Anyone know who’s paying Barton?

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
Al Gore makes global warming plea
Al Gore in Congress

He said the US should freeze carbon dioxide emissions and push for a strong climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

Representative Joe Barton, the leading Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, challenged global warming science as “uneven and evolving”.

“You’re not just off a little, you’re totally wrong,” he said of Mr Gore’s conclusions that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming.

Mr Barton said freezing carbon emissions would harm Americans and lead to “no new industry, no new people and no new cars”.

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Another depressingly clear example of public figures being uber clueless about matters scientific, not to mention economic! Sadly, though, it’s probably not that simple, as it’s hard to imagine being so willfully contentious without there being some significant (financial) incentive. Which version of “nearly all scientists who have studied this agree that we ought to be very nervous” does Barton not get? And what version of free-market economics did this guy study in school (assuming such radical events as studying happened in his misspent youth) where incentive didn’t lead to innovation and markets? We already have new cars and new industries in the hybrid market alone, and you can bet that a major cap on emissions would radically increase competition and investment in a whole host of arenas.

Frankly, I think it’s this last bit that really depresses me. Even if you have your doubts about how serious or imminent the threat is, these arguments against taking steps to improve the situation just make no sense. Fossil fuels are a finite resource, and burning them pollutes. These are indisputable facts. Burning less of them and more slowly would seem to just be common sense. Creating political and economic structures that encourage the exploration of alternative approaches would seem equally sensible. If the U.S. really is full of smart, creative people, let’s leverage them to find new ways to do things, and help them make plenty of good capitalist green in the process.

And, given the enormous lag times in these ecological systems, I would be especially inclined to do it early, before things have really hit the fan (assuming that hasn’t already happened, which isn’t entirely obvious).

We’ve obviously got to make it clear to these yobs that we the people think this is a serious issue that badly (if not desperately) needs attention. I certainly hope it becomes a major issue in the upcoming election cycle…

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3 thoughts on “Anyone know who’s paying Barton?”

  1. I am not too sure about anyone being “clueless”. The so called scientist also, have their alterior motives as well, It’s called “I need some financing for my project project”. They often produce results in an “Unscientific” manner, cooking up figures and scenerios that are NOT replicated or repeatable, but are based on a desired outcome. The weather patterns they have that are up to date, and repeatable using the same instruments and same circumstances are simply lacking or not even available to them, but are pure conjecture. Yet many of the untrained populous, who have most of their info-training given to them via the media, just suck up these “scientific sound bites” as they were as good as the Gospel.

    Do they gather some facts that are worthy of our tax paying public’s ear. Indeed some of the research is well founded. If one would study the history of mankind, they would find that there is a control factor that enable’s governments to gain unjust, and in our case, unconstitutional authority over the masses. Using things like fear of terrorists, fear of the resources being depleted, and basically fear of the unknown, those that are in power, or wish to be in power, use these agendas for self gain, and not necessarily for our benefit.

    The two trains of thought need to be carefully balanced out against each other so there is no knee jerk reaction either way. Right now, as far as this citizen can see, the people who worship the earth and all the things created in it, are gaining an unjustified foothold with the help of the media elites, who are just as likeminded. Worshipping the things created, instead of worshipping the Creator!!!

  2. Jerry Falwell, is that you? The last line (“Worshipping the things created, instead of worshipping the Creator”) certainly was a quote of his nonsense.

    Mark Gwynn of course fails to understand that any scientist that disproved global warming would not face any trouble getting funded in the future.

    Oh, and please provide some evidence of scientists “often” produce results in a unscientific way, and that their findings are not “replicated or repeatable”. Note I say evidence, not allegations by other people.

    Global warming is nearly universally accepted by scientists for a damn good reason, though you wouldn’t think that if you followed the debate in the US.

  3. Actually, God himself made that quote, not Jerry Falwell. And seeing that you call God’s word “nonsense”….well there is no further discussion is there?

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