'Tard of the Week - South Dakota Legislature

Thursday, February 25, 2010
We've already established that I don't want to live in South Dakota, and to be fair, they probably don't want a liberal rabble-rouser like myself, either, so it's all good.

But in spite of this "live and let live" point of view, I really do have to point and laugh at their Resolution 1009, "A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Calling for balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools of South Dakota."

::snirk::

Check out this language:
WHEREAS, the earth has been cooling for the last eight years despite small increases in anthropogenic carbon dioxide; and
WHEREAS, there is no evidence of atmospheric warming in the troposphere where the majority of warming would be taking place; and
WHEREAS, historical climatological data shows without question the earth has gone through trends where the climate was much warmer than in our present age. The Climatic Optimum and Little Climatic Optimum are two examples. During the Little Climatic Optimum, Erik the Red settled Greenland where they farmed and raised dairy cattle. Today, ninety percent of Greenland is covered by massive ice sheets, in many places more than two miles thick; and
WHEREAS, the polar ice cap is subject to shifting warm water currents and the break-up of ice by high wind events. Many oceanographers believe this to be the major cause of melting polar ice, not atmospheric warming; and
WHEREAS, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant but rather a highly beneficial ingredient for all plant life on earth. Many scientists refer to carbon dioxide as "the gas of life"; and
WHEREAS, more than 31,000 American scientists collectively signed a petition to President Obama stating: "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, or methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the earth's atmosphere and disruption of the earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide will produce many beneficial effects on the natural plant and animal environments of the earth":
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-fifth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature urges that instruction in the public schools relating to global warming include the following:
            (1)    That global warming is a scientific theory rather than a proven fact;
            (2)    That there are a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect world weather phenomena and that the significance and interrelativity of these factors is largely speculative; and
            (3)    That the debate on global warming has subsumed political and philosophical viewpoints which have complicated and prejudiced the scientific investigation of global warming phenomena; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature urges that all instruction on the theory of global warming be appropriate to the age and academic development of the student and to the prevailing classroom circumstances.
Because, really - nothing says effective political leadership like outright falsehoods about verifiable facts, using words completely out of context and generally sticking your fingers in your ears in an attempt to pander to your economic masters.

But the best part? The VERY BEST PART? That's the part where they say "there are a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect world weather phenomena and that the significance and interrelativity of these factors is largely speculative;" (emphasis mine).

DUDE! THE WORLD IS GETTING WARMER BECAUSE MERCURY IS IN RETROGRADE!

HAHAHAHAHA!

How incompetent - or stupid - or both - do you have to be to make such a fundamental mistake in language? Stupid enough to be Representatives Kopp, Bolin, Brunner, Cronin, Curd, Feickert, Gosch, Greenfield, Hamiel, Hoffman, Hunt, Iron Cloud III, Jensen, Juhnke, Kirkeby, Lange, Lederman, Moser, Novstrup (David), Olson (Betty), Olson (Ryan), Pitts, Putnam, Rausch, Russell, Schlekeway, Sly, Steele, Tidemann, Turbiville, Van Gerpen, Verchio, and Wink and Senators Brown, Abdallah, Bradford, Haverly, Maher, and Schmidt, evidently. 

Nice going, there, South Dakota Legislature. You truly are a shining beacon of ignorance, special interests and generally 'tard-ness. Also - you're awfully, well, white...don't you think?


H/T to my Celebrity Boyfriend, The Bad Astronomer.

13 comments:

Venus Vaughn said...

No, the very best part EVER is in the first line. "WHEREAS, the earth has been cooling for the last eight years."

hee

Jerry Critter said...

Gee, you would think they were in Oklahoma, or maybe Texas.

Nathan said...

In this morning's paper:

Pisces: Today is a good day for indoor activities. Financial decisions should be delayed until early next week. Intermittent snow and rain will make outdoor activities ooogey as there will be warming and cooling throughout the day, possibly predicted by the fossil record or with the impending advent of The Age of Aquarius. Hot Dogs might be good for lunch.

The Mechanicky Gal said...

Sooo I guess it was warming PRIOR to the last 8 years, but as soon as Georgie took over, and denied that warming, it started getting colder?
This sciency stuff makes my head whirl!

Janiece said...

Nathan, I'm clearly reading the wrong horoscopes. From now on, I think you should post "Nahtanscopes" on Polyblog, for the amusement of everyone.

Whee!

Eric said...

Sounds like maybe they should be concerned about carbon monoxide--think they need to have someone check the CO detectors in the SD state house?

My biggest gripe... well, other than the astrology business... is that these bozos once again misuse the word "theory" in the vernacular as opposed to the scientific sense. While, in all fairness, I'm not sure Anthropogenic Global Warming should be called a theory as opposed to a heavily-supported hypothesis, wouldn't teaching it as a scientific theory mean... teaching that it was a well-tested scientific model supported by abundant evidence and the consensus of the scientific community to a degree necessary to treat the assertion as fact? (I'm sure there's something wrong with that definition, too, but you get the idea.)

Anyway....

Janiece said...

Eric, that's why I linked to the Wiki article on "scientific theory." These putzes apparently have not yet made the connection that even gravity is a "theory."

Pandering dumbasses.

Please note that I don't consider informed, scientifically defensible discussion on the topic of climate change to be out of order. But seriously - legislating science?

Eric said...

I missed the link. Sorry.

Janiece said...

'S'okay. This particular is CHOCK FULL OF LINKS, mostly because I wanted each and every one of those dipshits that co-sponsored this piece of crap to be linked a "'Tard of the Week" page.

Because I'm wicked.

Warner (aka ntsc) said...

Gravity is not a theory, don't give them ideas.

WendyB_09 said...

They don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation.

And are probably related to the Georgia legislature, also a bunch of maroons. Who after stalling for a decade or more (I've lost count) on a state transportation plan are seemingly shocked and surprised by the fact MARTA (Atlanta's public transportation system) is about to crash and burn. I'm going to a public hearing Monday night armed with a prepared speech to present in my allowed 3 minutes.
Grrr...

Anne C. said...

I find it hilarious that people focus on the term "Global Warming." Yes, that's what it was called back when they started speaking publicly about their investigations, but the term "Global Climate Change" is 100 times more accurate.

"How can the world be 'warming'? We just had a colder winter than normal?"
[slap to the forehead]

MWT said...

Actually I think gravity is a law. In the scientific sense, not the Eric sense. ;)

Also: every once in a while some state or other tries to pass legislation that pi should equal 3.14. Indiana did at one point while I was in high school. So far as I know, none of them have actually succeeded though. (Yet?)