To the editor,

An open letter of response to Congressman James Oberstar:

I received your idiotic response to my legitimate concern for the destruction you and your ilk are doing to our nation. I have never voted for you but have never given your opponent any support either. I intend to do so next year. The nation cannot afford any more of your debt. Debt spent on foolishness and stupidity.

I am sick of hearing about "greenhouse gases" when you only mean carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide constitutes only 3.8/100th of 1 percent of our atmosphere and has no effect on anything except enhancing plant growth. To cripple our economy to regulate that harmless and useful gas far surpasses the normal level of stupidity I have come to expect from Congress and is simply a Federal power grab to control every aspect of everyone's lives. People and all other living creatures exhale carbon dioxide for crying out loud. Greenhouses pump carbon dioxide in at night to expedite plant growth. The green house CO2 level for optimum plant growth is about five times our current atmospheric level.

Global warming is a fraud because the earth has been cooling since 1998. To cripple our economy to regulate a non existent problem is pure flap doodle. And to think that human beings can control the climate — good or bad — is the epitome of arrogance.

The federal EPA has recently quashed an internal report that rising CO2 Levels have no effect on global temperatures citing the fact that temperatures have gone down as CO2 has risen. Your Congress would not allow witnesses in opposition to Al Gore. You have no interest in the truth. If you ever get back to Minnesota you will notice that we are experiencing one of the coolest springs and summers ever.

And your assertion that this dopey cap and tax bill is going to encourage job creation and lessen dependence on foreign oil is equally ridiculous. Your bill will tax businesses based on how much carbon dioxide they put into the air. Do you really think the oil refiners will stick around faced with such a tax? Hell no they won't. They will move to Mexico or elsewhere. Domestic drilling and pumping will cease.

Get a clue Mr. Oberstar.

Steve Thornberg
Hinckley, MN