Laugher of the day

I know, I'm late the party on the discussion of the state climatologist and his differences with the governor over global warming. But the front page of today's Oregonian made me laugh -- it includes an article headlined, "To governor, Oregon has no 'climatologist,' " in which Gov. Ted Kulongoski makes it clear he knows more about climate science than the head of the Oregon Climate Service.

"From the governor's perspective there's no such position as state climatologist that speaks on behalf of the state on issues of climate change," said gubernatorial spokesperson Anna Richter Taylor.

But here's a little quiz: between Kulongoski and Taylor, guess which one has a master's degree in meteorology? Guess which one, according the Oregonian article, "has been widely known as Oregon's state climatologist since 1991 and uses that title," because (even though the position was de-funded by the feds in the 1980s) he took over the duties of what used to be the official state climatologist?

Hint: it's not the governor.

But the state climatologist, Oregon State University's George Taylor, differs from the governor on the human impact on global warming -- he says the human impact is, at best, unclear, and other factors such as natural climate fluctuation have more of a role.

So here's the laugher, courtesy of the governor's spokesperson:

Richter Taylor says the Oregon governor isn't trying to censor or fire anyone. "He is trying to make sure we have the right person with the right credentials speaking on behalf of this state," she said.

In other words, this Taylor guy has the right credentials and we can't handle the possibility that someone might listen to him when he disagrees with the all-powerful governor. Thus, "the right credentials" is translated as, "the person who agrees with Ted."

Please, Ms. Richter Taylor: spare me the PR spin. The governor also sought legislation allowing him to appoint the state climatologist, so it's not unreasonable to translate your spin as, "we're going to fire the state climatologist at the earliest opportunity so we can replace him with someone who will spout the Kulongoski party line."

Another way to put it:
I'M NOT LISTENING I'M NOT I'M NOT I'M NOT I'M NOT YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!!!