Willful ignorance
Mickey McVay’s letter regarding global warming (Opinion, Letters to the Editor, “Greenie weenies?,” Nov. 9, Oklahoma Gazette) takes the cake. Those who reject human-caused global warming are being willfully ignorant or, in the case of politicians, corrupt. He tells us of “PhD chemists, physicists and microbiologists” he’s encountered over a 30-year period who all considered global warming to be hooey. Nevermind that McVay’s evidence is anecdotal or that the PhDs are not climatologists, meteorologists or physical geographers; he apparently believes that hearsay carries more weight than all of the scientific bodies and nearly all of the scientists in the world that do not doubt the fact of global warming.
Mr. McVay, like all science deniers, conveniently ignores the scientific discoveries of Joseph Fourier (1824), John Tyndall (1859), Svante Arrhenius (1896), Guy Stewart Callendar (1938), Gilbert Plass (1956) and Roger Revelle and Hans Suess (1957) and mounds of evidence proving global warming theory.
McVay also states in his letter that he “well remembers” when scientists believed that the atom was the smallest particle. Huh? The electron was discovered in 1897 and scientists have understood that the atom contained smaller particles ever since. Of course, McVay’s point was that scientists can be wrong, as if science has not advanced over time as new discoveries are made.
Modern satellite remote sensing has revolutionized climate science. The global and fine-scale spatial coverage of modern satellites is unparalleled and has led to important discoveries that could not have been detected by conventional observations or climate models of just a couple of decades ago. All of that data is now in digital form, meaning that today’s scientists can quickly obtain new information directly from the source and enter it into an appropriate analysis program such as a GIS (geographic information system). This has greatly reduced the time it takes to conduct climate research.
And what has all of this improvement in data compilation, satellite coverage, real-time observational ability, remote sensing technology and computer-powered analysis gotten us? Even more evidence that anthropogenic global warming is a fact. That’s how a good scientific theory works. The more information you obtain and the more discoveries are made, the more that theory is supported and proven.
The only folks that don’t see it are the willfully ignorant.
Brent Payne Oklahoma City
Messy situation
I read with interest the article on indigent court reform (News, “Court reform,” Laura Eastes, Dec. 14, Gazette). All anyone talks about is what it costs to keep someone in jail or how that will not help them. I own two pieces of property near the westside Homeless Alliance on Third Street and N. Virginia Avenue.
My alley is constantly full of homeless who leave mountains of trash. They defecate on my sidewalks, leave trash and start fires. When I call the city and complain, a code inspector comes by and sites me and my neighbors for trash while the people who put it there are left undisturbed.
Two months ago, a fire was started beside my building and it went under the siding and burned it.
I have had my heart hardened. I am told about 25 percent are mentally ill or on drugs or alcohol. When considering the cost in lives and money to incarcerate them, consider what the cost is for them to be on the streets. Property owners should have some rights, too.
John Harris Oklahoma City
Coveted coffers
Municipal, county and state governmental entities throughout Oklahoma are allowed to confiscate public property for their own governmental entity benefit (Title 60, St. § 176-180.4). They place ownership of the public’s property in the false trust estate created of, by and for the governmental entity. A prime example is the Stillwater Utility Authority (SUA) or its predecessor, the Stillwater Public Works Authority (SPWA). The local officials are the governing body who appoint themselves as trustees and then assign their governmental entity as beneficiary, removing the public from oversight, control or voice in what they do.
Thus, the trust indenture becomes a contract with themselves that they change at will. Think New Year’s resolutions.
These “trusts” ignore previous legal precedent and established trust law. They do not act as a trust for the benefit of the public. They act as tax-exempt and monopolistic corporations without restraint by the public, Corporation Commission, FTC or any other state or federal governance. If these were private-sector corporations, they would face strict antitrust laws, such as Title 79, Oklahoma St. § 79-205, to limit their greed.
It seems in Oklahoma, there are no limits placed on government greed.
Dennis Gronquist Stillwater
Just deserts
Donald Trump as the GOP candidate appealed to voters with fear, hate and ignorance, and violence was accepted by many. He mocked women, Latinos, Muslims, blacks, Native Americans, a Gold Star family, the disabled and veterans.
In the debates, he showed his ignorance of how our government functions. He reneged on payments to subcontractors, used substandard Chinese steel in his buildings and conned students at his fake university.
More than a dozen women came forward and recounted how he sexually assaulted them.
The GOP candidate easily gained the support of racists and white supremacists. But what kind of mental gymnastics did the evangelicals, conservatives, women and Tea Partiers have to go through to believe that he was suited for our highest office? He doesn’t have the most basic sense of human decency.
His campaign was an insult to America and our values. Those who voted for him are getting the “president” they deserve.
Bill Fuller McAlester
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