Bernie Sanders/James Inhofe exchange on global warming.

[pacalo]

I'm on Bernie Sanders' e-mailing list & this is what I got today.

A confirmation hearing Thursday for President Obama’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency became a forum on global warming. “This is not a debate about Gina McCarthy,” Bernie said. “It is a debate about global warming and whether we are going to listen to the leading scientists who tell us that global warming is the most serious planetary crisis we face.” A senior Republican on the environment committee, James Inhofe from oil-producing Oklahoma, thinks global warming is a “hoax” perpetrated by Hollywood, the U.N. and Al Gore. When Bernie asked Inhofe about the “hoax”, the conspiracy theory thickened.

The exchange begins at the 3:55 point:

[Beartracks]

1. Yeah, I still dont get Inhofe's assertions...

... about the perpetrators of this so-called hoax.

It seems he would have us believe that hippies, research scientists, and the Hollywood elite (note: only the liberal ones!) are perpetuating a myth about global warming to... what: protect their power base so they can keep running the world?

Right.

========================

[Mnpaul]

2. Move On, George Soros(of course) and Michael Moore

But his group of TV weatherman, non climate scientists and dead people say it isn't true.

[pacalo]

7. Big-money industries don't want to pay the expenses of having to make the improvements

that would make all the difference. It's all about greed & the love of money.

[Beartracks]

10. Right, that's what I mean. Always follow the money.

And the money doesn't lead to Michael Moore or climate scientists.

==========

[pacalo]

11. Spot on.

[blackspade]

3. Inhofe is a fucking idiot.

He might as well have said that the 'conspiracy' is run by aliens from Alpha Centauri.

[pacalo]

5. After I watched it, I began thinking about how the internet drastically changed my perception

of this country. I was naive in thinking that we were much more impressive than this.

I swear I'm just dumbstruck &, in the bizarre sense of the word, in AWE that people like this actually exist out there. I knew the Republicans were nutty & cruel, but the internet has exposed so many (lower & lower) levels of freakish, twisted values & willful ignorance -- & they are in positions of concocting laws that affect us.

I feel the same level of eyes-bugging-out horror as when I saw Rosemary's Baby for the first time







...except it's really happening.

[MrMickeysMom]

4. So, the idea is to stay stupid, Senator Inhofef?

It's good to have us stupid, entertained and lowly informed, or you wouldn't be in the position of power you are in.

The truth is, I've gotten more introspective thought from the entertainment industry (Jon Stewart, Michael Moore, etc) than I ever have from media circuses who quote Inhofe on Fox.

[pacalo]

6. We should probably include the Onion.

[faithnomore]

8. He thinks its funny.

Did you see that arrogant bastard wink and laugh??? Its just a joke to these greedy, self serving assholes. I guess there won't be anything done about global warming until it becomes too hot for the bastards to play golf.

[midnight]

9. Another reason to use alternative energy.... The real hoax is being carried out via private energy

meetings....that only care about profit and not anything else....

"So here are some of the biggest and most contentious issues McCarthy will face:
1) How to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants. Thanks to a 2007 Supreme Court decision, the EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide, the key gas that’s heating the planet. So far, the agency has used that power to write carbon standards for power plants that have yet to be built. Green groups are now urging the EPA to turn its attention to existing power plants, which emit 40 percent of the nation’s carbon pollution.
One group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, has issued a detailed plan for how this might work. The EPA would set different overall emissions goals for each state and power companies would figure out how best to meet them through a combination of efficiency, less coal use, or renewable energy. All told, NRDC estimates that the United States could cut its carbon emissions an additional 10 percent by 2020 this way.
Here’s a chart showing what this might look like. U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants are soon set to rise through 2025 (the dark blue line). Under the NRDC plan, by contrast, emissions would continue falling (light blue line):"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/04/why-gina-mccarthy-for-epa-could-be-obamas-most-important-nominee/

[DemocraticProse]

12. Those of us in our 20s don't think it's a fucking joke, Inhofe. nt