Discussion: GOP Lawmaker Tries To Use Mars To Prove Climate Change Isn't Real

system1 · July 9, 2014, 3:29pm

Discussion for article #224838

jasper · July 9, 2014, 3:45pm

Stunning stupidity. How are people who make these claims, who are in positions of authority and power, not laughed out of room?

mcbain · July 9, 2014, 3:55pm

They could use that kind of logic for all kinds of things…

there’s no unemployment on Mars, therefore we don’t need any unemployment insurance here.
there’s no gun control on Mars, and Mars has zero murders, therefore we don’t need gun control here.
etc

mantan · July 9, 2014, 3:57pm

Corrupt media decided that ‘fairness’ was achieved by presenting every Republican idea with the slack, blank face of impartiality…

livi_o · July 9, 2014, 4:06pm

Caitlin, if you’re going to write an article about other people’s ignorance of the science, don’t demonstrate your own ignorance of the science. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is NOT “the average high temperature” on Mars. It’s the HIGHEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED on Mars.

vertone · July 9, 2014, 4:08pm

This is what happens when you actually have shit for brains.

ralph_vonholst · July 9, 2014, 4:15pm

This is an old [a week to 10 days] story. If you put all the stories of RWNJs denying global climate disruption end to end they would surely reach from the earth to Alpha Centauri [or Gliese 581 or far distant point of your choosing].

More to the point is the new ruling by the BBC trust:

“BBC journalists are being sent on courses to stop them inviting so many cranks onto programmes to air ‘marginal views’ …The BBC Trust on Thursday published a progress report into the corporation’s science coverage which was criticised in 2012 for giving too much air-time to critics who oppose non-contentious issues.”

Would that our news outlets would do the same.

sweetdee · July 9, 2014, 4:18pm

A Republican Kentucky state lawmaker and owner of a coal company

I think you could’ve ended the article right there.

vonq · July 9, 2014, 4:31pm

Sorry, but should Smith be in charge of a coal mine?

And as for the Dem:
“The dinosaurs died, and we don’t know why, but the world adjusted…”
Yeah, the world adjusted by giving supremacy to the mammals. Our point is we’d like to stay around a little longer, before the world adjusts to give primacy to a different species of life.

craigfuller · July 9, 2014, 4:31pm

So many good comments.I would say no one really believes what this man is saying but sadly,so many do …hell, so many republicans in congress do.

estamm · July 9, 2014, 4:32pm

Well, he is right, the Earth will be fine. Humans may go extinct, though, just like the dinosaurs.

clemmers · July 9, 2014, 4:33pm

But having him on tape spouting derptastic lies about Mars is pretty fun, I think. I hope it will be replayed many times over the next 5 years, or every time this asshole wants to make a public statement.

craigfuller · July 9, 2014, 4:34pm

Did anyone point out that after the ice age the earth didn’t exactly return to hospitality over a long weekend

bluestatedon · July 9, 2014, 4:37pm

“There’s no Democrats on Mars, so we don’t need them here.”

craigfuller · July 9, 2014, 4:37pm

Derptastic?awesome word.Now I am gonna spend the rest of my life looking for a way to use that word.Thanx…p.s. good post

suicide_arsonist · July 9, 2014, 4:39pm

As amusing as it is to watch these idiots attempt science, the fact that they are driving policies scares the crap out of me.

mantan · July 9, 2014, 4:43pm

In his defense, Smith does represent Barsoom County…

slbinva · July 9, 2014, 4:45pm

Thank you – I was wondering how Mars could have an average temperature so much higher than that of Earth when it’s nearly twice as far from the sun. Granted, the atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, but it’s also a much thinner atmosphere than earth has.

oldionus · July 9, 2014, 4:47pm

Awww, come on now. This article is mean spirited. Making fun of a gentleman who is so obviously mentally challenged. Not only is he clearly an idiot, it says right in the article that he is apparently pretending to be an elected official in one of the states of a major first world nation, the United States, no less.

lemmitellya · July 9, 2014, 4:47pm

“I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on Mars is exactly as it is here. Nobody will dispute that.”

He’s correct. Dr. Prof. Glenn L. Beck, PhD, JD, ThD, LSMFT, and President For Life of Glenn Beck University, went to Mars personally to take the measurements and needed only a light jacket in the evening.