Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX-Tea Party caucus), in Congress since 1985, is Chair Emeritus on the Energy and Commerce Committee. This is from a 2010 hearing on wind turbines:
“Wind is God’s way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it’s hotter to areas where it’s cooler. That’s what wind is. Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the interest of global warming we mandated massive switches to energy, which is a finite resource, which slows the winds down, which causes the temperature to go up? Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen, Mr. Chairman, but that is definitely something on the massive scale. I mean, it does make some sense. You stop something, you can’t transfer that heat, and the heat goes up. It’s just something to think about.”
Maybe he only plays the fool. Quotes like that take up all the oxygen while:
The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) put Congressman Barton on its CREW’s Most Corrupt Report 2011.[45][46] The article states that on Barton’s 2008 financial disclosure statement, he inaccurately reported on the source of a natural gas interest that he bought into. The share was purchased through a longtime donor and supporter who later died. This was discovered by the Dallas Morning News in 2010.[47] According to the Dallas Morning News article, Barton made over $100,000 on the investment. The article and CREW Report both point out how Barton buying this undervalued asset from an “advisor” on energy issues could be a conflict of interest to the Congressman’s position as the Chair of the House’s Energy Subcommittee.
The Congressman’s ethics have been noticed at home, so he’s had a few challengers lately. Nevertheless, he’s never been re-elected with less than 60% of the vote.
Because we all want smart capable people representing us in Congress, don’t we.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
Who could possibly believe that there is a dumb, corrupt politician in Texas. And that he is a Republican. I am shocked! Shocked!
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So round up the usual suspects . . .
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We know how the TP folks love to quote the Constitution. So, in their spirit, and for Joe: “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
Meanwhile, I yield to this great American orator.
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You do find gems Frank!
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🙂 … as the saying goes, when the shoe fits … !
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Yeah, it was an idiotic statement. It has some basis in physics but doesn’t AT ALL account for scale. 😆
On the other hand, wind power has it’s serious drawbacks and doesn’t work at the commercial scale…hmmmm, there’s that problem of scale again. 😉
One tangential thing though – Wind is exactly the engine Rep. Barton described and there’s been a lot done by people all over the world that could and has changed wind patterns. The Warmists won’t really look into that though because it would stop Global Warming from being a First World Only problem.
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I looked up Barton’s Wiki biography expecting to see a lack of education on things technical and was surprised to find that he has an engineering degree and a masters in “industrial administration”. He was also a “consultant” for Atlantic Richfield Oil and Gas Co before becoming a politician. Clearly, then, his comments about wind are disingenuous. He’s being a shill for his industry.
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A friend told me about his comments, and it sounded silly. Then I thought about it, and determined that he was technically correct. Using wind turbines will heat up the air due to friction losses, mechanical losses, and electrical inefficiency in the generator. These losses show up as heat. there is this little thing we call the Law of Conservation of energy. Heat (or energy) cannot be created, just transferred. I didn’t know that he has an engineering background, but now am not surprised. If he did explain the technical aspects of his comments, he would most likely leave the reporter and most readers in the dust with no idea of what he was talking about. I would imagine he has to “dumb down” his energy insight for his colleagues in Congress, based on some of the truly stupid energy related comments that come from others in Washington. The article writer takes on a mean and snarky tone which takes away from any purpose that the article had, unless it was completely meant as an attack. Imagine that: an attack on a White, Republican, Christian, Male, white-collar, (and probably middle-class and hetersexual). That is not the purpose of reporting, but I guess that’s just me.
either way, I would much rather have an engineer working with energy than a lawyer ,social activist, or community organizer. If you really want to know about a complicated subject, ask an expert.
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jonolan and Cam (hey, welcome!), reactions to his comments were informed by that first sentence: ““Wind is God’s way of balancing heat.” When a congress critter makes public policy comments, giving God credit immediately discredits those comments.”
And Cam, I agree with you regarding experts. I too would rather have an engineer working on policy issues. In another hearing:
“You can’t regulate God!” Barton barked at the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in the midst of discussion on measures to curb global warming.”
He’s also the guy who apologized to BP in 2010 when the Federal government levied fines on them. (Jim – you got that right!)
So, engineer or not, he’s a theocrat to me. (He also said Noah’s Great Flood was an example of climate change, in which he confuses climate with weather.)
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So if he’d said “Nature” you’d have actually applied thought to the substance of his claim? God, Nature…functionally the same thing from the mortal viewpoint…at to those who aren’t anti-Theists.
As for “The Flood” – cue dramatic music – not necessarily a climate v. weather mistake since what caused the flood is an unknown, as is how long it was building up (sea level rise…) 😉 Given the broad spectrum of disparate peoples with a Flood in the histories / religions, I’d lean towards a climatic shift, but that’s just me…and the core samples I reviewed were inconclusive on it’s happening in the first place. 😉
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Very happy with my asic from dragon-miner.co.uk
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dragon-miner.co.uk not as powerful as BFL but SHIPPING NOW.
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