Photo by foxnews.com
Campaign season is over, those who emerged victorious have been sworn into office and now it is time for the elected to govern. The first item on the legislative docket for the new Senate was the Keystone XL Pipeline bill moving with the speed and certainty of a glacier. The first thing done to this bill in the new session was an amendment to it in an attempt to get those senators who dismiss climate change as something other than factual on record as disputing that global warming is a man-made crisis. Let it be duly noted that the phenomenon of man-made global warming is consensus among the scientific community.
In a clever move, Oklahoma’s own Senator Jim Inhofe, now Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, went as far as to co-sponsor the amendment with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). He even exhorted his fellow Republicans to support the amendment and it passed with a 98-1 margin.
It was reported by Philip Bump of the Washington Post that when Inhofe was given a chance to speak, the senator explained his unexpected argument. “The climate changes all the time.” he said, citing both scientific and “Biblical evidence.” “There was a hoax: the idea that man was responsible. Such a position was ‘arrogant,’ in his formulation, the idea that people could affect the mechanisms that controlled the globe.” A nice parsing of words for distinction there Senator, and perhaps an escape mechanism for future use. Honestly, does campaigning ever stop?
After this vote there were two more amendments linking humans to climate change and both were rejected.
I would not mind religious people in policy making positions so much if the rest of us in the reality base world did not have to suffer the consequences of their misguided Biblically inspired policies along side of them. Senator Inhofe is as faith based in his thinking as they come he is well supported by donations from the fossil fuel industry, an industry whose livelihood depends heavily on his favor amongst several others in government. In the face of science Senator Inhofe and his follow believers continue to treat this Earth that their god made in seven days as if its resources are infinite and like they have someplace else to go when those resources are exhausted. Do they think their belief in a rapture absolves them of their responsibility of stewardship of the planet because they know they won’t be here for the aftermath? Does this belief gain them favor with their god? It sure doesn’t earn them any brownie points with those feeling the effects of their chosen ignorance. Let the record show that in the age of information, ignorance is a choice. Even still, money talks and shallow pockets are sadly out of luck and stuck with a deteriorating situation.
photo by icjproject.org
Climate sure does change “all the time” – and as any jackass can see, it’s changing even as we speak! That’s why the majority of the glaciers in the world are shrinking, and oceans all over the world are rising… or, as Dylan put it: “So, you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone – for the Times they are a’changing…” Senator Inhofe and all the other fossils of the present time just can’t see the handwriting on the wall… the medium is the message, and in this case the ‘medium’ is the environment, and the ‘message’ is – God is PISSED! If Faith can be described as “belief without evidence”, then what should we make of blatantly continued evidence – without any belief? There are none so blind, as those who will not see… MENE, MENE, TEQEL, UPARSIN.