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Believe scientists, not Trump, on climate change; Thomas M. Finch; Beaver County Times; June 16, 2019.
The BCT has published at least 72 letters from Mr. Finch (TMF) since December 2004. At least 31 of these letters were anti-Bush and/or anti-Republican and they never disappoint. Here is one example. You can find the remaining Finch letters I critiqued in the critique archives. As usual, this letter is little more than a string of leftist talking points. I wish he could get a regular column in the BCT. I also wish he could get at least five minutes per day on a local radio and/or TV station. The most recent Finch letters I reviewed were “So-called ‘socialist’ programs have benefitted many,” “Opposing Trump’s wall is a noble endeavor,” “Democrats want immigration reform, not a wall,” “Time to wake up,” “Rothfus has done nothing; Lamb deserves a chance,” “Don’t believe what Republicans are selling,” “Trump got played; America got nothing,” “Truth may be disagreeable, but it’s not ‘fake news,’” “How can we support such an inept president,” “‘Trumpcare’ means lousy coverage, higher premiums” and “Trump doesn’t deserve to be admired, supported.”
Below is a review of the subject letter.
“It’s a shame that you didn’t publish Jennifer Rubin’s excellent article about ‘Republican climate-change deniers [should study the EU elections]’ before James P. Hoover elected to embarrass himself by insisting that, ‘… the facts do not support all the hysteria surrounding this manufactured crisis.’ Spoken like a true Republican denier, who parrots whatever nonsense he sees on Faux News. I’m surprised that climate change wasn’t disparaged as a myth perpetrated by Hillary, Obama and George Soros. As Rubin points out, Trump’s retreat from the Paris accord is based on his being an ‘armchair naysayer’ being deceived by toadies telling him whatever supports his ignorant biases.”
[RWC] I can’t speak for everyone, but as “a true Republican denier” and a mechanical engineer, I do my own research and don’t parrot anyone.
If anyone is “parroting whatever nonsense he sees,” it appears to be TMF and Miss Rubin (JR). All TMF and JR did was engage in name-calling. I didn’t fact-check Mr. Hoover’s numbers, but at least it appears he’s trying to use facts, unlike TMF and JR.
I am open to the possibility that man could contribute to global cooling or warming. I know there are a few people who assert it’s impossible for man to affect the global climate, but I’m not in that camp. I am, however, skeptical we are having an effect.
“A political party that advocates racism, xenophobia, misogyny and ignorance of global markets now professes to be the scientific experts on climate change? Really? With all of the catastrophic weather afflicting millions worldwide, we’re just supposed to throw our hands up and believe ‘climate is always changing, nobody’s responsible … nothing anyone can do … mankind will adapt?’ Sorry, I choose to believe scientists - not Trump and his rejection of anything that is beyond his limited intellect and narcissism. Like the old saying goes: Stupid is, as stupid does.”
[RWC] I’m surprised TMF attacked his party so viciously in the first sentence of this paragraph. Most of my friends are registered Democrats and, like my Republican friends, don’t “advocate racism, xenophobia, misogyny and ignorance of global markets [and] now profess to be the scientific experts on climate change.” As you can see throughout his letter-writing body-of-work since 2004, TMF generally saves his vitriol for Republicans and any other opponents.
When isn’t “catastrophic weather afflicting millions worldwide?” After the 2005 hurricane season (Katrina and so on), we were told the 2005 hurricane season represented the “new normal.” Please read my paper to learn what really happened.
TMF told us he “believes scientists.” As a rookie mechanical engineer at the Texaco Research Center (RIP) during the mid-1970s, I worked with a fair number of scientists. They are normal people, neither saints nor evil. To assume someone is above reproach just because he’s labeled a “scientist” (or engineer, reporter, and so on) is foolish.
Would today’s manmade-global-warming (MGW) messengers be the same scientists who 40+ years ago sounded the manmade-global-cooling alarm then almost overnight switched to manmade global warming? If doomsayers of the 1970s had been correct, we’d be having this discussion from the middle of an ice age. You may recall these folks claimed manmade particulate pollution was reflecting too much of the Sun’s energy back into space, thus reducing the Earth’s temperature. (Note: To explain why their predictions have not come to pass, today’s MGW believers have resurrected the idea manmade particulate pollution is delaying the warming.) During the 1970s, publications like Newsweek (The Cooling World; April 28, 1975), Science Digest, The Christian Science Monitor, and Time (The Cooling of America; December 24, 1979) published articles about the impending “ice age.”
In the late 1960s, we were told we’d all starve to death within the next couple of decades due to overpopulation and an inability to produce enough food for everyone. In the mid- to late-1980s, we were told the oceans would be dead within 10 years. At one time, so-called scientific consensus told us the world was flat, the universe orbited the Earth, man couldn’t travel faster than sound, and stomach acid was the primary cause of ulcers.
“Denying climate change will wreck this world for your grandchildren. Just because you don’t believe in it, that doesn’t make it fiction. Any concept, no matter how unfounded, will get play, as long as it appeases to Trump’s base, along with their blind unquestioning faith in his ego.”
[RWC] MGW believers tell us the science is solid, yet they constantly talk about consensus. If the science were as strong as claimed, wouldn’t they be talking about proof, not consensus? At one time, so-called scientific consensus told us the world was flat, the universe orbited the Earth, man couldn’t travel faster than sound, and that stomach acid was the primary cause of ulcers.
With apologies to TMF, “just because you believe in it, that doesn’t make it true.”
© 2004-2019 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.