Anything goes with opinions

In a letter titled “Poor prognosticators” by Donald Vicena in the Spokesman-Review of January 6, there were so many errors, misrepresentations and subject changes that it left me wondering if there was anyone home at the S-R editorial office. In his opening paragraphs, it appeared that the author did not know the difference between the Centigrade and Fahrenheit temperature scales (the Earth has warmed by 1.0 C so far, not 1.0 F, as he stated). Several other random thoughts then followed, all of which were based on a variety of headlines cherry-picked from old newspapers and cable TV outlets.

I am aware of the poor scientific backgrounds of the average person on the street. Therefore, it would help a lot if the issue of global warming could be handled with much more care on our opinion pages. If it does not have that expertise in house, perhaps the S-R should invest in some. Op-ed letters concerning climate change now show up on a regular basis, making this an apt moment to recall a quotation by Albert Einstein: “Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.”

Eric Grimsrud

Liberty Lake