Pa. lawmaker: Global warming 'leftist'

CRANBERRY, Pa., Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A Republican state representative in Pennsylvania compared veterans fighting climate change to Benedict Arnold, saying they are pitching "leftist propaganda."

Duncan Metcalfe, who represents a district in rural western Pennsylvania, made his charges in an e-mailed response to an invitation from Operation Free, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The veterans, on a 21-state bus tour to promote legislation to combat global warming, had invited Metcalfe and other local legislators to meet with them.

"As a veteran, I believe that any veteran lending their name, to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change, in an effort to control more of the wealth created in our economy, through cap and tax type policies, all in the name of national security, is a traitor to the oath he or she took to defend the Constitution of our

great nation," wrote Metcalfe, who served in the Army in the early 1980s. "Remember Benedict Arnold before giving credibility to a veteran who uses their service as a means to promote a leftist agenda. Drill Baby Drill!!!"

Metcalfe has refused to support state resolutions declaring Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which he said promoted a homosexual agenda, and honoring a Muslim group's 60th anniversary.