NoaIzumiEmmett Tyrrell on Global Warming: No Big Deal (Right)
May 25th 2009 04:08
Emmett Tyrrell is known to most as the founder and editor-in-chief of the American Spectator and he’s also a fairly regular contributor to Townhall.com.
Evolution and the New Fuel-Efficiency Standards
“The present hullabaloo over global warming is much ado about nothing. Let the climate change; the species Homo sapiens has survived 60 millenniums. There is no reason for the Obama administration to tamper with the automobile market.”
Say Mr. Tyrrell, you know what else is “nothing”?
The Holocaust: Approximately six million Jews were murdered, but pre-war Europe had over eight and a half million. Add the four million Jews who were living outside of Europe at the time, and you got plenty left.
The Black Death: Over 100 million Europeans dead in the 14th century, half the population. Only half?
Abortion: There are currently over 40 million abortions/year, worldwide. But over 120 million babies are born every year. What’s everybody screaming about?
War on terror: Even if Al-Qaeda pulled off a hundred 9/11s a year, population growth in the US is about 0.9%, so for every 300,000 they take away, we add 2 million! Bring it on, Bin Laden!
The Great Depression: In 1932, the US had a 25% unemployment rate, and an average income reduced by 40% below 1929. Which still leaves 75% of the country employed with 60% of their pre-1929 income. Quit bitching!
Will anthropogenic global warming be as bad as Black Death or the Holocaust? Probably not, but the effects will still be negative, and may be already. The European heat wave of 2003 caused over 52,000 deaths. It’s impossible to lay all of that at global warming’s door, but if AGW was responsible for even 10% of it, that’s close to twice as many people as were killed in the 9/11 attacks right there.
Wait, there’s more.
“Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the automobile industry can survive politicians' designing our cars, taxing our gasoline, and supplying us with tiny vehicles that few Americans want to buy”
Oh boy, where does one start with this one?
A. It’s wrong. Will the new standards cause some hardship on car companies at first? Probably, but foreign car companies stay in business selling fuel efficient vehicles, so why can’t American ones? It’s possible one might go belly-up, but has Mr. Tyrrell taken a good look at the state of the industry today? If they can manage to deal with the problems they already got, a little government regulation won’t kill them.
B. It’s hypocritical. I don’t know about Mr. Tyrrell personally, but didn’t most conservatives object to the bail-out of the car companies, preferring instead to let them go bankrupt? But now we should hold off on a bill, because it would cause car companies to go bankrupt. Either bankruptcy is bad or it isn’t.
C. It’s nuts. According to the logic of the piece, global warming shouldn’t be that high of a priority because it’s not like it’ll kill everybody, but the destruction of an American industry, that would be a tragedy. So, the existence of the American car industry ranks above the existence of the entire population of the United States, including all the workers, engineers, and consumers that make that industry possible. Never has the phrase, “Putting the cart before the horse” seemed more appropriate.
Evolution and the New Fuel-Efficiency Standards
“The present hullabaloo over global warming is much ado about nothing. Let the climate change; the species Homo sapiens has survived 60 millenniums. There is no reason for the Obama administration to tamper with the automobile market.”
Say Mr. Tyrrell, you know what else is “nothing”?
The Holocaust: Approximately six million Jews were murdered, but pre-war Europe had over eight and a half million. Add the four million Jews who were living outside of Europe at the time, and you got plenty left.
The Black Death: Over 100 million Europeans dead in the 14th century, half the population. Only half?
Abortion: There are currently over 40 million abortions/year, worldwide. But over 120 million babies are born every year. What’s everybody screaming about?
War on terror: Even if Al-Qaeda pulled off a hundred 9/11s a year, population growth in the US is about 0.9%, so for every 300,000 they take away, we add 2 million! Bring it on, Bin Laden!
The Great Depression: In 1932, the US had a 25% unemployment rate, and an average income reduced by 40% below 1929. Which still leaves 75% of the country employed with 60% of their pre-1929 income. Quit bitching!
Will anthropogenic global warming be as bad as Black Death or the Holocaust? Probably not, but the effects will still be negative, and may be already. The European heat wave of 2003 caused over 52,000 deaths. It’s impossible to lay all of that at global warming’s door, but if AGW was responsible for even 10% of it, that’s close to twice as many people as were killed in the 9/11 attacks right there.
Wait, there’s more.
“Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the automobile industry can survive politicians' designing our cars, taxing our gasoline, and supplying us with tiny vehicles that few Americans want to buy”
Oh boy, where does one start with this one?
A. It’s wrong. Will the new standards cause some hardship on car companies at first? Probably, but foreign car companies stay in business selling fuel efficient vehicles, so why can’t American ones? It’s possible one might go belly-up, but has Mr. Tyrrell taken a good look at the state of the industry today? If they can manage to deal with the problems they already got, a little government regulation won’t kill them.
B. It’s hypocritical. I don’t know about Mr. Tyrrell personally, but didn’t most conservatives object to the bail-out of the car companies, preferring instead to let them go bankrupt? But now we should hold off on a bill, because it would cause car companies to go bankrupt. Either bankruptcy is bad or it isn’t.
C. It’s nuts. According to the logic of the piece, global warming shouldn’t be that high of a priority because it’s not like it’ll kill everybody, but the destruction of an American industry, that would be a tragedy. So, the existence of the American car industry ranks above the existence of the entire population of the United States, including all the workers, engineers, and consumers that make that industry possible. Never has the phrase, “Putting the cart before the horse” seemed more appropriate.
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