Could Skeptic Keith Baugues Be The Next Victim Of The Progressive Truth Squad?

We already know that people who fail to toe the Progressive line can be hounded, demeaned, abused, and even forced out of their jobs. Witness Mozilla CEO Brenden Eichs, forced to step down because he dared to donate a measly $1,000 to Proposition 8. Even Andrew Sullivan thought forcing Eichs out was a Bad Idea, was too much, and showed no tolerance. Then witness what the IRS did to TEA Party groups. Witness the President of the United States Of America insult, denigrate, abuse, ridicule, and just plain treat American citizens who have different political views with a lack of respect. Witness Harry Reid, the Majority Leader in the US Senate, denigrate private citizens, the Charles and David Koch. Remember Joe the Plumber, hounded because he responded to a question Obama asked him? How about all the people who complained about Obamacare? I often mention that Progressives are what Jonah Goldberg refers to as “nice fascists”. Warmists are part of that movement, and most certainly have to drop the nice when people refuse to toe the line

(USA Today) Keith Baugues is not a scientist, but that didn’t stop him on a recent wintry day from expressing skepticism about global warming — something that is broadly accepted in the scientific community.

After weeks of heavy snow and freezing air, he had had enough. He took to a government message board one day in February, complaining that his normal 45-minute commute had turned into a painful three-hour slog. “Anyone who says global warming is obviously suffering from frostbite,” he wrote.

Baugues would later say he was only joking. But he wasn’t just any government bureaucrat. Baugues is assistant commissioner in the Office of Air Quality in the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the man in charge of cleaning up Indiana’s air.

He’s apparently not allowed to hold a different position, because, as we all know, global warming is the result of everything, and has taken over the environmental movement.

Reaction was swift, according to remarks posted to the message board reviewed by The Indianapolis Star. Several Environmental Management staff members wrote that the comment flew in the face of nearly unanimous scientific consensus and offended and embarrassed them.

“Either support consensus science or please keep your opinions to yourself. The rest of us are embarrassed by your unwillingness to accept what is happening,” one worker wrote.

Of course, there is no such thing as consensus science, unless we are referring to political science. Let’s not forget that the real consensus is that 95% of the models have failed. Many of the comments whined at Baugues talking about consensus. So does the USA Today article. Funny that they so rarely talk about science, following the scientific model, doing experiments, looking at the raw data, etc.

Another said that Baugues “should not speak on such matters until he is better informed.” Then that person, who was not named, took pains to point out that recent extremes of cold weather were caused by warming global temperatures. That resulted in more water being absorbed into the atmosphere, pushing the arctic jet stream farther south.

I believe the clinical term for these Warmists is Bat Guano Insane.

Anyhow, despite attempting to mollify the Progressive Truth Squad a bit, Baugues declared that he is “a skeptic of global warming”. He also wrote that he is more than willing to have a discussion. But Warmists do not want a debate, even though Indiana has attained air quality mandate compliance under Baugues. Oh, no, a head must roll

But some scientists and environmentalists note that Baugues’ comments are at such odds with overwhelming scientific opinion that they wonder whether he is the right person to lead Indiana’s efforts to regulate air polluters.

Will this go further? Will they hound this man out of a job because he holds the wrong political belief? Time will tell. What we do know is that Mr. Baugues best watch his back, because the Progressive Truth Squad is on the case.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Save $10 on purchases of $49.99 & up on our Fruit Bouquets at 1800flowers.com. Promo Code: FRUIT49
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds.

Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed

10 Responses to “Could Skeptic Keith Baugues Be The Next Victim Of The Progressive Truth Squad?”

  1. john says:

    Obam that muslim usurper who isn’t even an American socialist commie has been insulting people ? How much respect do YOU give to the President of the United States?

  2. gitarcarver says:

    How much respect do YOU give to the President of the United States?

    You know john, I have been around here long enough to remember when you insulted Bush on a daily basis. So please, take your sanctimonious stance somewhere else.

    It should also be remembered that Obama stood in front of the nation and said we needed to tone down the rhetoric and attacks on people and then went out and started attacking people that disagreed with him.

    You want to know how much I respect the office of thePresident of the United States? A lot.

    You want to know how much I respect the empty suit, REMF who is currently in that office? Not a whole lot.

    Of course, you don’t really want to deal with the subject of the post which is how “tolerant” liberals are not tolerant of anything that is contrary to their beliefs. After all, that might actually force you to change your lifestyle and beliefs.

  3. Obam that muslim usurper

    Damn, John’s gone totally racist and Islamophobic.

    And, of course, totally ignores the entire point of the post.

  4. jl says:

    Hello, John. Anybody home?

  5. Jeffery says:

    The Commissioner made an ignorant statement on a government message board and was roundly criticized by staff.

    Are you against criticizing government officials for saying ignorant things?

    It would be as if the head of the Indiana vaccination program had used government resources to claim that vaccines cause autism. You would expect her to be criticized.

    Or if the head of the Indiana health services wrote on the message board that there was no proof that cigarettes were bad for you. After all, not all smokers get cancer, and some non-smokers get cancer. And as gitar will point out, we have no way of knowing the cancer rates over the past 4 billion years, so the science is not settled.

    Of course they are entitled to their opinions, regardless of how ill-informed, but having that right does not immunize them against being criticized.

  6. Jeffery says:

    “He’s apparently not allowed to hold a different position…”

    In fact, he IS allowed to hold a different position. He is just being criticized by his own staff for posting his personal opinions on a government message board.

    What if he had just been rebuffed by a woman in a bar and then typed, “Bitches be crazy!”?

    Clearly Mr. Baugues has undermined his own staff by not being able to control his emotions. It was an unprofessional act on his part. His personal opinions should be irrelevant to his job, a lesson his supervisor will surely make clear to him. On the other hand, if his personal opinion interferes with his job, his supervisors should look into that.

  7. Jeffery says:

    “Witness Mozilla CEO Brenden Eich, forced to step down because he dared to donate a measly $1,000 to Proposition 8.”

    Businesses need to be able to make employment decisions based on what’s best for the business, within the constraints of the laws.

    From the New Yorker: “Mozilla is not like most companies. It’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, and is just one part of the broader Mozilla community, which includes thousands of open-source software developers and other volunteers around the world. These people still do much of the work behind Mozilla’s products—contributing code, technical support, design improvements, and so on. This means that Mozilla depends on the goodwill of its supporters more than most corporations do; it relies on their willingness to donate their services in pursuit of the broader Mozilla project, which is all about keeping the Web transparent and accessible. If it alienates them, Mozilla’s entire mission will be at risk.”

    Having a documented anti-gay CEO in a business that relies on the goodwill of thousands of young Silicon Valley types is bad business. The young people around the world that use the Firefox browser and some associated websites were not happy. Making your customers unhappy is bad business. Eich lasted just two weeks, with 3 of 6 board members resigning before he was installed. Whomever was responsible for his hiring should be looking for work as well.

  8. So you’re cool with hounding a pperson out of a job over their political leanings, Jeff? Lets flip that around: what if he had donated to an anti-prop 8 group? Would that be acceptable to you?

  9. gitarcarver says:

    Are you against criticizing government officials for saying ignorant things?

    With Obama and his liberal enablers, we are used to government officials saying ignorant things.

    However, Baugues stated that he was willing to continue to examine the evidence on global warming. Contrast that with Warmists who refuse to look at any data, information or logic refuse to look at anything.

    Who is being more honest and showing more integrity here?

    It was an unprofessional act on his part.

    Yeah… Expressing skepticism is “unprofessional.”

    Businesses need to be able to make employment decisions based on what’s best for the business, within the constraints of the laws.

    First, if Eich were fired, the decision would clearly be outside of the law. Therefore what the vocal minority wanted was contrary to the law.

    Secondly, it is interesting that you claim Eich is “anti-gay” based on his support of a proposition that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. That is not “anti-gay.”

    Thirdly, Eich’s donation to support Prop 68 was legal. It was the same position held by candidate Obama. Should he be forced out of his office now? Plus, Eich’s position was held by the majority of California voters and the majority of people in the United States.

    This was nothing more than the typical liberal idea that anyone who disagrees with the left must be punished and silenced.

    Their attitude, one that is supported by Jeffery, shows that the left cannot deal with ideas contrary to theirs and must stifle free speech.

    The left is against the foundations on which this country was built.

Pirate's Cove