Examiner.com

(Follow me on Twitter @SAndrewDKos)

A member of the conservative-libertarian website Free Republic -- a site where members seem to get the most upset over any problem they can't shoot -- has posted a timeline of climate events on earth. The timeline isn't half bad, in fact it's rather good! The author follows various events such as the recent Wisconsian glaciation, followed by the Holocene warm period through the middle ages and the industrial revolution, all with reasonable accuracy for a layman.

It's the conclusions where things go horribly awry. For example:

The above chronology of recent (geologically speaking) climate changes should place global-warming catastrophists (such as those who developed the Kyoto treaty) in an awkward position. Their fundamental assumption is that Earth's climate was stable and was doing just fine before the Industrial Revolution started interfering with climate's "natural" state.

Short of the occasional Biblical literalist who believes in Young Earth Creationism, there are no scientists who believe the "earth's climate was stable" over the history of the planet or even the last 100 thousand years. There are certainly no climate change researchers who think that. A fact easily demonstrated by reading any information on paleoclimatology, and clearly demonstrable here as this author only knows about those past climate events precisely because climatologists have uncovered them.

It's a fairly common tactic to talk about past climate shifts prior to concluding we shouldn't worry about ongoing ones. The logic employed is every bit as hysterically flawed as stating plagues and asteroid impacts are natural, and concluding therefore we needn't worry about engineering and unleashing new ones.

But that's not the funniest part, this author is locked and loaded with crazy:

Instead of reducing CO2, we should, perhaps, be increasing it. We should pay the smokestack industries hard dollars for every kilogram of soot they pump into the atmosphere. Instead of urging Chinese to stop using coal and turn instead to nuclear-generated electricity, we should beg them to continue using coal.

I assume by "soot" the author meant to say GHGs. But that bit about paying polluters caught me so flat-footed I'm still conflicted on whether it's legit, or clever satire posted to draw in a chorus of yelping ignoramuses before dropping the guillotine on them. If that was the goal, judging by the comments, the author succeeded brilliantly. My personal fave response so far is, "I don't believe in a 2 to 3 million or older earth, but this guy makes sense about global climate change."

Here's some more:

The "green" fanatics may be able to fool a majority of the public however they will never be able to fool Mother Nature.

Just a few months ago, I heard about new research indicating that CO2 helps to radiate heat AWAY from the earth in the upper atmosphere.

Uh-huh. Interesting ... no link though eh?

I dunno...call me crazy...but I'm thinking the temperature on our planet has an awful lot to do with that thing in the sky that we call the Sun!

An oldie but a goodie. Thank goodness Free Republic commenters exist or climatologists might not ever have thought to take the sun into account even though, you know, it's the most observed object in the sky.  /snark

The author also notes he's in China teaching English(?), so maybe some government minder is standing over his shoulder with a gun forcing him to argue China should be paid to pollute. Or maybe he's just wired a little tight, like someone prancing around nude humming Goodbye Horses to drown out the sounds coming from the basement. I don't know, hey I'm just asking questions!

But, seriously, you have to read though it to truly understand just how screwed we are if people like this are calling the shots of a major political party in the US. Try to chuckle a little along the way in between the sobs.