SCIENCE ROUNDUP

Louis Hissink's latest weekly science roundup is here -- with lots on the gullible press coverage of global warming claims.

Louis has this interesting quote on predicting climatic variation: "The climate system is a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible."

So who said that? One of those awful Greenie skeptics like me? No. It was the IPCC itself -- the chief source of legitimacy for global warming claims.






Have you hugged a miner today?

Stop demonizing the industries that harvest materials from the Earth.

Your car. Your desk. Your computer. Your pots and pans. The road outside. Your lunch. What do these things have in common? All of them involved disturbing the land and the "exploitation" of natural resources in their creation. Anything around you that contains metal, plastic or rubber comes directly from mining and oil-drilling operations somewhere in the world. Anything that is wood, paper or food was either logged or harvested. Almost everything we have comes from mining, drilling, logging and farming, and yet these industries are increasingly under attack from NIMBYs, regulators and environmentalists.

The public opinion of these industries is now such that if you were to poll people on the least respected careers, you'd wind up with loggers, miners and oil men right down at the bottom of the list with lawyers, telemarketers and, of course, politicians. Farmers and ranchers continue to have a pretty high level of public support as occupations, but their industries are bearing the brunt of some of the newest rounds of regulations and NIMBY attacks.

While nobody wants a repeat of the massive pollution caused by some of the older mining techniques, and nobody likes to look at a clear-cut forest or an oil rig, these industries havedeveloped much less intrusive, much more environmentally sensitive methods of extraction, but are still haunted by attacks based on images from long discarded practices. The regulatory system and local opposition groups have made it nearly impossible for any new mining or logging operations to exist in California, even when our society desperately needs new supplies of wood, gravel, and petroleum-based products. Even when all environmental regulations can be adhered to, local opposition can scare a county or city into rejecting a necessary project.

Even farmers, who have maintained a high level of support amongst the population, have started to feel the pressure of activists and regulators. It always astounds me when people move to a rural area (like much of my district) and then complain about the sights and smells and flies of agricultural operations.

Dairies have been all but chased out of Southern California by angry neighbors and air and water regulations. Other livestock operations are being harassed by similar complaints. What was once a thriving industry in Artesia, Chino and other parts of our area is now virtually non-existent. Even simpler farming operations are under attack for use of compost in the growing process and because of "fugitive dust" concerns caused by the plowing and harvesting of fields. And farmers now fear allowing their lands to fallow out of concern that it will become habitat for some allegedly endangered critter and they'll be forbidden from replanting there in the future.

These are all messy industries, but they are all necessary. We have made great strides over the years in making them less polluting and less impactful on the natural environment and even visually on neighbors nearby. But the increasing costs of the decreasing availability of these resources in our country are costing all of us. High concrete, steel and lumber costs are driving up the prices of new schools, homes and roads by billions of dollars collectively, and will continue to increase as long as we don't start producing more of these products domestically.

It is time to stop attacking loggers and miners and oil drillers and farmers. Stop accusing them of raping the earth. Stop making their livelihoods more difficult. Start appreciating the benefits we enjoy as a result of their labor and their industries. Next time you see a miner walking down the street, don't turn your nose up at him. In fact, I think we'd all be better off if you gave him a hug instead.


Article by RAY HAYNES, Republican assemblyman from Murrieta, California

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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

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