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Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

Here we go again! More doom and gloom from a global warming alarmist (Bill McKibben, opinion column in Post Independent, published Dec. 31). In his article, Mr. McKibben forecasts sea level changes of “tens of meters” – that’s well in excess of 33 feet – if we don’t change our wicked ways and drastically reduce atmospheric CO2 levels to no more than 350ppm. However, as pointed out in Bjorn Lomborg’s excellent book on global warming, “Cool It,” the expectation of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its 2007 report, is a most likely rise in sea level of 38.5 centimeters by the end of this century, or a fraction more than 15 inches. That’s way below Mr. McKibben’s tens of meters expectation. The book “Cool It” also deals dispassionately, and rationally, with several other dire predictions of climate change-driven consequences by the global warming lobby, such as: extreme weather, flooding rivers, a New Ice Age, worldwide mosquito-borne diseases, worldwide water shortages and mass starvation.Mr. Lomborg does not ignore the likelihood of some climate change. Neither does he deny that it likely has a human-caused component. Rather, in “Cool It,” he demonstrates that it would be far better – and a whole, whole lot cheaper – to mitigate the effects of climate change than to drastically change our way of life, and surrender our freedoms to a cadre of unelected alarmists in the process, to meet arbitrary atmospheric CO2 limits, such as 350ppm. “Cool It” addresses each of the above climate change risks, proposes rational cost-effective solutions, and estimates the costs as well. Ross Talbott (another opinion column published in the Post Independent on Dec. 31) has it right when he says, “Global warming is another power play, and its proponents have used misinformation and all sorts of tactics to induce fear in the hope we will look to them as the savior of the world.” In dealing with global warming, we neither need, nor want, an Orwellian “1984”-type tyranny imposed by a well-intentioned Big Brother nanny-state.John SargentBattlement Mesa

I delighted in our New Year’s missive from our bible-thumping neighbor in Battlement Mesa who calls anyone who disagrees with him “traitors, fascists” and other niceties. A sterling example of his Christian philosophy, I’m sure. Much of the national press pussyfoots around the alleged “faith” of the various presidential candidates who do not run outright on religion.We “godless atheists” face a different fate. This paper recently took it upon themselves to edit one of my letters in a way that completely changed the meaning of my comment on religion and law. I will restate my comment for clarity: No nation on earth that combines religion and law is truly free.Here in the U.S. we are slowly deleting the absurd “Blue Laws” forced upon the populace by religion. A small example: If you don’t want to buy an automobile or a six pack of beer on Sunday, it’s religious freedom to do as you choose. If you prevent me from doing it by law, it’s oppression by religion.When the government steals taxpayer monies from public education to fund religious schools, it is a violation of the separation of church and state. No political party can use tax-free real estate to run a political action center, but the fundamentalist churches do it every day. No one else is using public money to indoctrinate a generation of voters to their cause.Our president, who alleges to talk to God, has led us into financial and moral ruin by violating any number of “commandments,” and his supporters in the religious right are still cheering. Hypocrisy is a way of life for these folks if it serves their ends or makes a profit. Legislated religion will take away your rights and your tax money, every time. Pray publicly, quote thunderous “truths” and bore readers to tears in letters to the editor; just don’t foist it off on everyone else in the laws of the land.Robert W. BoyleNew Castle


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