Monday, June 29, 2009
Enemies of the People [Andrew Stuttaford]
So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement. But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.
Good grief!
Krugman's one good point was that GOP Representative Broun (he's the strange fellow who tried to ban Playboy from the PX) had slipped into conspiracism when he alleged that the notion of (I presume) man-made climate change was a "hoax." Broun's claim is, of course, nonsense. There are indeed reasonable grounds for believing that man is having/could have a significant impact on the climate (just as there are reasonable grounds to suspect that man's impact on the climate may be reduced to insignificance by countervailing natural factors). But for those inclined to believe in a hoax, shrill, hysterical language such as Krugman's is only like to reinforce their suspicions, as are reports such as this (via CBS):
The Environmental Protection Agency may have suppressed an internal report that was skeptical of claims about global warming, including whether carbon dioxide must be strictly regulated by the federal government, according to a series of newly disclosed e-mail messages.
06/29 10:34 AM
Share
