Environment

Why Were ‘Liberal Code Words’ Omitted From Proposed State Climate Change Study?

Virginia Lawmakers Change Sea Level Rise to Recurrent Flooding to Pass Proposed Study Through Legislature

This photo shows a flood in Norfolk, Va., in 1933. Sea level in the area has risen 14.5 inches in the last 100 years, according to the Virginian-Pilot. (Photo: Norfolk.gov)

Earlier this year, some Virginia lawmakers wanted to conduct a study on how climate change could affect the state’s shorelines. Before passing the proposed study though in the General Assembly, a few minor tweaks had to be made to the language.

What were the textual modifications? Instead of using the words “climate change” and “sea level rise,” the proposed study used words like “recurrent flooding.”

The Virginian-Pilot reports fear of rejection and outspokeness by conservative groups as the reason for the omission of these “liberal code words.”

With a more “politically neutral” tone, the proposed study “sailed” through the Republican dominated General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell. The Pilot describes this as evidence that “climate skeptics” are “forcing state and local government to stay clear of certain buzzwords [...].” With this tactic, the Pilot goes on to draw the comparison of how “global warming” was phased out in favor of “climate change,“ citing how it seems now ”climate change“ and ”sea level rise” are being replaced as well.

State Del. Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, was the one who requested the word changes in the first place, calling “sea level rise” a “left-wing term.” Similarly, the city of Norfolk recently launched a flooding awareness website with no mention of climate change or sea level rise.

Here is some perspective on the language sensitivities in the study:

“It’s kind of silly,” [Director of Coastal Zone Management Programs Laura McKay] said. “But the reality is, some of the phrases just really send people screaming. We want to use language that doesn’t alienate people.”

Kris Allen, a Virginia Beach businessman, is one climate skeptic who believes sea level rise is real, is a problem and should be studied and acted upon. Indeed, he would prefer that state and local studies be labeled as such.

He gets upset, however, when government wants to prescribe economically harmful regulations on coal and gas and enact strategies such as cap-and-trade to combat a phenomenon that might be more about sinking land.

“It’s a game about control,” Allen said, echoing a sentiment that government is really after more control of property rights and individual liberty.

[...]

“It’s kind of embarrassing that people are playing politics instead of just talking straight,” [study co-sponsor State Sen. Ralph] Northam, D-Norfolk] said. “But we went along with it. We needed the study done.”

The $138,000 “recurrent flooding” study is being conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science with scientists from the University of Virginia and Old Dominion University.

Read more details about the study and word-play in the Virginian-Pilot here.

[H/T Think Progress]

Comments (45)

1 2
  • Augie4
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 9:22pm

    “Using the Marxist standard of measurement, if you place ice cubes in a full glass of water, and let it stand until the ice melts, the glass should overflow. If that happened, it would be a violation of the laws of physics. If anyone doesn’t believe this fact , try it yourself, and watch the results.”

    You’re not very bright, are you?

    Report Post »  
    • sinsay7
      Posted on June 12, 2012 at 11:12pm

      tree hugging liberals only see the facts that fit their narrow definition of the way the world works

      Report Post »  
  • ronin_6
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:30pm

    Global warming and climate change are being phased out for ‘biological diversity’ and ‘sustainable development’. Both mean less control over your land.
    Be warned.

    Report Post » ronin_6  
    • Peter Hockley
      Posted on June 26, 2012 at 2:26am

      Well mate I‘d love to see you enjoy your property rights when it’s 6ft under water.

      Report Post »  
  • DocScience
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:10pm

    Just to clear things up, the sea level in Norfolk has NOT risen 14.5 inches.

    The land under the area is subsiding… sinking.
    Same problem faced by Holland.

    Report Post »  
  • inferno
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 3:48pm

    Using the Marxist standard of measurement, if you place ice cubes in a full glass of water, and let it stand until the ice melts, the glass should overflow. If that happened, it would be a violation of the laws of physics. If anyone doesn’t believe this fact , try it yourself, and watch the results.

    Report Post »  
    • JRook
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:01pm

      How cryptic. However, the concern has always been the glaciers and ice masses found on the land masses and the ice sheets which are on top of the water. In those instances your replacement experiment is meaningless.

      Report Post »  
    • brickmoon
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:44pm

      While some may be concerned about the melting of ice masses on land, there is evidently no acceleration in the rise of sea levels, which, according to NOAA, is currently about 2.8 millimeters (0.11 inches) per year.
      http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/16/is-sea-level-rise-accelerating/

      Report Post » brickmoon  
  • Arshloch
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 2:21pm

    The reason for the change is obvious, if the liberals, read regressives, use their usual ‘trash in hand’ words, everyone will see their stupidity. By changing to rather nebulous wording, they hope to snow the real people.

    Report Post » Arshloch  
    • Puddle Duck
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 3:19pm

      The regressives are running out of words to abuse…….they are not winning this battle since they are having to redefine things on an almost weekly basis. The wheels are coming off the climate change clown car.

      Report Post » Puddle Duck  
  • Matt
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 2:07pm

    Considering that we reject your climate change theories because they are completely unfounded by scientific evidence, I get teh feeling that just changing the wording is not going to help….unless of course you chose to actually include some legitimate science in there, in which case I’m sure what you will be saying is, “We do not expect any ‘recurrent flooding’ due to ‘potential unfortunate weather modifications caused by carbon emissions’ because the idea that the polar caps will melt when in fact for the last 30 years the earth has been cooling slightly is wholly ridiculous.”

    Report Post »  
  • NineteenEighty4
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 1:41pm

    If the facts aren’t politically convenient, change the facts with your own study.

    Report Post »  
    • Rashomon
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 2:35pm

      Ah, government double speak. for double crossing, backstabbing sonabitches.

      Report Post » Rashomon  
    • DesertRose1960
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:37pm

      Oh, you mean like the Reagan Administration describing bombs dropped on our own troops as “incontinent ordinance”?

      Report Post » DesertRose1960  
  • blackyb
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 1:32pm

    Why do people, especially some big mouthed, attention seeking scientists think they know more than God. God created this world and He knows how to take care of it. There will be shifts and balances and there is nothing mankind will be able to do about this. This world, according to Gods Will, will correct itself depending upon how He sees fit. Polution has it’s price, inconsideration has it’s price and those who do either should know they are not doing as they should. Larger corporations who are hurting communities with their polution should be made to keep the law, but these people who make a living off this EPA and creating laws to justify their positions and enslave others are no better than the other law breakers. These people do not need to constantly produce laws and yammer and yell about everything that comes down the pike. It is control in one form or another. A simple lesson to those growing up from parents is respect for God, others and nature. So people are just legislating each other out of existence because they do not want to recognize God and do what is right and Just.

    Report Post » blackyb  
    • Puddle Duck
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 3:17pm

      It‘s all about control when boiled down to it’s lowest common denominator. The eco/social justice crowd are demonstrating, crowing to the world, that they alone have the answers and with that self appointed arrogance comes the “marketing campaign” to back up their so called settled science claims. The entire premise is little more than a cover story to fool the masses into accepting their version of how the 1st world should be run. It’s a monumental scam that would make Bernie Madoff blush. The C&T system is just another way of redistrubting wealth while keeping a tight reign on capitalist free market industry. The big money for the taking is from 1st world heavy industry (Boeing, BMW, Air bus, Mercedes, Seimens etc etc).

      Report Post » Puddle Duck  
  • jackact
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 1:27pm

    Answer:
    Because everything that the now bankrupt green industry was built on (global warming, climate control, melting polar ice caps and drowning Polar Bears) was a complete and total bold-faced lie.
    And now the American public in its overwhelming majority will not go down that road ever again.

    Report Post »  
  • phillyatheist
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 1:01pm

    why not just do like North Carolina. when the state requests the input of the scientific community, but the results of the study aren’t favorable, simply change the results. problem solved. (link below)

    http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112547590/sea-no-evil-%E2%80%93-disputes-arise-over-north-carolina-sea-level-rise-bill/

    Report Post » phillyatheist  
  • hi
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:59pm

    Let’s only spend money on important things, things that are in the Constitution. Too much money is wasted. If this is important, the private sector will work on it. We won’t have to tax people to heck.

    Report Post » hi  
    • Jaycen
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 1:30pm

      Agreed. What was the government going to do about rising sea levels, anyway? Were the bureaucrats going to walk out into the ocean and hold it back?

      Wait a second. That’s a brilliant thought! They should do that!

      If all the bureaucrats would personally hold back the ocean, we wouldn’t have to worry about rising sea levels. This is perfect. If it doesn’t work, we‘ll know it’s because we just haven’t sent enough bureaucrats into the sea. We should get to work on this initiative immediately.

      Report Post » Jaycen  
    • DesertRose1960
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:47pm

      The Chesapeake Bay is an enormous, valuable system. Virginia’s largest cities depend on it being healthy. Huge chunks of some very expensive real estate would be lost if the water raises much higher. We could lose a whole airport. And then there’s the costs to all the businesses and homeowners who are the victims of flooding. Don’t worry, George’s place is up on a bluff, it won’t flood.

      Report Post » DesertRose1960  
  • Max jones
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:51pm

    In the middle of this HUGE convergence, wherein, political turmoil. cultural dissonance, racial and religious conflict, monetary insecurity, climatic abberation, ad infinitum, have got us by the short hairs, the stage is set for the emergence of global governance. Fear is the driving force, and not fear of the unknown, but fear of what they tell us to fear. The “possibility” of disaster is the belief system that is being foisted on the world. The ‘chicken littles’ have the stage these days, but instead of unifying the American people it will serve to alienate us from one another even more.
    Most Blazers know why this crap is going on, but I guarantee that most regular folks don’t have any idea of what is really going on. Ignorance is endemic.

    Report Post » Max jones  
    • Leader1776
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:58pm

      EXCELLENT!!

      ‘Ignorance is endemic.‘ You mean in addition to ’bliss’ ;-)

      Report Post » Leader1776  
  • Byrdi
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:46pm

    Yes. They changed UN Agenda 21 to Sustainable Development and Smart Growth at the local level. That was supposed to keep people from freaking out but it didn’t work for people who keep up on these things.

    Report Post »  
  • Lloyd Drako
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:41pm

    It’s a game about control, all right: control of the language. Whether you call it global warming, climate change, sea level rise, or recurrent flooding, if you live in a low-lying coastal area, add waders and a boat to your survivalist list of supplies.

    Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
  • lapitup
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:33pm

    While we go through the school of hard knocks, these guys actually go to school how to manipulate the people as a mass. These guys know exactly what they are doing and this is what the right means when we say it is by design they want to destroy America.

    I believe they have many different plans on many different platforms. We have only discovered plan 3 of 26 That is how far we are behind.

    Report Post »  
  • The_Jerk
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:29pm

    This sounds more like a story about stupid Republicans, not knowing the legislation before they vote.

    Report Post »  
    • Leader1776
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:43pm

      @THE_JERK
      ………….. or the legislators were told: ‘you have to pass it before you can find out what’s in it.’

      Report Post » Leader1776  
  • OneTermPresident
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:28pm

    Nearly every single thing they’ve claimed… has been thoroughly debunked. Most of them outright lies and pure propaganda… follow the money.

    Report Post » OneTermPresident  
  • GodWillPrevail
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:20pm

    Skeptics.

    Right.

    Like these wackos that believe in Global Warming are superior to all of us because they live in a Cultist society where any that disagree with they are shunned and ostracized.

    Just today there was real Science that proved that much of the “extra” CO2 is being eaten by algae under the Arctic Ice that is now only 6 feet thick. Although there have been plenty of times in history when there was even less ice than now. CO2 has been much much higher as well than it is now. Without CO2 Earth would have no life on it either. Plants do far better the more there is.

    The Ice is this thin because of all the volcanic activity under it by the way. Also the wind has been blowing it away from Alaska. It is plenty thick near Siberia.

    Report Post »  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:34pm

      When I talk to people in favor of “going green” because of climate change/global warming/, they can cite study after study and fact after fact. If there is any possibility that man is causing this change, I agree that we must err on the side of safety as it’s hard to redo the world if climate change starts killing species.

      When I confront these people with opposing viewpoints, they always say the same thing — look whose funding the studies that says climate change has been going on in the past for years and you’ll see why they are finding those facts out.

      Now, I do agree that money talks — and I’d like to know myself if there is any chance that man is causing climate change. SO … can someone more knowledgeable than I on this subject point me to some untainted studies/verifiable facts that this change is nothing new?

      Report Post » jhrusky  
    • Leader1776
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:55pm

      @JHRUSKY
      ‘If there is any possibility that man is causing this change, I agree that we must err on the side of safety as it’s hard to redo the world if climate change starts killing species.’

      That logic assumes no unintended consequences from either a false theory of causation OR peripheral negative effects from ill-conceived, supposed fixes. The debate is NOT over, as there is no well controlled study that has been duplicated by additional independent scientists to approach the conclusion man MAY be causing AGW. Plus, too much evidence exists there has been a political/cultural agenda layered over this concept of AGW. If you approached me with your argument, you’d receive a great belly-laugh to you presented good science ………….. doesn’t exist now.

      Report Post » Leader1776  
  • WINNEBAGOMAN
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:19pm

    If you control the language, you control the argument. This is Agenda 21 taking over in VA. Wake up America! We can vote out Democrats all day long, but you’re missing the problem. Progressives are in both parties. Like the 1850′s, it‘s time for a righteous group to rise up and stand for what’s right! Real libertarians, real constitutionalists, real conservatives, real freedom for fall. Freedom to make $100,000,000, and freedom to fail.

    Report Post » WINNEBAGOMAN  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:18pm

    Lies and deceit by any other name are still the same when used by anyone; the sheer falure of their radical agenda for the global warming farce is more proof they only want power and control so they can exploit the world.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • Bill Wallace
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:11pm

    And thus we have a perfect example of why I am not Republican.

    How many conservatives hate the PC language where we can’t call a spade a spade?

    And we have a group of republicans who endorse the study, accept the numbers, as long as the langauge is PC to their own view?

    I am a huge skeptic to what amount man has caused to a natural occuring event…and this PC game is ridiculous.

    Report Post »  
    • hanblecheya
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:50pm

      Actually, you’re not a republican because you have an American pseudo education and therefore, possess reverse logic reasoning skills. On the surface, when someone says that a constituent representing less than 0.04% of the atmosphere will totally destroy the world even though there are literally dozens of historical periods that directly contradict the claim, a rational person would be skeptical. Anyone who isn’t, is a simpleton. i.e. a dumocrat. Dumb, dumber, dumbest, dumocrat!

      Report Post »  
    • OhioRifleman
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 1:22pm

      @ Hanblecheya

      For what Bill was considering, such a lofty skill as reverse logic is not needed. Given these facts:

      1. The AGW schema has been hijacked by social engineering schemes
      2. The AGW social engineers use certain turns of phrase to communicate their agenda (PC Code words)
      3. The new bill has a different ConLang that would be otherwise clearer and more readily understandable in its pre-redacted form that uses the original phrasing
      4. The bill is studying something under the premise that man is screwing up the planet, when the study gives no credence to other problems such as cyclic tide variations or geological tectonic plate creep

      -THEREFORE-

      The study is rigged in fashion to generate only a specific result for the social engineers, it is not really interested in finding the actual root cause of the problem, much less compile a possible solution to said real problem (if any).

      Basic analysis skills + historical analysis. No reverse logic needed, just use their own record against them. Save the reverse logic trapping for the high-end targets, the ones that can talk above and beyond their talking points / marching orders from MS-DNC.

      Report Post » OhioRifleman  
  • sooner12
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 11:55am

    Waste of money…..

    Report Post »  
  • Sue Dohnim
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 11:55am

    YUP, “modern liberalism” is an ideology of deceit and manipulation, Nor only do you nee to challenge their ideology but also the propaganda use of language.

    They know that language traps “thought” and manipulating it influences the thinking process with those who are not critical thinkers and aware of this technique of mass communication distraction,

    Report Post » Sue Dohnim  
  • dennisS
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 11:47am

    It doesn’t matter which party is in there, they want more control over your lives. Climate change is real and has been going on since the creation of the world. Man caused climate change is a Marxist creation to enslave the people of the world through UN central control of all economies.

    Report Post »  
  • Red Meat
    Posted on June 11, 2012 at 11:44am

    A POS by any other name.

    Report Post » Red Meat  
    • Fubared
      Posted on June 11, 2012 at 12:52pm

      Same rag that sat on the story of 2 reporters getting love from a gang of yoots in Norfolk for a few weeks. Fish wrap.

      Report Post »  
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