Meet Paul Ryan: Climate Denier, Conspiracy Theorist, Koch Acolyte

[_Kissy_]

Meet Paul Ryan: Climate Denier, Conspiracy Theorist, Koch Acolyte

on Aug 11, 2012 at 12:14 pm

By Brad Johnson, campaign manager for Forecast the Facts

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential pick, is a virulent denier of climate science, with a voting record to match.

A favorite of the Koch brothers, Ryan has accused scientists of engaging in conspiracy to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” He has implied that snow invalidates global warming.

Ryan has voted to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse pollution, to eliminate White House climate advisers, to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture from preparing for climate disasters like the drought devastating his home state, and to eliminate the Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E):

Paul Ryan Promoted Unfounded Conspiracy Theories About Climate Scientists.In a December 2009 op-ed during international climate talks, Ryan made reference to the hacked University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit emails. He accused climatologists of a “perversion of the scientific method, where data were manipulated to support a predetermined conclusion,” in order to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” Because of spurious claims of conspiracy like these, several governmental and academic inquiries were launched, all of which found the accusations to be without merit. [Paul Ryan, 12/11/09]

Paul Ryan Argued Snow Invalidates Global Warming Policy. In the same anti-science, anti-scientist December 2009 op-ed, Ryan argued, “Unilateral economic restraint in the name of fighting global warming has been a tough sell in our communities, where much of the state is buried under snow.” Ryan’s line is especially disingenuous because he hasn’t been trying to sell climate action, he’s been spreading disinformation.  [Paul Ryan, 12/11/09]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate EPA Limits On Greenhouse Pollution. Ryan voted in favor of H.R. 910, introduced in 2011 by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas pollution. [Roll Call 249, 4/7/11]

Paul Ryan Voted To Block The USDA From Preparing For Climate Change. In 2011, Ryan voted in favor of the Scalise (R-LA) Amendment to the FY12 Agriculture Appropriations bill, to bar the U.S. Department of Agriculture from implementing its Climate Protection Plan. [Roll Call 448, 6/16/11]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate White House Climate Advisers. Ryan voted in favor of Scalise (R-LA) Amendment 204 to the 2011 Continuing Resolution, to eliminate the assistant to the president for energy and climate change, the special envoy for climate change (Todd Stern), and the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation. [Roll Call 87, 2/17/11]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate ARPA-E. Ryan voted in favor of Biggert (R-IL) Amendment 192 to the 2011 Continuing Resolution, to eliminate the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E). [Roll Call 55, 2/17/11]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate Light Bulb Efficiency Standards. In 2011, Ryan voted to roll back light-bulb efficiency standards that had reinvigorated the domestic lighting industry and that significantly reduce energy waste and carbon pollution. [Roll Call 563, 7/12/11]

Paul Ryan Voted For Keystone XL. In 2011, Ryan voted to expedite the consideration and approval of the construction and operation of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. [Roll Call 650, 7/26/11]

Paul Ryan Budget Kept Big Oil Subsidies And Slashed Clean Energy Investment.House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2013 budget resolution retained a decade’s worth of oil tax breaks worth $40 billion, while slashing funding for investments in clean energy research, development, deployment, and commercialization, along with other energy programs. The plan called for a $3 billion cut in energy programs in FY 2013 alone. [CAP,3/20/12]

In short, Paul Ryan stands with Big Oil against scientific fact and the future of human civilization.

This piece has been updated.

Related Post:

• Paul Ryan And His Family To Benefit From The $45 Billion In Subsidies For Big Oil In His Budget

[imamomzilla]

 You left out anti Christ.

[jcrew6]

LOL. Op, your desperation is showing. Keep'm coming!

[trippyhippy]

So you're saying he didn't vote for/against the above listed items?

Quoting jcrew6:

LOL. Op, your desperation is showing. Keep'm coming!

[sweet-a-kins]

He's a nutter butter who says one thing and does what's expected of him



FRONT POLITICS ENTERTAINMENT MORE
Paul Ryan on Gay Rights: 'I Don't Know Why We Are Talking About This'
Michelangelo Signorile | 18 hours ago

Comments (55)
Mitt Romney's running mate is a man who, like Romney himself, once supported gay rights -- and I do mean just one time -- only to run far away when he needed to genuflect before cultural conservatives.
In an example of Romneyesque flip-floppery and just plain wimpiness, Rep. Paul Ryan actually tried to kill a gay rights bill just minutes before he voted "aye." Or, as Paul Schindler at Gay City News puts it, "he voted against [the Employment Non-Discrimination Act] before he voted for it."
In 2007, Ryan was one of 35 Republicans to vote for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which at that time only proposed to protect against job bias based on sexual orientation, not gender identity or expression. Ryan's advocacy that day was not unambiguous. When Republicans unsuccessfully tried a parliamentary maneuver to shelve the bill prior to its passage -- with what is known as a motion to recommit -- he joined 26 other GOP ENDA supporters in the unsuccessful effort to kill the bill they would vote for just moments later.
So, the Wisconsin Republican's half-hearted support for ENDA puts him somewhat to the right of Earlier Mitt Romney (who unequivocally supported ENDA while running for the Senate in 1994, actually vowing to co-sponsor it and expand it to include housing and credit), but definitely to the left of Current Mitt Romney, who doesn't support ENDA at all, now callously claiming it would harm businesses. It's not clear whether Ryan still supports ENDA or not, and that's a question reporters need to ask him, particularly since he may or may not be on the same page as Current Mitt Romney.
It's likely Ryan has flipped, too, though, since he took a lot of heat from conservatives after that vote on ENDA. (The bill died in the Senate.) It was the end of Ryan's very brief and tepid flirtation with gay rights. He'd already voted twice, in 2004 and 2006, for a federal marriage amendment (which Romney supports), and after the ENDA vote Ryan twice voted against the hate crimes bill to protect LGBT Americans, including when it eventually passed and was signed into law by President Obama. Ryan also twice voted against ending "don't ask, don't tell" in 2010. In 2011, he supported a constitutional amendment in Wisconsin to ban marriage for gays and lesbians in the state's constitution.
Back in 1999, his first year in the House, Ryan voted to ban gays and lesbians in the District of Columbia from adopting children, and opposed establishing a domestic partnership registry in the District as well. All of that has added up to a a big fat zero, consistently, from the Human Rights Campaign on its congressional scorecard, except for the session in which Ryan voted for ENDA, when he scored a 10 out of 100. (Predictably, a fleeting 10 rating is enough to send validation-starved gay Republicans into spasms of delight over the choice of Ryan as Romney's running mate.)
When the topic of gay rights comes up now, Ryan accuses the media of focusing on a meaningless issue and tries to change the subject. "Actually, I came on to talk about the debt crisis we have and the budget, and I think that's the driving issue of this election," he said when asked about gay marriage on Meet the Press this past February. "But look, I supported the Wisconsin amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman."
Ryan then went on to use the current president to back up his opposition to marriage equality as he tried to move on to another topic. "If I recall from the last presidential campaign, President Obama and Vice President Biden said that they support marriage as being between a man and a woman," Ryan said, "so I don't know why we are spending all this time talking about this."
That of course was before President Obama came out for marriage equality, following Joe Biden's enthusiastic movement forward on the issue. Now there's a stark choice in this election not just on the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans, but also on the civil rights issue of our time.

[Carpy]

Thinkprogress.  nuff said

Quoting jcrew6:

LOL. Op, your desperation is showing. Keep'm coming!

[Carpy]

Kind of the equivelent of WND

[itsmesteph11]

 Ahhh music to my ears.  First, don't even go there with the climate shit.  That has been proven to be bunk. There is no credibility in those claims.   He was right in his claims.  The rest?  Not really interested in short blurbs without the facts. 

The Koch brothers?  Great guys who are alowed to have their own opinions just as everyone else(Soros comes to mind). What they do with their money doesn't concern me.   My husband works for a Koch company and they pay well and allow us to live a decent life.  Big Oil? I love big oil. My father worked for "big oil", It provided us a nice upbringing in a nice house in a good school district.   Big Oil employs millions and is good for America. 

The EPA can go (well you know what I want to say)themselves for all I care.