the quest to end denial

To start off, let me point out that, as of this writing, it is minus-36 degrees in Fairbanks, Alaska. The high temperature today was minus-28.

Just thought I’d throw that in.

Anyway…

Remember when Barack Obama vowed to end Global Warming denial? (Not just the “earth on the brink of death” ill-effects of the warming itself, but the denial of it).

Back on December 9th of last year, the next President of the United States met in Chicago with the guy who used to be the next President of the United States (and Joe Biden, too) in order to chew on some stale Global Warming snack crackers and reaffirm what will be the Obama Administration’s official policy on hysteria – that the battle against those who continue to deny that the planet is in danger must be swift, vigorous and unrelenting.

The hour-long get-together with Al Gore and Biden prompted The One to say:

“All three of us are in agreement that the time for delay is over. The time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That is what I intend my administration to do.”

A month before that, at an event hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (who famously said “We simply must do everything in our power to slow down global warming before it’s too late”), Obama (in a pre-recorded video message) proclaimed:

The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season.

That sea levels are rising at the same rate they have been for three hundred years shouldn’t be allowed to cloud the issue, of course.

And as Christopher Booker – journalist and author who has sharply criticized the claims of global warming alarmists – wrote in the UK’s Telegraph in November:

Far from global warming having increased the number of droughts, the very opposite is the case. The most comprehensive study (Narisma et al, 2007) showed that, of the 20th century’s 30 major drought episodes, 22 were in the first six decades, with only five between 1961 and 1980. The most recent two decades produced just three.

Recall back in October, 2007 when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blamed the California wild fires on global warming:

“As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming.”

And who can forget this golden nugget from February of last year, spoken by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

Terrorists kill people, weapons of mass destruction have the potential to kill enormous numbers of people, global warming has the potential to kill everybody. This is really just as lethal, it’s just that the results are something we will face long term.

It looks like terrorism is number two with a bullet on the Bloomy Hit Parade.

All of this certitude is setting up a whole lot of people – including the next Chief Executive of the United States – to fall like Niagara flat on their panicked kissers.

My one question, if afforded the opportunity to pose it to our next Commander-In-Chief, would be: Have you, sir, ever actually read any peer-reviewed articles, heard any counter-arguments from any of a multitude of respected scientists, or reviewed any position papers that question the entire man-made global warming position?

Fair question, no?

To this day, there is no scientific evidence of any kind proving that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere lead to warming. In fact, there is more to suggest the reverse is true – that higher CO2 levels have historically followed temperature increases.

In Canada, according to Barry Cooper of the Calgary Herald, the hysteria of Global Warming may be entering a new phase:

As James Peden, an atmospheric physicist, said, many scientists “are now searching for a way to back out quietly” from global-warming fearmongering, “without having their professional careers ruined.”

The crux of it is that major research grants and, in this country, prestigious Canada Research Chairs, have been awarded on the assumption something must be done to stop CO2 from destroying the world.

There was even worse news for those who believed in human-caused climate change. Up to now most of the debate, including the notorious intellectual swindle of the hockey stick graph, amounted to what paleoclimatologist Ian Clark called “wiggle watching” –matching the ups and downs of temperature with the ups and downs of CO2 or, say, sun spots. Until recently there was no experimental evidence to decide which wiggle was worth watching.

In 2006, experiments at the Danish National Space Center provided evidence that changes in the magnetic field of the sun can affect not CO2 but water vapour–clouds–which are responsible for up to 95 per cent of the warmth that keeps Earth habitable. Last year the implications finally sunk in.

One has to wonder how long it will take until the community of squiggly-light-bulb green-o-crats, Kyoto knuckleheads, and hysteria-starved mercury jockeys realize that two plus two does not equal twelve – and that includes The One, Senator John McCain, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paris Hilton, the dolts who run NBC, Elmo from Sesame Street and anyone else mule-headed enough (insert “dumb,” if you like) to stick with this crap.

Like the screeching delirium caused by the threat of homosexual AIDS wiping out large portions of the American population or the shutdown of the entire Western Hemisphere due to the apocalyptic “Y2K” bug, today’s madness – “Global Warming” (or “Climate Change” or “Doomsday – Part Eighteen”) – will be, within most of our lifetimes, exposed as the profound and ridiculous fraud it is, one of the greatest snow jobs (pun intended) ever contrived.

A nice try by the anti-technology, anti-industry, anti-capitalist, anti-big business carbon-credit counters, but it won’t fly for very much longer – except, of course, in universities, public schools, on television, in popular music and motion pictures and anywhere where idiocy is encouraged.

In the meantime, until such a time when the Gore Contingency becomes the fringe on this issue (yeah, right!), people like the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, who believes the man-made global warming disaster is a myth, will be ostracized and kept from the EU mainstream as much as possible, as recently depicted in the Times Online:

The European Union’s new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.

The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.

The Czech president, who caused a diplomatic incident by dining with opponents of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on a recent visit to Ireland, has a largely ceremonial role.

But there are already fears that, after the dynamic EU presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy – including his hyper-active attempts at international diplomacy over the credit crisis and Georgia as well as an historic agreement to cut greenhouse gases – the Czech effort will be mired in infighting and overshadowed by the platform it will give to Mr Klaus and his controversial views.

That last sentence is critical.

Note that it is Mr. Klaus’ view – that humankind’s activities are not leading to catastrophic climactic consequences – deemed the controversial position. It is a “consider the source” moment. The “community” viewing him as out of step is, of course, the European Union.

Enough said.

(For those familiar with it, a very famous Twilight Zone episode from 1960, “The Private World of Darkness,” comes to mind).

I wonder if Barack Obama has a backup plan – a “jettison” option, if you will - on any references he may make to “global warming” during his inaugural speech – just in case wind chills are hovering around zero on January 20th.

No need to look silly on your first day.

-

the quest to end denial

To start off, let me point out that, as of this writing, it is minus-36 degrees in Fairbanks, Alaska. The high temperature today was minus-28.

Just thought I’d throw that in.

Anyway…

Remember when Barack Obama vowed to end Global Warming denial? (Not just the “earth on the brink of death” ill-effects of the warming itself, but the denial of it).

Back on December 9th of last year, the next President of the United States met in Chicago with the guy who used to be the next President of the United States (and Joe Biden, too) in order to chew on some stale Global Warming snack crackers and reaffirm what will be the Obama Administration’s official policy on hysteria – that the battle against those who continue to deny that the planet is in danger must be swift, vigorous and unrelenting.

The hour-long get-together with Al Gore and Biden prompted The One to say:

“All three of us are in agreement that the time for delay is over. The time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That is what I intend my administration to do.”

A month before that, at an event hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (who famously said “We simply must do everything in our power to slow down global warming before it’s too late”), Obama (in a pre-recorded video message) proclaimed:

The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season.

That sea levels are rising at the same rate they have been for three hundred years shouldn’t be allowed to cloud the issue, of course.

And as Christopher Booker – journalist and author who has sharply criticized the claims of global warming alarmists – wrote in the UK’s Telegraph in November:

Far from global warming having increased the number of droughts, the very opposite is the case. The most comprehensive study (Narisma et al, 2007) showed that, of the 20th century’s 30 major drought episodes, 22 were in the first six decades, with only five between 1961 and 1980. The most recent two decades produced just three.

Recall back in October, 2007 when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blamed the California wild fires on global warming:

“As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming.”

And who can forget this golden nugget from February of last year, spoken by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

Terrorists kill people, weapons of mass destruction have the potential to kill enormous numbers of people, global warming has the potential to kill everybody. This is really just as lethal, it’s just that the results are something we will face long term.

It looks like terrorism is number two with a bullet on the Bloomy Hit Parade.

All of this certitude is setting up a whole lot of people – including the next Chief Executive of the United States – to fall like Niagara flat on their panicked kissers.

My one question, if afforded the opportunity to pose it to our next Commander-In-Chief, would be: Have you, sir, ever actually read any peer-reviewed articles, heard any counter-arguments from any of a multitude of respected scientists, or reviewed any position papers that question the entire man-made global warming position?

Fair question, no?

To this day, there is no scientific evidence of any kind proving that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere lead to warming. In fact, there is more to suggest the reverse is true – that higher CO2 levels have historically followed temperature increases.

In Canada, according to Barry Cooper of the Calgary Herald, the hysteria of Global Warming may be entering a new phase:

As James Peden, an atmospheric physicist, said, many scientists “are now searching for a way to back out quietly” from global-warming fearmongering, “without having their professional careers ruined.”

The crux of it is that major research grants and, in this country, prestigious Canada Research Chairs, have been awarded on the assumption something must be done to stop CO2 from destroying the world.

There was even worse news for those who believed in human-caused climate change. Up to now most of the debate, including the notorious intellectual swindle of the hockey stick graph, amounted to what paleoclimatologist Ian Clark called “wiggle watching” –matching the ups and downs of temperature with the ups and downs of CO2 or, say, sun spots. Until recently there was no experimental evidence to decide which wiggle was worth watching.

In 2006, experiments at the Danish National Space Center provided evidence that changes in the magnetic field of the sun can affect not CO2 but water vapour–clouds–which are responsible for up to 95 per cent of the warmth that keeps Earth habitable. Last year the implications finally sunk in.

One has to wonder how long it will take until the community of squiggly-light-bulb green-o-crats, Kyoto knuckleheads, and hysteria-starved mercury jockeys realize that two plus two does not equal twelve – and that includes The One, Senator John McCain, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paris Hilton, the dolts who run NBC, Elmo from Sesame Street and anyone else mule-headed enough (insert “dumb,” if you like) to stick with this crap.

Like the screeching delirium caused by the threat of homosexual AIDS wiping out large portions of the American population or the shutdown of the entire Western Hemisphere due to the apocalyptic “Y2K” bug, today’s madness – “Global Warming” (or “Climate Change” or “Doomsday – Part Eighteen”) – will be, within most of our lifetimes, exposed as the profound and ridiculous fraud it is, one of the greatest snow jobs (pun intended) ever contrived.

A nice try by the anti-technology, anti-industry, anti-capitalist, anti-big business carbon-credit counters, but it won’t fly for very much longer – except, of course, in universities, public schools, on television, in popular music and motion pictures and anywhere where idiocy is encouraged.

In the meantime, until such a time when the Gore Contingency becomes the fringe on this issue (yeah, right!), people like the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, who believes the man-made global warming disaster is a myth, will be ostracized and kept from the EU mainstream as much as possible, as recently depicted in the Times Online:

The European Union’s new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.

The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.

The Czech president, who caused a diplomatic incident by dining with opponents of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on a recent visit to Ireland, has a largely ceremonial role.

But there are already fears that, after the dynamic EU presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy – including his hyper-active attempts at international diplomacy over the credit crisis and Georgia as well as an historic agreement to cut greenhouse gases – the Czech effort will be mired in infighting and overshadowed by the platform it will give to Mr Klaus and his controversial views.

That last sentence is critical.

Note that it is Mr. Klaus’ view – that humankind’s activities are not leading to catastrophic climactic consequences – deemed the controversial position. It is a “consider the source” moment. The “community” viewing him as out of step is, of course, the European Union.

Enough said.

(For those familiar with it, a very famous Twilight Zone episode from 1960, “The Private World of Darkness,” comes to mind).

I wonder if Barack Obama has a backup plan – a “jettison” option, if you will - on any references he may make to “global warming” during his inaugural speech – just in case wind chills are hovering around zero on January 20th.

No need to look silly on your first day.

-