Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Inhofe retains his title

Sen. James Inhofe didn't gain his title as the country's dumbest senator for nothing. In his latest broadside against global warming science he has proven incapable of even deciphering a Washington Post editorial cartoon. He thinks it means that the cartoonist is claiming that global warming causes tsumanis. In fact, all the cartoonist is making reference to is the vulnerability of low-lying areas to rising sea level caused by CO2 emission-induced warming and the attendant exacerbating effects of such a rise during a tsunami. A complex thought, I know, but still not too complex for a senator, is it?

That Inhofe uses cartoons to poke holes in the other side's science speaks volumes. That he can't even interpret the cartoon properly speaks, well, whole libraries? Clearly, while in libraries Inhofe spends his time in the new thriller section since he makes frequent reference to Michael Crichton's discredited "State of Fear," a fictional global warming tale that claims to refute, what else, global warming. When Inhofe does quote actual science, he quotes it wrong, citing some studies that prove the opposite of what he's saying. For a good dissection of the Inhofe speech see Chris Mooney's piece in The American Prospect and see some real climate scientists at, what else, RealClimate.

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