Planetsave

Truisms of Viewpoints:

By: Anthony J. Gerst.

Honor thy father and mother; respect your elders young man. Honor and respect are very interesting words, are they not? Let’s admit to ourselves that honor and respect are things to be earned, not obligations based upon genetics and geriatrics. I try to respect my elders, but sometimes people in their second childhood say the ‘darnist’ things.

Take for example Walter E. Williams, it is easy to show respect for this 71-year-old man, who has throughout the course of his life overcome the hardships of poverty and racism. A recent column of his, ‘Global warming hysteria,’ is ludicrous. One has to wonder from his writings if this syndicated columnist/cartoonist professor of economics is stating his own opinions or is a spokesman for the oil industry.

Mr. Williams offers quotes from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) to support his positions. This privately funded right wing think-tank is nothing more than a masquerade party of supposed intellectual design. Their objectives are propaganda that promotes the conservative philosophy of all that matters: wealth, preservation and expansion. Two of the NCPA’s board members are Pete du Pont and James Cleo Thompson. Mr. Thompson is the chairman of the board for Thompson Petroleum, need I say more. Mr. Williams quoting from a booklet recently released by NCPA: “Over long periods of time, there is no close relationship between CO2 levels and temperature.”

A couple of examples of what comes out of the great NCPA think-tank are as follows. ‘Court Ruling In Whale Case Good News For National Security,’ assumed environmental threats should not trump real military ones. Another example, ‘Climate Figures Need Scrutiny,’ NASA’s James Hansen’s press conferences make great headlines but are a poor substitute for the truth. Then we have their latest release from September, ‘Endangered Species Act Does More Harm than Good.’ It is amazing that a professor of economics can be so gullible as too back an organization of such oppressive designs.

What cracks me up more than anything else in Mr. Williams article, ‘Global warming hysteria’ is this argument, “There was an explosion of life forms 550 million years ago (Cambrian Period) when CO2 levels were 18 times higher than today. During the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, CO2 levels were as much as nine times higher than today.”

Hhhmph, Mr. Williams what was the flora and fauna of these periods like? For that matter, would you care to do a little research and see where the levels of the oceans were during these periods of our planets history and their chemical make up? This information may lead you to a different conclusion as to the relationship of temperature and CO2, as temperature played a key role in the ocean levels and the flora and fauna of these periods. You have included the antitheses to your argument that the NCPA’s primer gives all the information needed to prevent, ‘politicians and environmental extremists from doing a rope-a dope on us.’

The funny thing about respect, ones actions in life define not only receiving it, but also losing it. In my twilight years I would rather fight for what is noble and right, rather than sell out to the comforts of this passing thing we call life, ‘A Minority View,’ truly.