David Rothbard writes:
It looks like CFACT senior policy advisor Paul Driessen touched a nerve in a recent column when he compared U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to “Torquemada” for wanting to use the RICO Act to silence climate skeptics.
Torquemada, of course, spearheaded the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century – a comparison Driessen made noting the Senator’s desire to use intimidation and fear to impose conformity on climate thinking.
Such an analogy, feisty but not uncommon in policy debate, nevertheless got Whitehouse in a huff, and he spouted off about it on the floor of the Senate late last week.
After defending his call to use RICO laws against climate heretics, he then accused skeptics like Driessen of “setting off criminal smokescreens and launching … ‘Torquemada’ hysterics.”
If Whitehouse doesn’t like the comparison, perhaps he should read the First Amendment to the Constitution and respect every citizen’s right to speak freely.
In the meantime, if the Senator wants to play political hardball, he should expect his opponents to bring their rhetorical bats.
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Torquemada…… ¿Torre quemado? Burnt tower…… Someone’s home burnt to white ashes….. White house……
Never thought much about reincarnation before, but in this case it kind of works.
Correction: “Quemada”. Torre is a feminine noun.
Reblogged this on gottadobetterthanthis and commented:
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Be not silent. Speak up. Stand your ground, and defend the truth and right.
“Criminal hysterics”?
If he were to spat upon publicly it would be deserved.
the Senator is a slime ball and beneath contempt.
Nadie espera la inquisición……
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7WJXHY2OXGE
Whitehouse is nothing but a two-bit pantywaist climate bully, and Paul’s words stung, so he lashed out in his garbled, ineffective way, inventing nonsense phrases like “Torquemada hysterics” and “criminal smokescreens”.
To misquote Monthy Python,
“Everybody expects the myth of the Spanish Inquisition”.
By which I don’t mean to imply that there was no such thing as the Spanish Inquisition but that what we always seem to get is the myth version put out in the sixteenth,seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by Protestant propagandists and then people like Voltaire. However, it’s pretty sad that there are still people in the twenty-first century who are gullible enough to keep on falling for the myth version.
Let’s hope Senator Whitehouse apologizes for recent horrible comments as he has been forced to do in the past. Let’s hope he does it personally this time instead of through a spokesperson.
http://twitchy.com/2013/05/21/sen-sheldon-whitehouse-apologizes-for-timing-of-climate-change-speech/
“A spokesperson for Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) tonight issued an apology for the poor timing of the senator’s speech yesterday in which he blamed climate change for the massive tornado that was at that moment devastating the town of Moore, Okla. — a tragedy “unbeknownst to the senator at the time.” The touching and heartfelt heading: “Statement on Tragedy in Oklahoma.””
“Yesterday afternoon Senator Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to deliver his weekly speech about climate change. It was a speech that had been prepared in advance, and which included a general reference to tornadoes in Oklahoma. Tragically, and unbeknownst to the Senator at the time, a series of tornadoes were hitting Oklahoma at the same moment he gave his remarks. Senator Whitehouse regrets the timing of his speech and offers his thoughts and prayers to the victims of yesterday’s storms and their families, and he stands ready to work with the Senators from Oklahoma to assist them and their constituents in this time of need.”
Of course we know that the data indicates that there are fewer tornadoes so his science is as bad as his timing.
Well if logic, reason and evidence does not support your position,intimidation and fear can work. If that doesn’t work putting people who disagree with you in jail is an appropriate next step for the Senator.
The comparison with Torquemada is appropriate as well as comparisons with other totalitarian regimes.
Woody Allen, I think summed up the proper response to Senators like Whitehouse:
lots of people who aren’t true believers wonder as to just how much of a case the AGW crowd actually might have. The answer is obvious – essentially nothing at all. Why? It’s because Earth is not a simple uniform little ball that behaves in a simple way. We have a tremendous amount of historical evidence attesting to the fact that if these CAGW proponents had any case at all – we would not be here now. The fact that we are here means Earth is a very stable environment not subject to runaway conditions promoted by the CAGW crowd.
Remember witches were burned at the stake for changing the weather. Now it’s more lucrative to tax them. Same superstition. I would like VW with their emission scandal to bring down the largest scam against the world and especially tax payers. This could be used to stop this scam. Bring about the truth. Follow the money.