Two for the irony department.
Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma is America’s foremost global warming denier (he called global warming “the greatest hoax every perpetrated on the American people” and compared global warming warnings to the deceptions of the Third Reich), and as the chairman of the Environment and Public Works committee is probably more responsible than anyone except President Bush for America’s inaction on the subject. Well, God or Nature or someone is pissed off, and it/they know exactly who to go after.
Oklahoma, it seems, is experiencing the worst drought conditions and wildfires in the United States. Nine and a half million acres have been burned by wild fires nationwide in 2006, a record. One could say proof of global warming is shining Inhofe in the face like sun glare off a prairie highway.
But the irony doesn’t end there. Australia, the only industrialized country other than the United States not to have ratified the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is experiencing its worst drought in 1,000 years. Predictably, losses in crop production have resulted in the slowest economic growth in recent years. More from the very good Climate Progress and “As the World Burns,” Mother Jones‘ 2005 package on global warming.
By the way, considering how things have gone for Oklahoma and Australia, it is only a matter of time until a lightening bolt hits Air Force One or a mudslide buries Michael Crichton’s house. I say this for your own safety, Mr. President: please do something. We don’t want you to end up like this man.
