In his NYT cartoon today Glenn McCoy suggests that we liberals (/scientists) were paying so much attention to that global warming boondoggle that we missed the whole tsunami thing.
Idiot.
Earthquakes are difficult to predict even when they're on land and occur near sophisticated seismological equipment. Earthquakes in LA and Japan still have terrific consequences. They take seismologists completely by surprise if they don't give a few hours warning.
But when an earthquake happens underwater, on the other side of the planet, they are near-impossible to predict.
By using the tsunami to debunk global warming, McCoy demonstrates the opportunism of the anti-environment right. They jump on anything and interpret it as a sign they're right. This is pretty ridiculous.
100,000+ people lost their lives because we're paying too much attention to global warming? Gimme a break. Let's talk about Bush's $35M pittance in aid ($20M of which is a loan, mind you) if we want to talk about irresponsibility.