In February 2007, Congress held its first hearing on the landmark IPCC report on climate change. That report concluded that global warming is “unequivocal” and human activity is the main driver. During this hearing, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) questioned the scientists about a period of dramatic climate change that occurred 55 million years ago:
We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows? We do know the CO2 in the past had its time when it was greater as well.
His comments were, not surprisingly, widely ridiculed. When questioned by The Hill for further details, Rohrabacher’s spokeswoman refused to comment at the time.
Now, however, Rohrabacher is claiming that it was all a joke. Last week on the House floor, Rohrabacher blasted anyone who believed he was serious was a “fool” or “intentionally portraying something they knew not to be true.” His statements came while he was allegedly joking that environmentalists treasured “buffalo farts.” Watch it:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2008/06/rohrdinflat554.320.240.flv]
It’s hard to tell when Rohrabacher is joking. Was he joking on all the following occasions too?
— Said Blackwater CEO Erik Prince was “on his way to being an American hero just like Ollie North was.” [Link]
— Said that critics of the Bush administration’s torture policies should “suffer” from a terrorist attack: “Well, I hope it’s your families, I hope it’s your families that suffer the consequences.” [Link]
— Called torture at Guantanamo Bay “more like pranks, hazing pranks from some fraternity.” [Link]
— Claimed that China’s President Hu Jintao was trying to kill President Bush, and warned him before a trip to China: “One bit of advice, Mr. President. I wouldn’t be so anxious to use the toothpaste in your hotel room.” [Link]
— Fueled a conspiracy theory that the Oklahoma City bombing was the work of foreign terrorists. [Link]
More here on how today’s industrial animal production contributes to global warming.
Transcript:
ROHRABACHER: Cows are greenhouse-gas causing machines, according to this report. Fuel for fertilizer and meat production and transportation, as well as the clearing of fields for grazing, produce 9 percent of the globe’s CO2 emissions, according to the report. Cows produce ammonia, causing acid rain. And if that’s not bad enough, all these numbers I just mentioned are projected — in this report — are projected in the report’s computer models, that they will double by the year 2050.
So not only is it bad today eating meat, it will be so much worse by 2050, we’ve got to act now to get meat out of the diet! Not only are they going to cut our personal transportation, but we can’t even stay at home and have a BBQ. Heck, they’re not even going to let us have a hamburger.
I’d point out that before the introduction of cattle to the United States, millions upon millions of buffalo dominated the Great Plains in America. They were so thick that you could not see where the herd began or where it ended.
One can only assume that the anti-meat, manmade global warming crowd, must believe that buffalo farts have some social redeeming value that’s better than the flatulence emitted by cattle.
I have to be very careful about such jokes. I was making light about this supposition at a hearing about a year ago, and I suggested, in jest, that perhaps dinosaur flatulence changed the climate back in those ages. Well, it was reported — widely reported — as if I was serious. Which demonstrates something that I think we should all understand about the global warming debate.
The global warming debate has been totally dishonest. Anyone who can suggest that I was saying that as a serious matter was either a fool or was intentionally portraying something they knew not to be true.