his ability to listen, to digest, to distill mountains of data into nuggets of gold and then convince his target audience of his logic then, if he was on the warmist side of the house, I’d be sending all my disposable cash to Messrs Waxman and Gore!
In short, how can a man who has no peers (or at least darned few- and they’re all dead) be peer-reviewed? Cleverness knows no bounds, truth has no frontiers and ignore the pack-baying of pedigreed professionals when a mongrel (however, high-born) picks up the scent!
If you think that I’ve overplayed the viscounts PR too much and, you also think, that 90 minutes of your life is too much to invest in discovering why I think as I do, then this is not the link for you
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5206383248165214524
RoyfOMR (20:14:29) :
It’s our ability to “think”, “learn”, “argue”, “negotiate” and “compromise” that has made us survive and adapt to the life on this planet surviving the natural threats but at the same time our ability to think has become our biggest threat.
This threat becomes evident when we experience the current political doctrine that blocks out (scientific and moral) integrity and builds policies based on deception, fraud, manipulation and semi-science.
If there ever has been a moment in human history where our ability to think will be put to it’s very limits, it is right now.
Not to find solution to face natural threats because we have lived with those al along but to stop a political ideology determined to send humanity back into the dark ages.
We have to fight the illusion that Humanity, because of it’s growing numbers has become a threat to the survival of this planet and the we have to fight the ludicrous idea that we are in need of five planets to maintain our current consumption patterns.
This is what we are up against and they are moving fast.
Mockton is a great thinker who has addressed all facets of this ill doctrine, leaving no stone on the other and we are indeed lucky to have him on our side.
Look for more Moncton papers here: http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/
Mike Bryant (09:17:59) :
“When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality.” -Thomas Jefferson to Madame de Stael, 1807.
Which wrongs are being pressed upon you and me? Which wrongs are we supposed to bear? Are we supposed to put up with politicized science, fudged data and hysterical prophecies of catastrophe? Should we accept the new ruling class that would overturn the principles of democracy to feather their nests? What about confiscatory taxes to fight an imagined threat? What other wrongs are you being asked to shoulder because your betters believe you will acquiesce?
What is the moral course?
Mike Bryant (09:17:59) :
Wrong question.
The question should be: What is the immoral course.