Schwarzenegger guzzles science skeptic potion

Like most of the Republican intelligentsia these days, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be guzzling the same fetid glop that fuels the corporate-backed science skeptic movement.

Climate change is real. The jury's no longer out on that. We have to face up to the un-face-up-to-able.

But Schwarzenegger has just vetoed a bill that would have introduced climate change education into California schools. The bill had passed the California Senate by a smashing margin and would have mandated that science textbooks discuss global warming.

Schwarzenegger's excuse for vetoing the bill was that he opposes statewide educational mandates. Oh yeah? Well, he supports standardized testing. Isn't that a state mandate? I'm pretty sure California (like almost all U.S. states) already requires students to take certain subjects. Isn't that a state mandate too?

If Schwarzenegger is so worked up about state mandates in education, then the Kentucky school system ought to drop what seems to be a mandate of Republican worship.

Clearly he's being influenced by the corporate-supported cult of climate change denial that rules the roost in the GOP. If this cult had any credibility to begin with, it has none now after what happened a couple months back.

About 2 months ago, global warming skeptics kept boasting about how they had 30,000 signatures of scientists who were going to "prove" climate change was all a big put-on. For weeks, they were blustering about how this was going to blow the lid off our stance once and for all.

Welp, that turned out to be a big flop, didn't it? This pathetic skeptic stampede fizzled, and the wingnutosphere is reeling in so much embarrassment that they don't dare to bring it up now.

I guess this is like how they were going to "prove" Saddam still had weapons of mass destruction when the war began, right? Everything the wingnutosphere says falls flat.

It's time to say, "Hasta la vista, baby," to the discredited beliefs of climate change skeptics.

(Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10010291)