Leave it to state representative Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, to dig up one of the mustiest of climate denier claims to proclaim on the floor of the Minnesota House. We fear his opposition to Zombie Ziprail is but one of those stopped-clock-right-twice a day thingies.
On Thursday, during the debate over Northfield DFLer David Bly's amendment to the LCCMR bill, Draz dragged out the one about "in the 1970s, scientists talked about global cooling." The Atlantic dispatched this one in 2009 in The Global Cooling Canard:
Ezra Klein fisksGeorge Will:
There needs to be some sort of Godwin's Law variant for conservatives who try to argue against global warming because they remember that Newsweek dipped into pop-science in the mid-70s and touted "global cooling." Call it Will's Law, after George Will, the supposedly cerebral conservative who brings this up every time he doesn't have a better column idea....comparing apples to apples, the scientific community didn't believe in global cooling and does believe in global warming. Sadly, our political pundits have outsourced their scientific research to an intern charged with a superficial skim of Newsweek covers.
Apparently, Draz missed that one. This left him open to the patient mercies of Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul:
As we noted in LCCMR debate, part 2: Pat Garofalo trashes notion of solar and robotics in agriculture and LCCMR debate, pt. 3: Watch freshman legislator react to Gruenhagen's climate change denial:
Watching the YouTube of the LCCMR debate reveals a target rich environment, illustrating a point made by Rep. Rick Hansen:
Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) said appropriations from the environment trust fund “always seem to get tinkered with” and that projects involving solar power, climate change or prohibitions on lead, “always come out of the package” when Republicans have the majority. He asked fellow lawmakers to vote against the bill so sponsors could “start over.”
It's almost as if the Republicans have a blacklist on topics that can't be explored except through tired rhetoric. Since Hansen notes that Draz and Jim Newberger, R-Becker, each have a sense of wonder, Bluestem suspects that special interests are speaking here.
Photo: Screengrab from the clip. Hat tip to our reader who sent us the unlisted DFL House clip.
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