Senator James Inhofe: Top Terrorist Threat to Planet Earth

"With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it." Senator James Inhofe

From humble beginnings as Tulsa mayor and a small business man, Senator James Inhofe has morphed into one of the most dangerous neocons and right wing extremists of our time. On the front lines of Bush’s war against civil liberties, peace, and the environment, Inhofe is leading the drive to plunge the planet into chaos and destruction for the glory and profits of the military megamachines and transnational corporations. Behind the flattering self-portrait Inhofe paints in his autobiography lies a profoundly ignorant, corrupt demagogue and power-mongering shill for Bush, the war against Iraq, and global corporate plunder. Online news magazine, Slate, wrote that Inhofe is "widely considered one of the dumbest members of Congress," but should have added he is also one of the most dangerous.

Inhofe was elected to the Senate in 1994, and re-elected in 1996 and again in 2002. A champion of Israel, corporate power, and the war on Iraq, Inhofe is a member of the Senate Armed Services committee. A militant anti-environmentalist, he has presided as Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPWC) since January 2003.

Thus, Inhofe is a key player in the crucial matters of national security and environmental policies. In 2005, these two roles came together symbiotically in his assault on the animal rights and environmental movements as criminal, extremist, and terrorist forces who must be stopped in their tracks. In June, Inhofe held a special hearing on the theme that aboveground animal advocacy groups such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are “front groups” for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), an underground organization devoted to illegal raids to free captive animals and property destruction against animal exploiters. In October, Inhofe called another session to hear more of the same FBI and industry testimony against the direct action group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). His goal was to whip up support for his effort to criminalize legal tactics that have proven effective against the vile chemical testing company, Huntington Life Science.

With gavel grasped in his greedy clutches, Inhofe is the Senator Joseph McCarthy of the day. Whereas McCarthy presided over the Red Scare of the 1950s that attacked “communists” as threats to national security, Inhofe spearheads the Green Scare of our day that vilifies “ecoterrorists” as a menace to the American Way. As McCarthy chaired the powerful House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Inhofe lords over the influential Environment and Public Works Committee. What McCarthy did to civil liberties, Inhofe seeks to revive, as he updates McCarthy’s persecutorial policies for the current era locked in struggle over the rights of nature. Ultimately, however, Inhofe is far more menacing than his fascist predecessor Joseph McCarthy, as Inhofe’s offenses against democracy and the constitution extend to crimes against nature and all future species who require a viable planet to live.

5 Star General in the Army of God

"When we win this revolution in November, you will be doing the Lord's work, and He will richly bless you for it." Senator James Inhofe, Christian Coalition Rally, October 2002

Personifying hypocrisy, Inhofe smears liberals and animal rights/environmental activists as extremists, but he himself is an extremist of the highest magnitude and a cancerous tumor in the body of democracy. In 1972, as an Oklahoma state senator, Inhofe recommended that Jane Fonda and George McGovern be hanged for treason. He has denounced the Red Cross as a "bleeding heart" organization and assailed the Environmental Protection Agency (hardly a foe to corporate polluters!) as a “Gestapo bureaucracy.” Infamous for his strident denial of human-induced global warming as nothing but a “hoax,” Inhofe is one of the most aggressive advocates of the “Earth Last!” philosophy advanced by the Bush administration and the far, far Right

Brandishing the Bible and morality as weapons, Inhofe is an evangelical, Christian fundamentalist who wants to implode the boundary between religion and the state, a foundation of American “democracy.” In a time when the rise of the New Right awakens fears of a New Reich, Inhofe dismisses concerns about the separation between church and state as "the phoniest argument there is." Like Bush and other Christian fundamentalists who believe they are soldiers in God’s war against liberals, activists, and infidels, Inhofe is but the flip side of Muslim fanatics he denounces. Bush, Inhofe, and the religious Right demonstrate that the alleged “clash of civilizations” (Samuel Huntingdon) is nothing but a “clash of fundamentalisms” (Tariq Ali). Both Christian crusaders and Muslim jihadists claim speak on behalf of the one God/Allah and proclaim the One and Only Truth; both curse all who dare to disagree and uphold their sacred texts to justify their violence and terrorism.

Inhofe sponsored the Religious Freedom Amendment that would allow government to promote religious beliefs and permit prayer in schools and other institutions, while adding that he considered Christianity alone to be a “real religion.” Shortly after 9/11, Inhofe strode into the Senate chamber to proclaim that God allowed the terrorists to attack the US on 9/11 because the US was not lending sufficient support to Israel. Leaning on a literal reading of the Bible, Inhofe decreed that any accommodation to Palestinians in the West Bank violates God’s will that only his chosen people inhabit the land.

Inhofe received a zero rating from NOW, Population Growth, and the League of Conservative Voters for his regressive views and voting record on their respective causes. Not surprisingly, however, he earned a 100% rating from the Christian Coalition. Logically enough, this Evangelical Holy Man and Keeper of Family Values is homophobic to the core. In 1994, Inhofe ran for the Senate on the platform of “God, Guns, and Gays.” This message allowed him to champion Christianity, promote the NRA, and demonize gays and lesbians, while suggesting that the deadly violence against homosexuals often unleashed in the US is justified by God’s will. In 1999, Inhofe put his prejudices into action by blocking Clinton’s nomination of James Hormel for ambassador to Luxembourg, merely to smite Hormel for being openly gay.

Torture First, Ask Questions Later

As a member of the Senate Armed Services committee, Inhofe has urged increases in the military budget, lobbied for a national missile “defense system,” and advocated a far more extensive role of the US military in world affairs in order to “serve vital national interests.” Inhofe revealed his dogmatic and repugnant character in a May 11 2005 hearing on American atrocities at Abu Ghraib and other prisons. Rather than assisting others investigating the serious charges that US forces tortured prisoners in Iraq, thereby violating international law and making a mockery of the claim to moral superiority over the Saddam Hussein regime, Inhofe attacked the messengers. For Inhofe, the only outrage was that politicians and the media were questioning US policies at all, rather than deploring the atrocities committed by Hussein and championing the “liberation” of the Iraqi people. Propagating the “guilty until proven innocent” logic of McCarthyism, Inhofe sneered that those in jail were “murderers,” “terrorists,” and “insurgents” put in their rightful place. He intoned that whatever punishment the captives received – which included humiliation, sexual assault, psychological torment, mocking religious beliefs, threats of attack with vicious dogs, and outright murder -- it paled in comparison to the crimes of Hussein and the manner in which foreign barbarians would treat US prisoners.

Inhofe excoriated the “many humanitarian do-gooders right now crawling all over these prisoners looking for human rights violations while our troops, our heroes, are fighting and dying.” Drawing on the “few bad apples” theory espoused by apologists for US war crimes, Inhofe whined about the attention paid to a handful of soldiers who did some “alleged” bad things. If remotely plausible then, Inhofe’s argument certainly has been thoroughly refuted since, as further US abuses and war crimes have come to light. The revelations that shame the US before the world include the secret CIA torture jails in numerous countries and the use of napalm, white phosphorous, and other chemical weapons against Iraqi resistance fighters and citizens. Hardly an anomaly resulting from a few sadistic soldiers, torture is an officially sanctioned policy, one written and endorsed by Alberto Gonzalez shortly before he took over the highest legal office of the land as US Attorney General. US “liberators” have killed more people and committed atrocities than Saddam Hussein, who now appears to have been a benevolent dictator in comparison to rule of the US military and Halliburton.

Inhofe’s smug testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee is significant because it reveals that he is wholly uncritical of the Bush administration he so faithfully serves, that he is a blind and ardent supporter of the terrorist war against Iraq, and that he is wholly insensitive to ethical issues of any kind. One cannot expect him to understand animal rights if he has no sympathy for human rights.

Inhofe’s “guilty before proven innocent” mindset is worth emphasizing as it belongs to a shining knight in the corporate-state witch hunt against the animal and environmental advocacy movements, to a person who occupies a powerful office whereby in the stench of ignorance and corruption he sits in judgment over others and influences the policies of law.

Inhofe the Eco-Barbarian

“I’m an advocate of sound science.” Senator James Inhofe

Inhofe is the most aggressive opponent of the environment in Congress today, and has led the neocon war against crucial forms of environmental protection such as the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and Superfund legislation. Inhofe is a strong proponent of oil and gas drilling in areas currently off-limits, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Alaskan Artic National Wildlife Refuge, said to be America’s last great wilderness area. Inhofe seeks to revise air pollution laws to favor big energy companies and rejects any legislating aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions on the grounds that there is "no convincing scientific evidence" for global warming. Inhofe’s role as Chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee is a classic case of the fox watching the henhouse, as he is backed by the large energy corporations that he in turn supports

Inhofe states that his duties as Chairman include “strengthening our Nation's infrastructure, continuing strong environmental protections and improving national security.” Inhofe maintains that he “is dedicated to restoring common sense and sound science to the regulatory decisions of the Environmental Protection Agency on such issues as climate variability, clean air mandates, wetlands, and endangered species.” Translated from doublespeak to plain English, Inhofe seeks to deregulate industries and scale back the “Washington DC bureaucracy” in order to grant corporations carte blanche powers to destroy biodiversity and the environment in their insatiable quest for resources, profit, and power.

Inhofe fulminates against “environmental fear mongers” and warns the nation of the “growing threat of far left environmentalism.” Amidst mounting worldwide concern from scientists, governments, and citizens, Inhofe glibly dismisses global warming as propaganda, as “the poster child of the Left,” and, incredibly, as “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” As he no doubt sees the earth as a corrupt material state of being that humans must endure before the Judgment Day and eternal salvation/damnation, Inhofe can only understand the urgent concerns of environmentalist as a defiled secularism and blasphemous pagan worship of nature gods, thereby violating the imperative of the Christian God to worship and obey him only, the mandate that Bush, Inhofe, and the born again right seek to impose on the nation.

Having read though numerous reports funded by the energy industry, Inhofe poses on the world stage as an expert on global warming. He embodies the contradiction of a Christian fundamentalist upholding the eternal law of God while at the same time appealing to “science” to shore up his argument, but he is only playing a language game in a secular field, fully believing that one book -- the Bible – trumps all other claims and authorities. Donning his secular mask and simulating the voice of reason and moderation, Inhofe scoffs at the growing scientific consensus that fossil fuel emissions are heating up the planet as a tyranny of a misinformed majority, while insisting that that his own conclusions are correct and supported by the "painstaking work of the nation's top climate scientists." Yet, just as Inhofe invokes the rhetoric of “less government” to mask his support of corporate domination, so he appeals to the norms of “sound science” to obscure his use of junk science funded by corporations such as ExxonMobil.

Inhofe’s first intervention in the global warming debate occurred on July 28 2003, when he delivered a 12,000-word speech on the Senate floor, entitled "The Science of Climate Change." Inhofe outlined conclusions he claimed he reached after several years of study, and argued that his conclusion is supported by empirical evidence such as satellite data and the "painstaking work of the nation's top climate scientists." Inhofe denies there is any global warming or other climate changes that are human-caused (“anthropogenic”), rather than naturally occurring.

Consequently, he rejects the Kyoto Treaty and supported the US policy not to participate with nations throughout the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was a historic agreement among world states to recognize the grave problem of global warming and respond with a collective will. To date, the treaty has been ratified by 156 countries (who collectively are responsible for 61% of global emissions) -- with the US (responsible for 25% of global emissions) being the most notable exception Giving voice to corporate complaints and US policy, Inhofe argues that the treaty places an unfair burden on the US by requiring more from it than China, India, and other developing nations, despite the fact that the US is the leading producer of greenhouse gases. Inhofe dismisses the Kyoto treaty as nothing but a tool used by European countries to undermine US competitiveness on the global market. He objects that it would harm the American economy and cause the loss of millions of jobs (as he most unconvincingly invokes compassion for the poor), all for a policy he views as politicized science devoid of factual support and replete with uncertainties.

As the tobacco industries once argued – in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary – that there is no proven link between smoking and cancer, that the data is uncertain, and that more studies are required, so Inhofe and fellow eco-barbarians insist that the evidence for global warming is uncertain and that more research is required – a position they clearly can hold indefinitely, while the planet heats up and the sea levels continue to rise.

If such is possible, Inhofe is even more regressive than Bush, for at the G8 summit of world leaders in summer 2005, Bush actually acknowledged that human beings are warming the planet (which Inhofe continues to deny) – as he stood alone in opposition to mandatory emissions controls, which he said were too costly.

Lysenkoism and Junk Science

“I believe it is extremely important for the future of this country that the facts and the science get a fair hearing. Without proper knowledge and understanding, alarmists will scare the country into enacting its ultimate goal: making energy suppression, in the form of harmful mandatory restrictions on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions, the official policy of the United States.” Senator James Inhofe

From 1927-1964, Trofim Lysenko controlled Soviet biological and agricultural research. He repressed all research in genetic science in the belief that it contradicted socialist doctrine rooted in the goal of improving human beings through social engineering. “Lysenkoism” is the mentality that denies scientific facts and hinders scientific investigation to promote a political ideology and interest position. One finds it alive and well in the US today, not only in fundamentalist attacks on evolution and stem-cell research, but also in assault on the science supporting global warming. Inhofe is our very own Trofim Lysenko. But whereas Lysenko merely crippled Soviet scientific progress for decades, as it flourished elsewhere, Inhofe’s dogma is contributing to the destabilization of the planetary ecosystem and thereby to unimaginable levels of suffering, death, chaos, and species extinction.

In Orwellian fashion, Inhofe couches his anti-science outlook with pro-science rhetoric. This “scientific” approach, however, ignores or attacks the best available science – which overwhelmingly verifies the anthropogenic hypothesis – as it relies on work funded by ExxonMobil and conservative organizations.

As cogently laid out in Chris Mooney’s article, “Earth Last,” Inhofe’s argument against global warming is fatally flawed on numerous grounds. First, Inhofe relies on authors whose objectivity is highly suspect (as he upholds science fiction writer and contrarian Michael Crichton as an eminent authority!). One author cited by Inhofe, Harvard astrophysicist Willie Soon, failed to disclose that his research was partly funded by the American Petroleum Institute. With co-author, David Legates of the University of Delaware, Soon was involved with the George C. Marshall Institute, a contrarian organization that rejects the androgenic hypothesis. The institute’s president, William O'Keefe, previously chaired the Global Climate Coalition, an anti-Kyoto body, and was CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. In 2002, Soon and Legates received $90,000 from ExxonMobil, an organization for whom Soon is a registered lobbyist. His objectivity in question, Soon replied, "I keep my Exxon work and my Marshall work separate.”

The corruption of “science” and opinion for hire is widespread, as ExxonMobil funds hosts of intellectual mercenaries, including journalists, scientists, and conservative “think tank” researchers. In 2003, for example, it gave over $8 million to individuals who promote its viewpoint. In the past 6 years, it has spent over $55 million in lobbying efforts, finding friendly reception with politicians such as Inhofe.

A second reason why Inhofe’s arguments fail is that he has misrepresented scientists to suits his purposes. Appropriating the work of meteorologist Tom Wigley, for example, Inhofe attributed to him his own belief that the Kyoto Protocol merited no US support because it would have a miniscule long-term impact on climate change. Outraged by this misrepresentation, Wigley complained in a letter to Senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist that his real position was not that the Kyoto Protocol is futile and unworthy of support, but that it is only the first of many vital steps that the US and world nations must take collectively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.

Third, Inhofe ignores mountains of solid research by credible organizations and research teams of hundreds of scientists that support the anthropogenic theory, and he has even attempted to suppress reports that contradict his claims. As a member of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative organization funded by ExxonMobil, Inhofe sued the government in order to suppress an important report commission by the Clinton administration (the “National Assessment” report) that presented a detailed synopsis of the impact climate change could have on different regions in the US. The clear purpose of the lawsuit was to prevent the public from learning about its alarming findings in case they learn to reject greenwashing campaigns and awaken from their complacency to the nightmare unfolding on planet earth.

So far, unfortunately, neocon propaganda tactics have worked. A June 2005 Gallop Poll showed that only about half of Americans believe the effects of global warming have already begun, when in fact the devastation already has begun. It seems that almost 100% of the public are captives to production/consumption imperatives, mesmerized by entertainment spectacles, brainwashed by FOX News and other corporate media, and simply indifferent to the most important urgent issue of the day. And, of course, yet another benefit of Bush’s “war on terror” is that it keeps Americans preoccupied with “national security” rather than environmental security, but the two issues are wholly inseparable.

Earth to Inhofe: The Evidence Is In

Inhofe’s politically-driven, anti-scientific agenda mirrors the actions of the Bush administration which critics claim has the worst ever environmental protection record. As Robert F. Kennedy spells out in his expose, “Crimes Against Nature,” the Bush’s administration installs corporate pirates in cabinet positions relevant to their industry interests, solicits junk science to quiet public fears over issues such as global warming, cherry-picks and rewrites scientific data until it suits its anti-environmental/pro-corporate policies, suppresses reports warning of environmental hazards and problems, and even disbands scientific advisory committees when necessary to advance corporate interests. In line with this policy to suppress truth and dissent, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) recently launched a blatant intimidation campaign by pressuring three professors documenting human-induced global warming to submit all their work in this area for review.

The Bush team used professional PR companies to disseminate lies about Saddam’s Hussein’s alleged chemical and nuclear weapons and justify an attack on a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11, but everything to do with its geopolitical ambitions and quest for control of world oil resources. In both Iraq and the US, Bush and his cronies paid journalists to publish their propaganda as truth, and they have used the same tactics to promote falsehoods about global warming. And Inhofe is a top commander in Bush’s War on Truth.

Inhofe is correct that consensus is not evidence of truth (a scientific majority once ridiculed continental drift and Einstein’s theory of relativity), but he is dead wrong to claim that the weight of evidence does not overwhelmingly support the conclusion that planet is heating up due to human not natural causes. Inhofe right observes that the science of climate change contains uncertainties, but he mistakenly holds that key conclusions are not well-established facts. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Scientists know for certain that human activities are changing the composition of Earth's atmosphere. Increasing levels of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2), in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times have been well documented. There is no doubt this atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is largely the result of human activities.”

Even once-hardened skeptics have changed their positions about global warming; in fact, precious few if any skeptics exist among climate scientists not on the payroll of ExxonMobil. The best recent data often stems from the collaborative efforts of hundreds of scientists from many nations, or organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a collective of over 2,500 leading climate scientists, economists, and risk experts created in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. From their First Assessment Report in 1990 to their Third Assessment Report in 2001, the IPCC shifted from a cautious conclusion that the science for human-induced climate change is sound and possibly portends major environmental impacts to an urgent warning that the earth may warm up by six degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Increasingly, the world community is lining up against Bush. Staunch ally Tony Blair rejects Bush’s position, the UK head of Shell oil has warned about dire consequences of global warming, and Blair’s top scientific advisor called Bush’s position “indefensible.” Dr. Rajendra Pachaur, Bush’s own appointed chairman of the IPCC argues that we have already reached a critical point of no return that threatens the future survival of the human species if major changes are not made immediately. Even the Pentagon – certainly no left-wing, alarmist, wacko organization that Inhofe can mockingly dismiss -- is trying to get the message across to Bush that environmental disasters will bring about social chaos and possibly global warfare (including nuclear weapons), as nations take desperate measures to acquire and protect scare resources. Clearly, Bush’s supreme goal of “national security” is impossible without environmental security.

While Inhofe and Bush continue to defend the interests of energy corporations, to ignore the grave problem of fossil fuel addiction, and to fight costly wars to gain possession of foreign oil supplies, the earth is hemorrhaging, responding to the effects of industrial economies spewing ozone-destroying gasses into the environment over centuries of time.

Since the late 19th century, there has been an increase in the global average surface temperature of the planet of about 1°F, affecting northern and southern hemispheres and the oceans as well. Snow cover is receding and mountain glaciers are shrinking, as artic ice caps melt and crash thunderously into the sea, raising water levels globally. Since scientists first began to keep temperature records in the 1860s, the last ten years have been the warmest on record. One quarter of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed by rising water temperatures. In 2005, there were more named hurricanes than any previous year, and killers like Katrina and Rita drew their crushing power from the warming waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Scientific evidence continues to mount. As I write in November 2005, for instance, at least three major reports have been released. A multi-year study undertaken by 300 scientists concluded that the artic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, and that the ice cap is now 40 per cent thinner than in the 1970s. Another study using data obtained from drilling to the bottom of artic ice showed that current carbon dioxide levels are the highest in the last 650,000 years. Also, findings from the National Oceanography Centre in Southhampton, England, show that Gulf Stream currents that carry warm water from the tropics northward toward Britain have weakened by 30 per cent in the last twelve years, as a result of global warming disruption, threatening to transform its relatively mild climate into one as cold as Canada’s. Greenhouse gases, in other words, have already changed the circulation of the oceans.

The chaos and destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 will barely register on the scale of disasters likely to come. As projected in the IPCC’s Third Assessment Report, scientists predict a continued global warming of 2.5°-10.4°F over the next century. As sea-levels continue to rise – according to one estimate they may rise up to three feet by 2100 -- low lying islands will vanish, and major cities like New Orleans and Bangladesh may also be submerged under water. Millions of desperate environmental refuges will overwhelm the ability of societies to respond. As floods overtake some areas, droughts will overwhelm other areas; some parts of the world will experience dramatic heating, while others will undergo significant cooling. Deaths from skin cancer, malaria, and other diseases will skyrocket. Already, the icy habitats of polar bears, seals, and penguins are threatened, as global warming will continue to be a key factor in species extinction overall.

The Greatest Threat of All

As evident from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, dangerous climate change and social chaos is happening right now, and the specter of global warming is not merely an imaginary sci-fi dystopia or a hypothetical concern for future generations. What scientists once dismissed as improbable – the ability of human beings to alter the entire planetary ecosystem -- is now a fact, and the history of human existence has irrevocably changed as we enter the new Era of Global Warming. Even if world governments stopped all greenhouse gas emissions immediately, significant disruptions are inevitable, as seas and temperatures will continue to rise for decades or centuries to come.

So, it’s no longer a question of avoiding the effects of global warming, but of minimizing and managing it, of saving as much biodiversity as possible, and of trying to salvage a viable future for the human species. The challenge is daunting. While an important first step toward global regulation, the Kyoto Protocol aims only to reduce emissions from industrial nations by 5%, whereas the consensus among climate scientists is that emission cuts as great as 60% are needed immediately to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Yet, Bush, Inhofe, ExxonMobil, and other reactionary forces of the current era are responding to the catastrophe of global warming as the Soviet government responded to the meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986 – with denial, cover-up, propaganda, and criminal neglect. Similar to the movie, The Day After Tomorrow (2004), where Vice President Becker contemptuously scoffs at global warming until tsunamis, ice, and tornadoes wreak global havoc, so Inhofe is implacable and blind to the catastrophes already unfolding and may not awake to scientific facts until his state of Oklahoma is torched into a scorched desert.

From every imaginable perspective, the earth is in grave decline. Our era is one of species extinction, overpopulation, rainforest destruction, desertification, pollution, and global warming. Recently, 1,360 researchers and 600 peer-reviewers from 95 nations, collaborating for a four year period, released the fourth Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report. Considered by many to be the most authoritative study to date on the state of the planet, the report specifically addressed the business and industry community to warn that that human beings have inalterably changed the planet to the point that the survival of future generations is threatened and far-reaching solutions are urgently required to address an emergency situation.

Showing far more reason and foresight than Bush and Inhofe, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has stated that climate change is our biggest environmental challenge, and his chief scientific advisor, David King has said, more to the point, that climate change is a fare great threat to humanity than international terrorism. Instead of turning his attention to this monumental challenge that calls the future of humanity and biodiversity into question, Inhofe -- Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee -- is preoccupied with persecuting animal rights and environmental activists and groups, continuing the legacy of Senator Joseph McCarthy in his persecution of dissent, whether voiced in the underground or aboveground and mainstream communities.

Future generations struggling to cope with the consequences of centuries of industrialism, fossil fuel addition, corporate greed, and political corruption will brand Inhofe as a key individual responsible for massive climate change, and the subsequent social and ecological havoc it will unleash on a global and long-term scale. Already, climate change has had a drastic impact on animals and is a key contributing factor to the death of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people in poor countries.

Make no mistake about it: Inhofe is an extremely dangerous ideologue and demagogue. Hypocrisy embodied, this Zeus-like figure who hurls thunderbolts at “eco-terrorists” has waged war against the forces of resistance that alone can save this planet, while being one of the greatest terrorists on the planet today. Inhofe blasts environmentalists following sound science as fear-mongers, while in reality he himself peddles fear about the threat of “eco-terrorism,” trying to make the public think the problem is with animal and environmental activists rather than corporations and corrupt politicians.

Inhofe’s goal is to delude the public into thinking that global warming is a politically-motivated myth, that environmentalism is a harmful scam, that corporations are responsible and vital to human well-being, that government regulation is a hindrance to progress and the American Dream, and that terrorists are those who criticize or resist the omnicidal attack on the planet, not those who in fact are leading it.

To appease a handful of large energy and oil companies, Bush, Inhofe, and others in government have mortgaged the future of life on this planet. The sooner the world’s peoples recognize the true threats and formulate proper political strategies, the better able our species can effectively address the crisis that will unfold with increasing intensity and destructive power. Never before has humanity faced such a crisis. Never before have we needed to form a collective will. Never before has radical, revolutionary, militant, and totally immoderate forms of political struggle been more necessary than now.

Links

I. Inhofe

Senator James Inhofe Home Page
http://inhofe.senate.gov/

Inhofe’s Voting Record and Position on Current Issues
http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/James_Inhofe.htm

“The Deranged Mind of James Inhofe: Maybe the Dumbest US Senator of the All”
http://www.counterpunch.org/jackson05122004.html

“Senator James Inhofe is a dangerous idiot”
http://friends.macjournals.com/mattd/inhofeDangerousIdiot?print-friendly=true

“Crichton and Inhofe do Climate Change!”
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=434&catid=15

“GOP Senator Labels Abused Prisoners `Terrorists’”
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/11/inhofe.abuse/

II. Anti-Environmentalism of the Religious Right

Religious Right War on Nature
http://www.theocracywatch.org/environment.htm

“George W. Bush’s War on Nature”
http://www.theocracywatch.org/glen_bush.html

“Environment right for a political showdown”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-02-16-environment-usat_x.htm

“Crimes Against Nature”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/5939345?rnd=1133899503676&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

III. Kyoto and Global Warming

Kyoto Protocol
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html

Q&A: The Kyoto Protocol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4269921.stm

Wikipedia on Kyoto Protocol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

Wikipedia on Global Warming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Real Climate
http://www.realclimate.org/

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
http://www.ipcc.ch/

Global Warming FAQs from the Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/global-warming-faq.html

“The Discovery of Global Warming”
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.html

“Scientific Opinion on Climate Change”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

“Climate Change: Uncharted Waters?”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4061871.stm

“Global Warming: Planetary Emergency”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8742123?rnd=1133839453508&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

“Animals Hit by Global Warming”
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19772.shtml

“Climate change and pollution are killing millions”
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19766.shtml

For a critical analysis of the McCarthyesque nature of Inhofe’s summer 2005 hearing on the animal welfare/rights movement, see: “Showtrials and Scarecrows: `Ecoterrorism and the War on Dissent,” at: http://www.drstevebest.org/papers/phiecosoc/showtrials_scarecrows.htm

The second hearing also featured testimony from Dr. Jerry Vlasak who openly defended the use of violence to protect innocent animals from attack. For his testimony and that of other parties, see: http://epw.senate.gov/hearing_statements.cfm?id=247470

See: http://inhofe.senate.gov/

On Crichton’s disinformation campaign as embraced by Inhofe, see: http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=434&catid=15 . On Inhofe and Crichton’s bizarre union and disinformation campaigns, see: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=188. For Crichton’s website for his recent book bashing global warming science, State of Fear, see: http://www.crichton-official.com/fear/. For his testimony to the EPWC, see: http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/index.html. Various commentators have noted the Hyperreal irony of science fiction writers posing as scientific experts and influencing political policy.

See: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/5939345?rnd=1133899503676&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

University of California, San Diego science historian, Naomi Oreskes, analyzed 1,000 research papers on climate change selected randomly from those published between 1993 and 2003, and found that not one study explicitly rejected the idea that people are warming the planet. See “The truth about global warming”: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002549346_globewarm11.html.

See: http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx

See “Animals `hit by global warming” http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19772.shtml, and “Climate change and pollution are killing millions, says study,” at: http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19766.shtml.

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