There is a huge disconnect between “we the people” and our elected officials in Olympia. They are not listening to “we the people” period. Take a good look at what is happening with the Taxpayer Protection Initiative I-960.
“We the people” passed this initiative to reign in legislators on their tax and spend policies. “We the people” voted for a two-thirds rule three times in 1993, 1998 and in 2007. Obviously, “we the people” want it that way. Now the governor and state legislators want to bypass “we the people” entirely.
Olympia, here is your sign! “What more is necessary to make us wise and happy people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens — a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.” Thomas Jefferson 1799.
When elected officials trump “the will of the people,” then we are long overdue for a big change in Olympia.
Kenneth Wolf
Coupeville
Climate change
deniers are dubious
I read with great interest Mr. Smith’s letter of Jan. 6 in which he referenced the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NPICC). I’d never heard of this prestigious sounding group whose name seemed similar to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Investigating I discovered that NPICC was created in 2008 by Dr. Siegfried Frederick Singer (1924-) and includes just 23 scientists. In contrast, the IPCC was established in 1988 and is composed of 2,500 scientists worldwide.
Apparently, the NIPCC does not deny that Climate Change is human induced. At their one-day meeting in Brussels last year they stated, “We do not say anthropogenic greenhouse gases cannot produce some warming. Our conclusion is that the evidence shows they are not playing a significant role.” Another key speaker, Patrick Michaels, a retired climatologist, admitted that “global warming is real and people have something to do with it.”
So who is Dr. Siegfried Singer? Seems he’s coauthored the book “Climate Change Reconsidered” (2009) published by the Heartland Institute. “Heartland’s mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.” Obviously to encourage as wide a distribution as possible, it sells for just $154 ($123 on Amazon). Unfortunately, scientists from Princeton, Harvard and NASA who were asked to review it, called it “fabricated nonsense.”
In 2007 Newsweek reported that in 1998 Singer, along with Big Oil reps, attended a meeting at the Petroleum Institute. There they construed a $5 million misinformation campaign whose goals were “to convince the public that the science of global warming is riddled with controversy and uncertainty.” and “raising questions about and undercutting the ‘prevailing scientific wisdom’” on climate change.” ABC News has reported that Singer insists he is not on the payroll of the energy industry, but admits he once received an unsolicited $10,000 from Exon-Mobil.
Dr. Singer is not just skeptical of climate change but also of the connection between CFCs and ozone, and secondhand smoke and lung cancer. As a memo from Philip Morris’s public relations consultant put it, “As you know, we have been working with Singer and Dr. Dwight Lee, who have authored articles on junk science and indoor air quality (IAQ).”
The NIPCC may be dubious about climate change. I think we ought to be dubious of them. Just a thought.
Gary Piazzon
Coupeville
