Big Lie Country

Like King Canute commanding the tide to stop, the state of Montana may take up a bill that would declare that "global warming is a natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it" and that "global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana." The bill, which is already being compared to Indiana's famous attempt in 1897 to redefine pi as 3.2, is the handiwork of freshman legislator Joe Read (R), helpfully interviewed by Wonk Room here.

"Sometimes you have to do fairly radical things to address a federal government," Read said. "Our weather is not going to change drastically. Even if it does get warmer, we’re going to have a longer growing season. It could be very beneficial to the state of Montana. Why are we going to stop this progress?"

In other news, Glacier National Park is expected to lose the glaciers it has had for the last 7,000 years, possibly as early as 2020.

--Paul Rauber