April 9, 2014
David Fleshler
The Sun Sentinel

RE: “As sea levels rise, driven by Global Warming” redux

Mr. Fleshler.

I resist, unsuccessfully, the urge to tell you to sit in the corner wearing a dunce cap while you read about Logical fallacies.

A very important one is “hoc post ergo propter hoc”.

Joe wears his pants inside out and backwards.
Joe is a murderer.
People who wear their pants inside out and backwards
are, perforce,
MURDERERS

In 1997, the year when the Kyoto Treaty was not submitted to the Senate for confirmation as the Constitution requires, President Clinton gave a press conference in the Rose Garden on a very hot summer day.

He said;

“It’s hot, isn’t it? Summer heat is caused by Global Warming.
Global Warming is caused by summer heat which is caused
by Global Warming, so there. Excuse me but I have a
pressing appointment with a zoftig intern.
[Only kidding about the last sentence. He didn’t say it.
He meant it; he didn’t say it.]

You may wish to learn about argumentum ad captandum. While you’re at it take a peek at circular reasoning

Try this one on for size.

10 to 12 centuries ago there was a measurable uptick in temperature. 4 to 5 centuries ago there was a measurable downtick in temperatures. It was called the Little Ice Age. Honest. Look them both up.

The first measurable activity made land more arable. More arable land made more protein available. People got smarter. We wound up with the Renaissance. Do you have a problem with Dante?



The second measurable activity, AKA The Little Ice Age, had a tremendous impact on the cedar trees growing in Cremona. Stradivarius made stringed instruments that, when played 500 years later by someone who knows what he is about, can bring grown men to tears.

I prefer the cello but the rule of “de gustibus” applies.

[I also like Cole Porter and Willie Nelson but that’s a different story]

As to “settled science”, Einstein would immediately publish any and all of his theories. It was the ultimate in “peer review”. He said he only had to be proved wrong once. Then, he could get on to something new and useful.

Besides, I think it is time for the polar bears, the serial killers of cute, cuddly baby seals, to make it on their own. Sink or swim, if you will.



KEVIN SMITH
WARRIORBARDIT@BELLSOUTH.NET



PS – Here’s another one you can help me with. Why, after almost 170 years, is Darwin’s fascinating work still called a theory?