House Skittish on Global Warming Dissent?
After some comical and positively baffling fumbling about, members of the Arkansas House of Representatives say that a hearing on global warming, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 14, has been rescheduled for next week, the AP reports.
A hearing of the Joint Energy Committee was slated for Wednesday to allow an airing of a “minority report” from Richard Ford, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock economics professor and dissenting member of the ARGOCOGLOWARM, and others.
However, earlier today, Democratic Rep. Lance Reynolds, co-chair of the committee said that House members would be skipping the hearing:
Rep. Lance Reynolds, the co-chair of the Joint Energy Committee, announced Tuesday that the House members wouldn’t meet for the hearing and said he did so after consulting with House Speaker Robbie Wills. Reynolds said he didn’t see the point of the hearing since no legislation has been filed on the global warming panel.
“We have no problem with them having their day at the meeting at the proper time, but pretty much that’s more of an interim deal what they’re suggesting,” Reynolds, D-Quitman, said.
But Reynolds has now changed tack, and he’s appearing arm-in-arm with GOP Sen. Kim Hendren to say that the hearing will be held next week, instead. But with the rapid pace of global warming, will next week be….TOO LATE? (Dunh-Dunh-DUNNNH!!!!)
It’s not at all clear what all the whiplash back-and-forth on this matter stems from, whether it was simple confusion or a ham-handed attempt to delegitimize the minority report. Regardless, all the bumbling about has certainly ensured that this hearing will now draw much, much more attention than it might have otherwise. Thus, I heartily endorse this course of action.
