This evening, MSNBC/Politico put on quite a show at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. With pointed questions seemingly designed to force Republican candidates for President of the United States to attack one another, specifically Texas Governor Rick Perry, one in particular on “science” seemed utterly bias.
Former Governor Jon Huntsman was asked about his chief strategist's comments regarding the Republican Party becoming the “anti-science party.” Huntsman demurred, sort of like former Governor Tim Pawlenty did when asked about his ObamneyCare comment in the first major debate. But the heart of the matter was to attack Perry and his stance on alleged climate change, or as it used to be called, “global warming.” What’s funny about the whole line of thinking is - from the perspective of liberal outlets like MSNBC - that climate change, global warming, or whatever, is as sure a thing as the sky is blue.
The problem of course is that it is not; certainly as it pertains to man-made global warming… or climate change… or whatever you want to call it these days.
In An Inconvenient Truth-twist, National Geographic reported in February 2007, about one theory on the relationship between then-global warming, now-climate change, and the sun, both here on planet Earth and the distant planet Mars.
Scientists Believe The Sun’s Solar Output Can Explain Climate Change. Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia “believes that changes in the sun’s heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see . . .” (Kate Ravilious, “Mars Melt Hints At Solar, Not Human, Cause For Warming, Scientist Says,” National Geographic, 2/28/07)
Mars Too Is Experiencing Global Warming, Suggesting “That Our Planet’s Recent Climate Changes Have A Natural—And Not A Human-Induced—Cause. . .” (Kate Ravilious, “Mars Melt Hints At Solar, Not Human, Cause For Warming, Scientist Says,” National Geographic, 2/28/07)
The National Aeronautics And Space Administration’s (NASA) Own Data From 2005 Revealed Global Warming On Mars. “In 2005 data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide ‘ice caps’ near Mars’s south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.” (Kate Ravilious, “Mars Melt Hints At Solar, Not Human, Cause For Warming, Scientist Says,” National Geographic, 2/28/07)
“Scientists From NASA Say That Mars Has Warmed By About 0.5C Since The 1970s.” (Jonathan Leake, “Climate Change Hits Mars,” The Sunday Times [United Kingdom], 4/29/07)
“This Is Similar To The Warming Experienced On Earth Over Approximately The Same Period.” (Jonathan Leake, “Climate Change Hits Mars,” The Sunday Times [United Kingdom], 4/29/07)
“Since There Is No Known Life On Mars It Suggests Rapid Changes In Planetary Climates Could Be Natural Phenomena.” (Jonathan Leake, “Climate Change Hits Mars,” The Sunday Times [United Kingdom], 4/29/07)
So, is the GOP a party of anti-science? No, I don’t believe so. I think there are just enough questions that remain to be answered before we throw our economy in the toilet, unilaterally I might add, before having some semblance of “settled science.”
Of course, if the sun is the cause of global warming (climate change), perhaps the only sensible solution, outside of taxing everyone to death, is to round up all the nukes, point them at the sun and blow it out of the sky. Say, that would be a great way for President Barack Obama to realize his dream of a world without nuclear weapons, killing two birds with one stone.
