Boxer Mania
December 8, 2006
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), on Senator James Inhofe’s (R-OK) last hearing as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:
(Boxer) shook her head and said it was sad that one of the last days of the 109th Congress was spent criticizing media coverage of climate change instead of working on legislation to curb greenhouse gases.
“In a free society in what is the greatest democracy in the world, I don’t believe it’s proper to put pressure on the media to please a particular Senate committee’s view,” Boxer said.
“My other sadness about this hearing is again we’re arguing about who believes what rather than moving toward solving the problem,” she added.
Mickey Kaus comments:
Huh? 1) How is Inhofe putting illegitimate “pressure” on the media? How would he do that? Doesn’t he lose his chairman’s power in the Senate in, like, a minute and a half? 2) Is Boxer saying politicians should never blast what they perceive as unfair media coverage, or single out particular reporters? In a “free society,”–let alone “a free society in what is the greatest democracy in the world”!–isn’t the idea that everyone can criticize everyone?
I’m glad to see that Boxer will be so open to uninfluenced discourse when she begins chairing a committee that will debate (without any external pressures, or course) one of the most controversial topics in our lifetime. Perhaps her honest debate will balance hysterical lunacy against historical realities and come out looking less like the casuistic phony she appears to be.
Hysterical Lunacy? Hmmmm…not sure I follow your logic there.
Your “Historical Reality” is that:
1 - colder temperatures led to a higher percentage of the world’s water in icecaps
2 - therefore there were lower sea levels
3 - alas Britain was not an island and was connected to Europe
Okay very true, so how exactly is it hysterics and lunacy to state that:
1 - warmer temperatures will lead to a lower percentage of the world’s water in icecaps
2 - therefore there will be rising sea levels
3 - alas there will be more water separating Britain from Europe (and low lying coastal areas around the world will be submerged).
You can delude yourself all you want into thinking that humans have minimal impact on the recent warming; however, regardless of the causes the warming is real and undoubtedly happening. It’s hardly hysterical lunacy to point out the effects of this change and to hopefully mitigate the causes in order to minimize adverse results.
I am not saying it’s minimal. I am saying that nobody knows our impact compared to other inputs, and even the undisputed clearinghouse of “impartial” data agrees that man’s impact *may* be lower than previously estimated.
Do we have to wait another 5 years to find out that even our 2006 data was woefully inadequate?