Eliason: Senator, we’re going to talk about your book for a minute, you state in your book which by the way is called The Greatest Hoax, you state in your book that one of your favorite Bible verses, Genesis 8:22, ‘while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease,’ what is the significance of these verses to this issue?
Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.
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Ummm...weren't you born during the Dust Bowl years? You know, when careless farming practices helped bring about a drought and ruined millions of acres of farmland, cause massive dust storms across most of North America, farm failures and wholesale economic collapse?
Then let's stop spending the taxpayers' money to rebuild affected coastal areas, many of which are in the red states. After all, we mustn't be arrogant or outrageous or anything.
ETA: Thanks for providing yet another reason to reject the Bible. So often, the most powerful arguments against a belief system are the arguments for it.
"The arrogance of people to think that we,human beings,would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."
I find it much more arrogant for someone to claim to speak for God like that...
And people wonder why I think that religious belief is dangerous. The idea that we can't possibly harm our environment because God is controlling everything will lead to our demise, especially when that idea is held by those who make our laws. This just goes to show that separation of church & state is not only a good idea, but vitally necessary.
And I guess the senator forgot about the passage where we're supposed to be good stewards of the earth?
The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.
I agree that "global warming" has been over-blown and over-hyped by environmentalists and others, but to say that mankind has had no impact on our environment, especially during the Industrial Age, is just as outrageous. Our factories and power plants belch smoke and soot into the air while our rivers, lakes and oceans are used as a collective toilet.
But, no, we're not impacting our environment. [/sarcasm]
A Recipe for Disaster.
Take some greedy, stupid people.
Put them in positions of power.
Let corrupt, selfish lobbies wine and dine them.
Let them prosper with immunity.
Let them be seen by other greedy, stupid people.
Let these other people aspire to positions of power.
Liberally add sauce to the mix from a large gravy train.
Now bake under a secure cover for a dozen terms of office.
Serve with a garnish of shredded civil rights, on a bed of disenfranchised and deceived people.
Well, I disagree with Inhofe. I believe God lets us experience the consequences of our actions, which the Bible teaches - "what you sow, you will reap." God does allow for the posibility that we will destroy ourselves. However, I'm not totally convinced of global warming. The idea originated as the plot of a cartoon show of all things and was then adapted as "science." Sounds like a scam to me.
"Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."
It's outrageous to me that someone with such views was elected in the first place and it boggles my mind that, after stating something like this publicly, you still have a job.
So does he think Jesus should have taken the devil's dare (Matthew 4:5-7) and jumped off the temple roof because God would save him? The real arrogance is thinking we can just do anything stupid thing we want and God will save us with His magic wand.
His argument is basically the same one people used for not putting a lightning rod on the church roof.
"I'm not totally convinced of global warming. The idea originated as the plot of a cartoon show of all things and was then adapted as "science.""
They didn't have cartoons in 1896, when Svante Arrhenius first proposed that changes in atmospheric CO2 levels could affect global temperature, unless you are talking about zoetropes. The very first animated film wasn't made until 2 years after Arrhenius' 1906 paper predicting future climate warming due to the burning of fossil fuels (which he thought was a good thing).
@his4life:
The idea originated as the plot of a cartoon show of all things and was then adapted as "science." Sounds like a scam to me. "
No, it originated in the 1800s when the effect of CO2 on infrared light was discovered. You teabaggers science denial, of which Inhofes bilge is a part, is the scam.
Didn't God put humans as stewards of the Earth? We are supposed to take care of it for him. Won't He be rather pissed if He saw what a mess we've done with the beautiful, perfect world that He supposedly created?
So, Inhofe thinks we should take the words in an old book, written by goat-herders a few thousand years ago, over observable reality?
If you want proof that God is not cleaning up our mess, look at the Sahara desert. It's getting bigger and bigger, because humans remove the plants that hold the sand in place. When we strive to return plant life to the area, the desert gets smaller. The climate change is basically the same thing, only on a grander scale, which threaten not only our existence, but the existence of life as we know it on this planet.
@Swede
Didn't God put humans as stewards of the Earth?
Some American Christians read that to mean that we should strive to take care of the Earth and conserve its resources, but others think it means that the Earth is one big self-replenishing buffet and we can all stuff ourselves silly on it with no negative repercussions because God will sort it all out. For the latter, it's almost sinful not to use as many fossil fuels as you possibly can because otherwise you are turning up your nose at God's bounty and making Baby Jesus cry. You don't want to make Baby Jesus cry, do you?
Your point about the Sahara would probably be dismissed as "part of God's plan", because that's the default (non) response to those kind of uncomfortable questions.
@Rizzo: No, not just here, but yes, we've got some of the loudest and stupidest.
@H4L: What 'Cartoon' are you talking about? Captain Planet? Because the science of man's accidental change of the global climate was a science before that show dropped.
The show was made because the science was there, not vice versa.
Actualy His4Life, The concerns about human generated climate change were first voiced by Canadian students at the university of Vancouver back in the mid 1960s. Their concerns were based on measurements of CO2 levels, Averge rainfall, and smog, over several decades.
One of those students was a genetics student named David Suzuki.
"... and that's why we need an oil pipeline to go straight through a critical watershed. (burp) Somebody pass me the shrimp cocktail. I like living in God's ant farm. All we have to do is kiss his ass, and everything's taken care of. You done with that caviar?"
Yeah, we're doomed. Might as well enjoy the ride.
So, when you and yours pollute, waste and release greenhouse gases, it's not laziness or lack of caring, it's God's will? A**hat.
"The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."
Next thing you know people will be arrogant enough to believe we can use metal rods to protect ourselves from God's wrath.
What I think is absolutely hysterical is that the US is the only country on the planet that has a considerable political fraction and a corresponding portion of the populus that doubts anthropogenic global warming - and we don't even realize it.
The world is laughing, crying, and astounded by it. Wake up religitards and "get your fucking liberal hands off my SUV" conservatives: wishful thinking isn't going to stop AGW.
And the rest of us should suffer because of your religiously motivated scientific ignorance? It makes me sick to think about how much damage retards like you are doing.
No, wait. I have to stop using words like "retard" when talking about fundies. Actual mentally retarded people have a serious medical condition, and most try to overcome that and live normal and productive lives. They are much better for society than Republicans. Really, I just have to use "Republican" the way we use "retard" now. Like, "Did you hear about that guy who drove his car off a cliff because he wanted God to prove his existence? What a Republican!"
His4life, good thing that you're not quite so lunatic as the senator, and you can cherrypick an appropriate bible verse to support your position.
I STILL find it scary that someone can argue from a fairy tale and not be laughed out of the room - a powerful man on a vital subject, no less.
It was just a few decades ago that dust storms in caused by humans fucked up day/night in OK, and there wasn't any harvest. I guess all the smart Oklahomans moved to California.
He thinks there's a supernatural being that gives a rat's ass about him? Now, that's arrogance.
Senator Inhofe just did an interview with Rachel Maddow. Good GOD, he seems even stupider when his word-hole is flapping. She calls him on his shit, too, and he goes into complete "I know nothing! NUH-THIIING!!" mode.
I agree, Rob. An argument should be based on sound reasoning and evidence, not the plot of a mid-80s cartoon that later became "science."
And I know who David Suzuki is. I have one of his books on my shelf. He's disgusting.
I agree, Rob. An argument should be based on sound reasoning and evidence, not the plot of a mid-80s cartoon that later became "science."
And I know who David Suzuki is. I have one of his books on my shelf. He's disgusting.
@Troll4Life
From the Global Warming article on Wikipedia:
"The National Academy of Sciences first used global warming in a 1979 paper called the Charney Report, it said: 'if carbon dioxide continues to increase, [we find] no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason to believe that these changes will be negligible.'"
There, you're wrong again. What a surprise. Also, the fact that a cartoon may have drawn attention to the issue is irrelevant and in no way invalidates the study of the phenomenon. Global warming is well supported by evidence and that's why it's being studied in detail by science. That's why anything is studied in detail by science, because there's evidence for it. Given the wealth of information on the subject and the ease of access to the common person, for you to say something like this, you must be either lying, or wilfully stupid. Now please, kindly STFU about shit you know nothing about until you educate yourself about it.
Also, you of all people advocating "argument ... based on sound reasoning and evidence" is laughably hypocritical.
Good day.
God's not messing with the climate. Wingnuts are. We need new power sources instead of polluting fossil fuels, like Hydrogen, which is the most common element in the whole freakin' universe and thus not hard to find.
Troll4Life, that's because there isn't any evidence for the bible. The bible isn't science. It's a collection of writings from barely-literate bronze-age goat-herders. Reflecting this, it isn't even internally consistent.
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/inconsistencies.html
And then, of course, there's the outrageous claims it makes that completely contradict reality, such as how light was supposedly present before stars were created, pi=3, a world-wide flood, the entire human species created from only two individuals, and dead people coming back to life, to name but a few. A very basic knowledge of science disproves all of these. Small children who haven't been indoctrinated can see the holes in its claims.
So no, Troll4Life, there is no scientific evidence for the fairytales in your bible. There is, however, plenty of scientific evidence against its ridiculous claims, and that's why scientists don't study it in detail.
@his4life:
"The idea originated as the plot of a cartoon show"
In the 19th century?
You aren't real bright, are you?
Sorry, the physics of how the atmosphere was done in the 19th century.
Genesis is bullshit for idiots.
Keep your worthless superstition out of my government, you worthless Okie.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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