Confessions of a Global Warming Naysayer

The cover story of the latest issue of Newsweek is "Global Warming is a Hoax.*" "* or so claim well-funded naysayers who still reject the overwhelming evidence of climate change. Inside the denial machine." The author, Sharon Begley, uses nine pages to ridicule anyone who disagrees with the "global warming" herd. She ends the article with "It's enough to make you wish that climate change were a hoax, rather than the reality it is."

Apparently, they have changed the magazine from "Newsweek' to "Opinion Week" and have forgotten to change the title on the cover.

The article irritated me so badly that I am not sure where to start. Early in the article, we are told that while only a third of Americans buy the idea that greenhouse gases are causing all of our problems, a majority in Europe and Japan believe that to be true. Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what they think in Europe and Japan. They still Americans are crazy because we bathe more than once a week.

She blames most of our problems in accepting global warming as being caused by those ignorant and rich Republicans. Over and over, she points out that the majority of scientists and Democrats KNOW that global warming is fact. Ms. Begley is obviously a writer and neither a scientist nor an historian.

I haven't spent as much time as Ms. Begley studying "global warming", but I do have a few thoughts to offer.

First, if I am sitting at home in the winter in front of a fire, and I start getting cold or hot, how do I react? The first thing that I do is check the fire, I don't automatically assume that my farting is causing the room to warm or cool. This is a similar situation to the earth being warmed by the sun but I haven't heard a lot of discussion about what's happening on the sun, have you?

The idea that "global warming" is fact because the majority of scientists believe that it is fact also lacks merit. Many years ago, the majority believed that the sun revolved around the earth and that the earth was the center of the universe. Today, we know that the naysayers were right on this one. At one time, a majority believed that the earth was flat and maps had things like "Beyond here, there be dragons" written on them. The naysayers were right on this one also. In short, facts are not dependent upon whether a majority believes them to be true.

I keep hearing things like "hottest month on record". How long have we been keeping records? Ms. Begley writes "The frequency of Atlantic hurricanes doubled in the last century." That's great info, incomplete, but great. What was the rate ten centuries ago, five centuries ago? What is the rate for Pacific hurricanes? What was the Pacific rate ten centuries ago??

We read about deforestation, but what about all the trees planted everyday? What about all the trees saved by fighting forest fires rather than just letting them burn themselves out?

The Chinese are planning to manipulate the weather for the Olympics. Do you think that they are the first government to try that? That's right, our government would NEVER do anything without telling us. If you believe the preceding sentence, contact me immediately to purchase the real estate of your dreams.

Ms. Begley writes about Antarctica and Alaska melting, what about places like Greenland? Why is it called Greenland anyway? Did the Vikings call it Greenland because it was cold and covered with snow and ice? Has the climate there changed since the Vikings first visited? Or were the Vikings just masters of sarcasm? There is no truth to rumors that I had Viking ancestors.

Al Gore wants you to see his movie about "global warming" and what we need to do. To see the movie, we have to get into our gas guzzlers and drive to the theater. We sit there in air-conditioned comfort, buy over-priced soft drinks and popcorn, and leave trash on the theater floor. What's the "carbon footprint" on all of that? Consider the electricity to cool the theater, gas to run the car, the production of corn for popcorn and corn syrup (to sweeten the soft drinks), the importation of the theater seats from China, the exploitation of child labor to work at the theater, etc. Why doesn't Al Gore practice what he preaches?

If the "global warming" guys want me to believe, convince me with facts. Allow a discussion! Instead, it's the same old story. You either see it their way or you are a psychopath. It's sort of like the abortion controversy. You can either accept that millions of abortions are fine or you are labeled as a hate-monger, depriving people of their rights. In America, we have lost the right to disagree without being labeled as a lunatic (blog name not withstanding). You can either buy into "global warming" or be ridiculed by Democrats and Europeans. Which brings us full circle to my first point, I don't give a rat's ass about what either of those groups think!!

That's my current events tirade for the week. I would be happy if Newsweek put a simple warning on the cover, "Beyond here, there be dragons."