Ha! Glad that an Oklahoman finds this amusing. I don't know much about Inhofe, but the little that I do know puts him near the top of the list of "congressmen I want to punch in the throat". He has no science background himself, and I as I recall he never hired advisers with any kind of science credentials. But somehow he still feels qualified to not only say that the scientific community is wrong about global warming, but that they are deliberately lying. I was very happy to see someone I once voted for tearing him apart.
Yeah, I remember when the whole thing between Inhofe and Boxer was going on. Basically Inhofe was asking Al Gore tough questions about his movie and where he got his data from. There was more than just what the clip there showed too.
Yeah, obviously you don't have a lot of context when you see a two minute clip. Without seeing more I can't really say whether Inhofe was doing anything inappropriate here. Mostly I just enjoyed seeing him get trounced (in this one scene) by Boxer.
Normally I wouldn't be so vindictive, but the guy basically accuses scientists of deliberately misleading the public. He must know that the scientific community is pretty confident that humans are contributing significantly to climate change, but that doesn't stop him from calling global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", or claiming that "put simply, man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith." Even if I didn't care about the potential consequences of climate change, as a scientist-in-training I would still be pissed.
Re: Inhofeserpent_starAugust 14 2007, 01:37:23 UTC
Wow. That man is in extreme, severe denial. He might do well to join the ranks of the Flat Earth Society or that group that thinks the Holocaust never happened... or maybe even the folks who think the moon landing never happened. I know the only reason people this ignorant get elected is because their constituency is equally as ignorant, but... it's still kinda hard to swallow that there are that many Americans who refuse to believe stuff that's already been proven to be true.
I guess I shouldn't be so fast to assume dishonesty. You're right, he might just be in a deep state of denial instead.
To be fair, no scientist is going to say that we've proven that humans are causing global warming. Most would say that the earth is clearly warming and the evidence strongly suggests that humans are the primary cause, but it's not 100% conclusive yet. Assuming this likely scenario, you can then get into all kinds of debates about how much warming will occur and what impacts that will have on the world. There's still a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen.
That said, "not 100% conclusive" does not excuse "man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith". So in conclusion, I likes the video :)
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Suddenly, I need a new t-Shirt - and I'm IN Oklahoma.
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Normally I wouldn't be so vindictive, but the guy basically accuses scientists of deliberately misleading the public. He must know that the scientific community is pretty confident that humans are contributing significantly to climate change, but that doesn't stop him from calling global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", or claiming that "put simply, man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith." Even if I didn't care about the potential consequences of climate change, as a scientist-in-training I would still be pissed.
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To be fair, no scientist is going to say that we've proven that humans are causing global warming. Most would say that the earth is clearly warming and the evidence strongly suggests that humans are the primary cause, but it's not 100% conclusive yet. Assuming this likely scenario, you can then get into all kinds of debates about how much warming will occur and what impacts that will have on the world. There's still a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen.
That said, "not 100% conclusive" does not excuse "man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith". So in conclusion, I likes the video :)
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