Freedom Warning
HYPERLINK "http://www.dailynews-record.com/opinion_details.php?AID=7878&CHID=36" http://www.dailynews-record.com/opinion_details.php?AID=7878&CHID=36
Daily News-Record - Editorial
It’s something of an odd world when a British Viscount knows more about freedom of speech and the Constitution than two U.S. senators who have sworn to protect the document.
In fact, probably most senators — and most Americans — didn’t realize viscounts were still around. However, the Viscount Monckton of Brenchley is not only still breathing, he knows quite a bit about the American Constitution.
When Sens. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., sent a letter to ExxonMobil telling executives to stop funding the research of scientists who are global warming skeptics, the viscount fired off a reply.
"You defy every tenet of democracy when you invite ExxonMobile to deny itself the right to provide information to ‘senior elected and appointed government officials’ who disagreed with your opinion."
While the senators don’t have an appreciation of free speech or debate, they also have a limited knowledge of science. The British nobleman’s missive is chock full of data and it also reminds the two American officials that scientific skeptics advance the cause of truth.
"Skeptics and those who have the courage to support them are actually helpful in getting science right. They do not, as you improperly suggest, ‘obfuscate’ the issue: they assist in clarifying it by challenging weaknesses in the ‘consensus’ argument, and they compel necessary corrections…" he wrote.
He is not the only critic of the two senators. A major newspaper in Sen. Rockefeller’s home state, The Charleston Daily Mail, also criticized the letter as an "intemperate attempt to squelch debate."
Which, of course, it was.
It’s a shame the esteemed viscount is a British citizen. He would make a wonderful public official across the pond. He has a basic understanding of science and he knows more about this nation’s Founding document than do two U.S. senators.
[The Daily News-Record and its predecessors have been the lifeblood of information for Harrisonburg and the Shenandoah Valley, as well as several counties in neighboring West Virginia, for over 100 years.
The first edition of our initial predecessor, The Evening News, was published on May 8, 1899, with some 5,000 copies hitting the street.
Today, the News-Record publishes over 32,000 copies a day for readers in four Virginia counties and three counties in West Virginia. The total estimated readership daily is more than 80,000 (based on the nationally-proven formula of about 2.5 readers per issue).]