A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Enter Ronald Reagan and Rick Santorum

"A little learning is a dangerous thing;

drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: 

there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

and drinking largely sobers us again."

Alexander Pope

A little knowledge is a trebly dangerous thing.

First it degrades truth; then facilitates adherence to simple-minded ideology; and finally feeds off falacy and unthinking ideology to enhance the deleterious effects of both.

Rick Santorum's argument that CO2 is not a pollutant has historical roots in Ronald Reagan's dismissal of acid rain as an environmental menace and Dutch's equally bizarre declaration that "trees cause more pollution than automobiles." http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Trees_cause_pollution

In hindsight, Reagan will be seen as the American leader who normalized disdain for Science and Reason which in turn gave rise to the witless incivility of right-wing talk radio.

In a remarkable display of know-nothing bravado, Ronald Reagan took down the solar panels which Jimmy Carter had installed on The White House roof.

If Republicans were children, they would spend most of their lives in time-out.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant

Rick Santorum, GOP presidential nominee, summed up this argument in the news when he said: "The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous carbon dioxide is," he told the Associated Press.

Science: While it is true that plants photosynthesize, and therefore take up carbon dioxide as a way of forming energy with the help of the sun and water, this gas is both a direct pollutant (think acidification of oceans) and more importantly is linked to the greenhouse effect. When heat energy gets released from Earth's surface, some of that radiation is trapped by greenhouse gases like CO2; the effect is what makes our planet comfy temperature-wise, but too much and you get global warming.

http://www.livescience.com/19466-climate-change-myths-busted.html

Young Republican