Radical!

Well, he finally did it. Pat Lyons in the Santa Fe New Mexican today called me a radical environmentalist.

What is it with Republican candidates that they always have to resort to calling names? President Bush & Vice-President Cheney are calling their Iraq War opponents names. John Dendahl calls school teachers socialists, for crying out loud. And now Pat Lyons is using his 900,000 dollars in special interest money, mostly raised from the oil-and-gas industry, to call me a "radical environmentalist". I guess he doesn't have anything positive to say about his pro-oil-and-gas policies.

Let me define radical for you from my standpoint. If I am a radical for not giving in to the oil and gas industry's every wish at the expense of our landscapes, watersheds and wild life, then yes, I guess I am radical.

If I am a radical for believing in science being able to help make decisions on land and water use, then yes, I am radical.

To borrow from Al Gore, it may be an "inconvenient truth", but scientists do believe it is a truth--we are going through one of the hottest periods in world history. It would be interesting if some reporter would ask Pat if he believes those scientists--does he believe in global warming? Does he believe that global warming is a crisis? Does he agree with the scientists who say that we only have a few years to deal with climate change? And if he says he does, what has he done in his term to help?

I think the one thing the voters who are paying attention to this race can be thankful for is that the lines are clearly drawn in the race and that you know where the candidates stand.