They can’t even get snowfall at National Airport right
As the purloined East Anglia e-mails reveal, the global warming hoax has been artfully foisted on well-meaning people and political leaders. But before blaming Al Gore, we should understand that he is lawyer capable of understanding a graph, but incapable of disentangling reams of data that confounded many scientists. Gore was as much a victim of scientific legerdemain as many others, so perhaps the fact that he fell for this climatological version of the Bush administration’s “weapons of mass destruction” hoax suggests he wasn’t suited to be president.
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Sometimes a simple argument works better than a complex one to debunk public support for an establishment hoax. Topper Shutt says Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s snow accumulation figures for the December blizzard were low, as they always are when it’s windy.
The reason is quite simple: National Airport is surrounded by water on three sides, so snow can blow from the measuring location into the water, but once it touches the water, it can’t blow any farther. The fact that snow accumulation in nearby Arlington and Alexandria are greater further confirms the fact that National Airport’s snow accumulation data are systematically biased. The Naval Observatory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters near the D.C.-Silver Spring line, Lafayette Square or Pershing Park across from the Commerce Department would all be better measuring venues.
The symbolic significance of the inaccuracy of the national capital’s snow accumulation measurements is an enormous tool to persuade people not to trust climate and weather experts.
Dino Drudi
Alexandria
Freedom is freedom, even if the recipients don’t want it
So what if we gave freedom and democracy to some against their will, as happened to many East Germans when the Berlin Wall was pulled down by people from both sides, or the South Vietnamese? Do you think they or their children would want to go back? If so, why have the “Napalm girl” and her North Vietnamese hubby not defected back to Vietnam from North America?
During the American Civil War, U.S. President “Honest Abe” Lincoln freed all slaves owned by the Southern Confederate (but not those owned by his own Northern Union states) states. This freedom was granted only to weaken the Southern states’ economies and thus their ability to wage war. But it was freedom nonetheless.
It’s the same with the Iraqis. Freedom is freedom, to be enjoyed by all future generations. When given the chance, Iraqis voted for democracy — twice.
Howard Hutchins
Wonga Park, Victoria
Australia
DNA couldn’t save three members of my family
Re: “DNA clears man jailed 28 years for rape, murder,” Dec. 14
It’s a shame DNA wasn’t available in 1951, when seven black men (five of them under the age of 20) were executed in Richmond, Va., for the rape of one married white woman. They became known as the Martinsville Seven, the largest mass execution for rape in U.S. history.
For the record, three of these young men were relatives of mine.
Pam Hairston
Washington
