Wtf are "climate deniers"?
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...-and-the-ugly/
The Republican Party is widely predicted to win control of the Senate as a result of today’s midterm elections. In broadstrokes, that outcome portends a green light for the Keystone XL Pipeline, a blow to the Affordable Care Act and a push for corporate tax reform.
But what would a GOP-controlled Senate mean for scientists and their research?
When it comes to science (and, more importantly, funding) individual senators are perhaps less important than the committees that they run. There are 20 committees in the U.S. Senate, with responsibilities ranging from homeland security to urban development. The chairperson of each committee, appointed by the majority party, holds inordinate sway over how his or her committee votes.
If Republicans take control of the Senate, we can expect a major shakeup within the ranks of these powerful committees. But, despite the conventional wisdom, conservatives aren’t always bad for science. Here are three of the senate committees that hold the most sway over science and scientific research—and what might happen to them if Republicans win the day.
The Good: Appropriations
The Senate Appropriations Committee is arguably the most powerful committee. Virtually all Senate-approved funding for science must pass through Appropriations—think cash for the Food and Drug Administration, the National Science Foundation and NASA. It would be disastrous for scientific research and development if someone hostile to science were to gain control of Appropriations.
Fortunately, that’s unlikely. The current chairwoman of Appropriations is Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat who has consistently opposed NASA budget cuts and recently promised that she will fight for NASA receive at least as much money in 2015 as the organization did in 2014.
If Republicans win the Senate, it is likely that Thad Cochran would return to his prior post (2005-2007) as chairman of Appropriations. Cochran, too, supports increased funding for NASA, and back in 2013 he was one of the few Republicans who voted in favor of protecting ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems. In the past, he has voted for telecommunications deregulation and even advocated for an extra $18 billion toward waterway infrastructure.
The Science-Friendly Vote: Toss up. Both Mikulski and Cochran seem pretty science-friendly.
The Bad: Commerce, Science and Transportation
The Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is all about scientific legislation. This committee controls funding for green technology, aeronautical and space sciences, atmospheric and weather sciences and scientific research and development (there’s some overlap among committees).
The current chairman of Commerce, Science and Transportation is Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat who thinks, according to his web site, that investing in science, technology is critical to our nation’s global leadership. Although Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014, his voting record has been decidedly pro-science. He has taken major steps toward bringing federal research grants to underserved states, and he even voted in favor of providing Internet connections for public schools. It’s not a stretch to imagine a Democratic successor who operates along the same basic lines.
Meanwhile, based on senate seniority, it is likely that the Republicans would appoint Ted Cruz as chairman of Commerce, Science and Transportation. Cruz is a climate skeptic who recently pushed for a reduction in NASA’s budget. It is also noteworthy that he was the public face of last year’s government shutdown, which did lasting damage to scientific research.
The Science-Friendly Vote: Rockefeller over Cruz.
The Ugly: Environment and Public Works
The Environment and Public Works Committee stands at the helm of climate change legislation and funds the Environmental Protection Agency. The current chairwoman, Barbara Boxer, famously pulled an all-nighter back in March to publicize the threat of climate change. Need we say more?
If Republicans win the Senate, James Inhofe will likely take charge of Environment and Public Works. That would be disastrous for science.
Inhofe is one of the loudest climate deniers in the senate, as evidenced by his book The Greatest Hoax: How The Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future and many other public and written statements. If Inhofe gains control of the Senate committee in charge of climate change legislation, that’s probably the end of climate change legislation (not that great strides have been made in the past seven years of Democratic dominance). And, global warming aside, it’s probably not a good idea to put someone who calls scientific consensus a “hoax” in charge of a Senate committee that holds the purse strings for scientific funding.
The anti-science view is among the many reasons I've never come close to identifying as a republican, among other things. By in large they're socially backwards and as carlin put it best have little syndrome aka warmongering
the GOP has a pretty simple way of looking at the world which sometimes is a good thing and practical but other times is just laughable
That last one was just one of hundreds of posts of you trying to make Gore the center of the debate. You are a:
SOPHIST
PIECE
OF
I miss the old Republican party of Reagan and HW Bush. I would have voted either of them over Obama in a second in the 2012 election. Even though I didn't like their economic and social policy they still had their good points, for instance, their willingness to fund scientific research like the supercollider in Waxahachie ( you Clinton for killing it). Can't stand this breed of Herbert Hoover Republicans that's taken over the party now and offers nothing constructive.
Such venom and vitriol. You need better pot.
Just because I don't agree with the "end of days" climate change fanatics, doesn't mean I deny there's a climate. Your blog used "climate skeptic" and "climate denier". Just thought it was funny.
You said that the warming had 'halted' or that the current climate trajectory was natural variation. Skeptics don't speak in absolutes like that nor does it mean that you are mitigating the effect of warming a la your current dissembling point of the impact of climate change.
You are either stupid, deceitful or both.. I go with the last considering how much you lie and misrepresent.
I believe in global warming -- some natural, some man-made, but not much of either in the last 18 years or so. I DON'T believe in "tipping points" and spiraling positive feedbacks.
Satisfied?
No. Behaving like a shill whose goal is to thwart policy changes regarding carbon emissions regardless of data is not satisfactory. You will say anything that lends to said goal and have demonstrated that quite clearly.
You have no credibility on this subject and have intentionally misled people on this board as to where you get your information from. Claiming that stuff was from BEST when it was really from a GWPC mailer was just the first of many times I've seen you do that.
Meh, whatever
I remember asking you about that graph and you telling me it was from BEST. When I found the data in the BEST report and posted it, I again asked you where it came from because it was clearly not from BEST. You repeated yourself.
Came to find out that you had pulled it from a oil lobby junk mail but hosted it on your own domain which hid the link.
You intentionally try to mislead people on this subject. You would have made a good tobacco executive in the 1970s. It is what it is.
I hope the Dems are planning on making climate change a primary issue for 2016, should help the GOP.
Come to think of it, what exactly can they run on in 2016? Fixing the healthcare system? Promising immigration reform? Fighting terrorists? Paying attention to black folks now that the black President is gone?
Florida thinks it's important and with Ohio, it's been one of the most important electoral contests over the past 100 years.
You are part of the GOP base and are not representative of the moderate swing votes. You get that right?
Oh yeah...I'm not objective like you lol.
I know I am not objective. That is why you see me turn to polling data and the like. I say it's important in Florida because of that reason not because of any personal anecdote. Personal anecdotes in lieu of evidence is WC level thinking frankly.
I am very comfortable with the idea that most everyone doesn't think like I do and that a broader evaluation is best.
the campaign focuses were hilarious during these midterms
vote for us because isis is scary
vote for us because you are a woman
Eyup. This election sucked monkey balls, from both parties. I was left shaking my head.
Vote for me for land commissioner/state senator/mayor because Obama sucks
I'll build new highways and hire more border patrol and it'll be free!
Pretty much. DarrinS is obviously not above lying to get the policies he wants, and that should concern anyone who agrees with him. That no one from his camp calls him out on it that I can think of, says volumes.
How are my posts on the political forum on ST going to change policy? I don't even care if I change minds on the subject. If you want to be an advocate for catastrophic climate change, that's your business.
Fuzzy has been obsessed with that issue of the BEST data and some graph I posted as if he scored some major victory. To this day, I still don't know wtf he is talking about. If I give 10 people a dataset and they each make an excel plot with various scales, limits on axes, les, watermarks, etc., it still doesn't change the data.
As for who is a shill, I give you...
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...=1#post5910380
Would you agree that the term "climate denier" is stupid?
It wasn't a victory to me. It was a reckoning as to who you are and how you operate. I looked up BEST and saw that they had not compiled the graph. I asked you straight out what lobbying group had put it together because you had hosted it on a third party site. You told me it was again from BEST. That you play stupid as to how pulling data without context and claiming an objective source could be deceiving just speaks to the reckoning I mentioned earlier.
This has gone on. You pull satellite data graphs that use land and sea measurements for use in comparison to land only data and wave your hands at the difference. Your favorite is to patronize people as to thinking you have been objective when we can look up the last 10 years this site has been open and see your sophistry for what it is. 'What's a denier?' 'I used to believe global warming?' Waffling back and forth between whatever position your mailer presents. You hide cources that you are not credible and post the anyway. It is what it is.
Poptart
Please point to me the part where I misled people? Poptart did say those things and he was embarked on a smear campaign against the people I emailed.
What I want to know is why you had no issue with him going back and editing posts to remove his ups. My standard is the truth. Your standard is your political goal. I only pulled from stuff that he posted here. Why is it my fault that he filled out a psychological survey revealing a VERY troubled mind. I mean nevermind that he was a sociopath. I shouldn't attack your kindred spirits I guess.
I treat you as I do because you are intellectually dishonest here. Deal with it.
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