As the Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a candidate for president of the United States, took time out from the campaign trail to conduct hearings on the subject of how government regulations hurt the poor. The economic impact of regulations is a chronic but somewhat under reported problem. Government agencies tend to ignore how much compliance to regulations costs. Cruz was performing a public service by attempting to shed some light on the issue. That his effort might also benefit the case for his being elected president would be a happy side effect, from his point of view.
One of the witnesses at the hearing was Aaron Mair, the president of the Sierra Club and a great believer in government regulations where the environment is concerned. Cruz turned to the subject of global warming, which some call climate change, and proceeded to grill Mair like a fish, according to the Blaze.
“‘Is it the Sierra Club’s position as you just testified, that the Earth is cooking up and heating and warming right now? Is that the Sierra Club’s position?’ Cruz asked.
“‘Global temperatures are on the rise sir,’ Mair replied.
“‘And I assume that the Sierra Club would issue a public retraction if confronted with the facts?’ Cruz asked. ‘That the data are precisely as I described. That over the last 18 years there has been no significant warming. And indeed that is why global alarmists invented the term ‘the pause’ to explain what they call the pause in global warming because the data demonstrate what you just said that the Earth is cooking and warming is not backed up by the data.’
“‘We are concurring with 97 percent of the scientists that say the exact opposite, sir,’ Mair replied.”
The “97 percent” figure, which adherents of global warming often use to support their position, as an appeal to authority, has been thoroughly debunked, as the Wall Street Journal reported. Far fewer climate scientists believe that human caused climate change exists and fewer yet believe it to be a problem.
Nevertheless, Cruz continued to bore in on the question and Mair continued to give his rote answer about the “97 percent.” Cruz’s point about satellite data is based on science. Mair’s answer is based on faulty, some would say distorted, statistical analysis. Indeed, it might be said that Mair was proven to be the “science denier” and Cruz the champion of science, properly understood.
