Editor, the Times;
Re: “Rambling Man should say why he says what he says” in Dec. 12 issue of the Times.
Keith, old buddy, old pal, old friend. You’re right! I think they’re on to us, but not for the reasons you believe! You see, everyone thinks I’m a grumpy old man who wants to put down or browbeat our editor every chance he gets. Forget the ol’ buddy, ol’ pal crap; I do consider you an old friend. You’re a very hardworking pillar of the community who strives for the betterment of mankind. For this reason, I would like to nominate Keith McNeill for Clearwater’s Citizen of the Year. (Damn, I hate it when I get soft and mushy at Christmastime!).
Now, back to my “apparent rebuttal!” You say I don’t really present serious counter-arguments. I say I do, but your tunnel vision doesn’t allow you to recognize them. You and many others are so caught up in the Suzuki, Gore, Lovelock, Hansen hype that you can’t see the forest for the trees! Now I see you’ve added another “also ran scientist” to your list: Weitzman.
You also added the bell curve of probability. You go on to say it’s the “severe events in the tails of the bell curve that you have to watch out for”. I once read a book by a French author titled “The Tail of The Belle”! Several years later, the author wrote a sequel about the same madame who worked the streets of Paris and Marseille. In the novel, the belle exposed and destroyed many of her clients who were judges, lawyers, and politicians! I think there may have been some climate-change scientists also, but nobody cared about them back then! The name of the sequel was “The Tail of Two Cities”!
Keith, if you are going to quote me, please don’t change my quote. You said, regarding the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, “According to National Geographic, it is likely higher now than it has been for 3 million years. The Rambling Man’s reply, “baloney.” Actually, I said, “This is just verbal diarrhea”. If that, to you, is the same as baloney, I strongly suggest you try buying your processed meats at a different deli!
The number of respondents to your on-line petition is higher than I expected. I thought probably two people would respond: yourself and James Hansen. I’d like to suggest that you talk to Dr. Bob about the availability of a cure for your problem. If none exists, try to find the other 58 people who signed your petition. Maybe you can get a cut rate on group therapy!
In my last letter to you, I gave some statistics. Your tunnel vision allowed you to ignore them but actually they are serious counter-arguments, and here are two more:
1. Last week, Antarctica reported the lowest temperature ever recorded: -93 C.
2. This year, Arctic sea ice didn’t experience rapid melting as it has in past years.
In closing, Keith, I’d like to say your heart is in the right place but another tax isn’t the answer. One in five kids in B. C. lives in poverty. We should lobby the government to start looking after the young, the sick, and the elderly, instead of pandering to corporate friends.
The Liberal government’s “Go Green” program has nothing to do with the air we breathe. It’s about dollars leaving your wallet!
The closest thing Clearwater has seen regarding global warming is Santa Claus arriving by fire truck at the Christmas tree light-up. Rumour has it that Rudolf got all mixed up at the roundabout and ended up in Clearwater, Florida!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Jim Lamberton
The Rambling Man
