Montana Legislator Introduces Bill To Declare Global Warming ‘Natural’ And ‘Beneficial’

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

Montana Legislator Introduces Bill To Declare Global Warming ‘Natural’ And ‘Beneficial’

Joe Read

A bill has been introduced in the Montana state legislature to declare global warming a “natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it,” and that it is “beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana.” State Rep. Joe Read (R-MT), a farmer and emergency firefighter who unseated a Democratic incumbent in 2010, introduced HB 549 “to ensure economic development in Montana”:

The legislature finds that to ensure economic development in Montana and the appropriate management of Montana’s natural resources it is necessary to adopt a public policy regarding global warming.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0549.htm

(2) The legislature finds:

(a) global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana;

(b) reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on the environment; and

(c) global warming is a natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/17/montana-global-warming-bill/

[dkf]

1. What a joke!

Does this idiot have any idea how food prices are being affected?

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[meow mix]

2. yeah our legislature is going nuts. they are also trying to repeal our MMJ law

and make gays more illegal.


perhaps he meant beneficial for the cockroaches?

[rfranklin]

3. Montana will soon be the Costa del Sol of America....

As the oceans rise and temperatures soar, no more bitterly cold winters!

[elias49]

4. In what way is GW beneficial to business?

What could he be referring to, I wonder.
But beyond that, isn't just the American way to frame absolutely everything in terms of $$$$

[Bandit]

23. Well the North West passage is now an open avenue for freighters.

At least for a few months every year...

[bowens43]

5. Do the cons activily seek out the stupidest perople they can find to run for office?

Seriously, are there any conservatives with an IQ above 50?

[Nihil]

9. From observed behaviour, the answers are "Yes" and "No" respectively. (n/t)

:shrug:

[lark]

24. Applicants for positions in my dept. must take Wonderlicht test

None of these Repugs would get past the test and be hired in my company - their stupidity makes them ineligible, yet they easily get elected by other stupid or misguided sheeple.

This country is in deep trouble.

[Myrina]

6. ... that pretzel logic gave me a big ol' headache.

OMG, what marketing department worked on that?

:spank:

[davidthegnome]

7. Wow...

Logic and reason can be argued with - but you really can't debate utterly stupid.

[mike_c]

8. the stoopid, precious-- it burns us....

Words fail.

[maddogesq]

10. Mr. Read must of taken in too many smoke fumes.

"Where life is beautiful all the time..."

Sorry, couldn't resist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzHtm1jhL4

[AlbertCat]

11. See.... if you pass a law.... it becomes true!

If you pass a law that water will no longer be wet, then it is so. Y'see, nature is malleable through legislation. After all they are just LAWS of physics.



From the article:

"Read did not consult any climate scientists"

and

"Instead he relied on his own experience and understanding of the issues at play. He told us:

If you follow the money, the science has been pushed toward where the money is coming from. The money is coming from the federal government. I believe global science is an ideal, not a true science."

The money.... for what? THE money? What money is he talking about? Not the money the oil and gas giants have been pumping into trying to debunk what is clearly going on around us.

:eyes:

Boy.... these people cannot THINK! How do they survive from day to day?



And now.... a short clip from "Eric, the Viking"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8IBnfkcrsM&NR=1

[plumbob]

12. Can't fix stupid.

You could take it out and leave it in a snowdrift, though!

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Known as the Conservatives Are Not Understanding The Environment Act

or the CANUTE Act, for short.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Indiana Pi Bill

Indiana Pi Bill

The Indiana Pi Bill is the popular name for bill #246 of the 1897 sitting of the Indiana General Assembly, one of the most famous attempts to establish scientific truth by legislative fiat. Despite that name, the main result claimed by the bill is a method to square the circle, rather than to establish a certain value for π, although the bill does contain text that appears to dictate various incorrect values of π, such as 3.2.

[kestrel91316]

16. Next they will try to pass a law that declares that evolution didn't happen,

and that creation did.

[CLANG]

17. Stick your head in the sand - problem solved!!

[NBachers]

18. I see- this way it's illegal for global warming to be harmful

Why didn't we think of this before? If a law is passed making global warming benificial, then we can arrest global warming alarmists for promoting illegal behavior. Problem solved

[certainot]

19. he's got 1000 RW radio stations at his back, just like scott walker in WIS

if it's OK to deny and repeat this idiocy from 1000 RW radio stations which are licensed to operate in the public interest and which may also be broadcasting, disturbingly, university athletics, then its got to be perfectly OK for the GOP and its legion of idiots to feel that it is acceptable to their constituents. and in many red states that's the only free politics their constituents can listen to while driving or working.

until the Left and environmental orgs take their picketing to those stations and shame their local sponsors this crap will continue.

[hunter]

20. If I was a polar bear I would walk to Montana and chew this guys tires off.

But I wouldn't eat him because he's full of stupid.

[bulloney]

21. He apparently envisions growing coconuts and bananas on his Montana farm some day.

[BlueIris]

22. To me, global warming ignorance is on the same level as Holocaust denial.

And I can kind of understand how someone raised in poverty, isolation, or without benefit of education, could be unfamiliar with 20th century history and therefore think the Holocaust didn't happen. But global warming is happening in real time now and its effects are evident everywhere. So how anyone could fail to see it or could call it a good thing is beyond me.

[NickB79]

25. So wait, is global warming all a big hoax, or is it a natural occurance?

"The planet isn't warming, and it's not our fault the planet's warming!"

:rofl:

[NickB79]

26. The Death of a Montana Forest (or, "Mr. Read doesn't know WTF is happening in his own state")

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/garden/02tree.html

"It’s beyond sad to watch your robust green forest turn red and dead in a matter of a few years. This phenomenon is going on all around the West, from Colorado to Alaska. The forest — the reason many people moved to the small towns and rural areas of the West — is disappearing. It’s happened before, but never to this degree, and there is no end in sight. Scientists believe the proliferation of beetles is a consequence of a warming climate. Bitter cold temperatures are the only way to keep them in check, and our coldest winter temperatures are now as much as 10 degrees warmer than in the past, which allows the beetles to escape significant winter kill. Now all bets are off. The epidemic will likely be done, experts say, when the bugs run out of food — when they kill all the trees. "

[yellowcanine]

27. Sewage is natural and beneficial when land applied.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't regulate it.

[Vidar]

28. Maybe he can outlaw gravity while he's at it.

[LibertyLover]

29. Can we get this guy to introduce legislation that outlaws calories

and/or fat in foods like chocolate, fried chicken, cream gravy and that sort of thing. I mean, if you can outlaw global warming, why not harmful calories and fat?

[Volaris]

30. mmmm hrmmm.....and electrolytes are what plants crave.

http://www.brawndo.com/

should we mail him a case? (and a copy of the film?)

[saras]

31. As if global warming gives a shit what he declares

Being a republican, the only thing he knows how to do with hostile forces larger than him is to suck up to them.

Nice, nice global warming... you're not going to bite li'l ol' me, are you?

[sakabatou]

32. *facepalm*

[Matariki]

33. It's what plants crave....

http://www.brawndo.com/

[gtar100]

34. The utter lack of intellectual honesty is astounding.

First they go on about how global warming doesn't even exist. Then they legislate that's a good thing. Well, you nut cases, which is it? Do you believe it's real or don't you?

And as an aside - what the fuck does nature care about what you believe. Legislate all you want. You can't change a damn thing by keeping your head in the sand.

[gtar100]

35. And... it's also astounding the types of issues these conservative legislators actually work on.

Bunch of idiot clowns.