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Getting Ready for Double Testimony from Gore

By cmooney on March 21, 2007.

The former veep hits both houses of Congress today--David Roberts has a very useful rundown of the hurdles he will face, including cross-ex from good old Inhofe. I am not particularly worried that on an intellectual level, Gore will have a serious problem with questions from any individual member. He knows climate science better than all of them.

Apparently the first hearing, beginning at 9:30, will be live webcast here. I will be watching closely to see if anyone actually scores any points against Gore on the science. More likely, we'll get the standard misbehavior and disregard for established knowledge from some Republicans--as evidenced by this silly question leaked by Drudge (via Roberts):

Mr. Gore: How can you continue to claim that global warming on Earth is primarily caused by mankind when other planets (Mars, Jupiter and Pluto) with no confirmed life forms and certainly no man-made industrial greenhouse gas emissions also show signs of global warming? Wouldn't it make more sense that the sun is responsible for warming since it is the common denominator?

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It seems like Joe Barton (R-TX) was making the rounds on the cable news shows this morning in preparation for the hearing. Got a feeling for the likely tactic of Republican obfuscation and confusion tactics we will hear ad-nausseum today.

I really wish I had a seat in the chambers today, sigh.

:

Jay Pasachoff, an astronomy professor at Williams College, said that Pluto's global warming was "likely not connected with that of the Earth. The major way they could be connected is if the warming was caused by a large increase in sunlight. But the solar constant—the amount of sunlight received each second—is carefully monitored by spacecraft, and we know the sun's output is much too steady to be changing the temperature of Pluto."

[...]

David Tholen, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii who measured the size of Pluto in the late 1980s using a series of occultations and eclipses involving Pluto's satellite, noted that even though Pluto was closest to the sun in 1989, a warming trend 13 years later shouldn't be unexpected. "It takes time for materials to warm up and cool off, which is why the hottest part of the day on Earth is usually around 2 or 3 p.m. rather than local noon, when sunlight is the most intense," Tholen said. Because Pluto's year is equal to about 250 Earth years, 13 years after Pluto's closest approach to the Sun is like 1:15 p.m. on Earth. "This warming trend on Pluto could easily last for another 13 years," Tholen estimated.

Inhofe, shut up.

Mr. Gore,

How can you claim that this car accident was caused by brake failure? Sure, there is brake fluid all along the path the car took, and we can see where the brake line failed.

However, almost all the accidents along this stretch of road have been caused by following too closely. Wouldn't it make more sense that this accident was caused by following too closely, too?

Poor Senator Inhofe
Has lost his marbles
And doesn't know where to find them,
Leave him alone and he'll come home
Wagging his tail behind him.

By Dark Tent (not verified) on 21 Mar 2007 #permalink