Science vs Frank Knotts

Filed in National by on January 17, 2009

Over at Delaware Politics, Frank Knotts has issued an Al Gore suicide watch.  Why?  Because it’s cold outside.  I am not kidding.

Never mind that 2008 was the eighth warmest year on record, or that the last 10 years have been the warmest  since 1997. Forget all that science. Frank doesn’t need professionals to tell him it’s cold today.

I am so over this idiocy.  We simply don’t have time to play games with facts.  You want to debate how to handle Global Warming?  Fine.  You want to debate its existence because you need to wear a sweater?  Then you’ve just disqualified yourself from the discussion.

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A stay-at-home mom with an obsession for National politics.

Comments (16)

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  1. jason330 says:

    The wingnuts have put themselves back on the sidelines for good reason. Even they have figured out what Republican policies can do to a county when enacted.

  2. nemski says:

    pandora, how’d you stumble on this? As cassandra would say, “There are plenty of good blogs to read out there.”

  3. pandora says:

    I took one for the home team. I’m selfless that way. 🙂

  4. cassandra_m says:

    It’s Saturday, pandora — you can stand down from wingnut watch you know.

    The incredible thing about the climate change deniers is that they can’t even begin to get into the science conversation. There is a massive amount of data on this thing (and plenty of it for free up on the web) and all they can do is to revert to their inner Fred Flintsone.

    Shortly there will be evidence of a real growth industry in addressing climate change and the minute these fools (and the people who tell them what to think) see how much money is in this you will see a massive change of tune. Massive.

  5. I harken back to my post about science and Bush. they wanted it out of any reports by the time it found it’s way up the chain.

    Frank is a Prime Example of that same thinking

  6. R Smitty says:

    I don’t like either end of the argument on Global Warming. One side wants total alarm and near-panic, while the other wants blissful ignorance.

    There are indeed cycles the planetary climate goes through and we are within course of a warmer cycle. The problem, though, is that it’s a more pronounced period.

    Things absolutely need to be done to slow down the extreme of this warm cycle, for man has indeed contributed to it. My motivation, though, is more from how sensible it is for us to go “Green” for the sake of health, beauty of nature, and quite frankly (pardon the unintentional use of “frank”), the ability to keep our sustenance ABUNDANT!

  7. nemski says:

    R Smitty, the Bearded One is not panicked. The Bearded One just thinks we should take appropriate measures to protect our home. The Bearded One does not trust the market to police itself regarding pollution and other detriments to our planet.

  8. pandora says:

    The market will never police itself. It’s all about… we will address global warming once we reap our profits. Keep repeating that phrase for decades, periodically changing the names of the CEOs.

    Here’s the thing. What if the people warning about man made global warming are right? Well, then we get a cleaner, more beautiful environment while saving the world.

    And if they are wrong? We get a cleaner, more beautiful environment. Sounds like a win/win to me

  9. R Smitty says:

    I’m all about green. Frogs are da’ bomb!

  10. cassandra_m says:

    I don’t like either end of the argument on Global Warming. One side wants total alarm and near-panic, while the other wants blissful ignorance.

    I think that if you get your info on this from TV this is probably how it looks. But folks studying this every day and people in industry likely to be at the forefront of dealing with its effects (insurance companies) are in the main not working from panic or ignorance.

    And I’ll also not that some of that passes for panic are hugely credible science folks James Hansen, for instance) who were definitely working at getting an administration that saw ignoring climate change as the best way to help their carbon-invested friends continue what they do. Just because the media will portray guys like these as speaking for the end of the world does not make it so.

  11. R Smitty says:

    Actually, there are experts that take either end of the argument and some in the middle. Of course, the onus is on each of us to determine the credibility, because some (not all) of the experts on any side of the argument are paid to find the answers to support the side of the argument their sugar daddies stand to benefit.

    My preferred source comes from scientists involved with NOAA, unaffiliated meteorologists and climatologists. Yes, there are more fields out there that have studies on this, but time constraints from other areas of life have quite an impact! 🙂

    Regardless of my view, which is that I think the issue is a bit to the global warming side of the middle of the extremes, I do agree that we absolutely need to move “green.” Not just a little, either. This needs to be a life-changing shift.

    In the meantime, I will catch y’all later. Need to take the kids to Xbos and and alleviate my wallet of filthy money!

    Ciao!

  12. pandora says:

    You would think that the earth’s temperature rising would be an issue everyone could rally behind. But no… the wingnut’s stand against global warming is the ultimate “repeat the lie” example.

    And the media deserves a lot of the blame. On one side of the split screen they will have Professor Smith, who has studied climate change for a gazillion years, written several thousand papers compiling data on the subject, and is noted as a leading scientist on this matter. On the other side of the screen – who just by being positioned next to the professor gives him “visual” science cred in the mind of the viewer – is Frank Knotts.

  13. nemski says:

    You know there might be a simple explanation for Frank.

  14. cassandra_m says:

    Actually, there are experts that take either end of the argument and some in the middle.

    This sort of makes my point — experts may pontificate on anything. Peer reviewed data gets you a seat at the table and the critics haven’t produced any. A resume that includes work that has been peer reviewed is the gold standard here and all too often the easiest thing for the usual media suspects to do is to just get disagreeing talking heads up pretending that there is some balance to that. There isn’t, as Pandora notes.

  15. Unstable Isotope says:

    I swear it must be really tiring to be a wingnut. They are busy hiding from the brown menace but checking the weather report daily for evidence of cold or hot weather must make one very busy.

  16. Truth Teller says:

    Been in the SF bay area for a week now this is the rainey season so far not a drop but temps in the mid 70’s and low 80’s