And it’s also not news that unity borne from tragedy eventually becomes political.
Still, the suggestion that
climate change could have been a factor in the May 20 disaster certainly
came as news to Inhofe. And bad news at that.
“The
liberal media is trying to exploit a tragedy to advance and expand its
own agenda. And, believe me, the victims all know this,” he told Newsmax
last week.
The
“liberal media” must refer to Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who, following the Oklahoma tornadoes,
spitballed a heinous idea on the Senate floor: Maybe climate change
should be taken into account when natural disasters hit some part of the
country at least once a month.
In the Newsmax interview, Inhofe assured that tornadoes are simply seasonal beasts in Oklahoma.
Weather
experts weighed in on The Huffington Post, saying there’s not enough
evidence to correlate the frequency or strength of tornadoes with global
warming.
So the connection is not strong with this one. Oh, but the political force is.
Maybe rebuilding from the rubble this time could mean both construction and conversation. Or constructive conversation, even.
Hey! Read This:
- As if the drought isn’t enough, Oklahoma’s climate-change scientists warn of more extreme weather
- Chicken-Fried News: Apocalypse soon?
- Chicken-Fried News: Not so hot
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2013.