Climate Catastrophists' Mi$$ion Creep

The Hudson Institute

Climate Catastrophists' Mi$$ion Creep

by Anna Mahjar-Barducci  

At a moment when private industry and governments around the world are spending trillions of dollars in the name of saving our planet from man-made global warming, there is mounting evidence that academic institutions, think tanks and public institutions around the world have started to alter their findings again to reach a “global warming consensus” -- regardless that there have also been in history a Flat-Earth Consensus, a Sun-Goes-Around-The-Earth Consensus, and an Anti-Evolution Consensus - none of which made them less false.


Proponents of man-made global warming recently suffered yet another blow when the leading climate change scientist, Phil Jones, granted an interview to the BBC.


Jones had to acknowledge that the Earth may have been warmer in Medieval times than now, and that, during the past fifteen years, there has been no “statistically significant” warming; on the contrary, there are signs, also not statistically significant, that after 2002, the climate may have cooled. Jones, at the heart of the so-called "Climate-gate" controversy last year, just before the Copenhagen climate summit, was forced to step down as director of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in Britain after leaked e-mails indicated that scientists there were manipulating data to strengthen the argument for man-made global warming. The data had been used to support efforts by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to urge governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions and to produce a “hockey stick graph” showing temperatures relatively stable for centuries before rising sharply in recent decades.


Despite this interview, that suggested a conspiracy by some of the world's leading global warming alarmists -- many with direct ties to the IPCC -- to manipulate temperature data, major TV networks in the US, with the exception of Fox, totally ignored the subject -- indicating the degree of politicization that affects the climate change issue.


So now the new evidence is showing that there is no “hockey stick graph,” and that other warmer periods have taken place in the past, when carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing did exist. The warmer periods are said to have occurred between 1860 and 1880, and then again from 1910 to 1940. Professor Jones admitted that the Medieval Warm Period (800 A.D. to 1300 A.D.) might well have been as warm as the Current Warm Period (1975-present), or warmer, and that if it was, “then obviously the late-20th century warmth would not be unprecedented.”


Alarmists’ predictions are also being retracted. The 2007 IPCC report, which won the Man-Maders a Nobel Peace Prize, said the probability of Himalayan glaciers “disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high” as a result of man-made global warming. But the IPCC was recently forced to retract its disappearing-glacier claim, which had been made on the basis of a non-scientific magazine article. The IPCC additionally had to retract its claim that up to 40 percent of the Amazonian forests were at risk from global warming and would likely be replaced by “tropical savannahs” if temperatures continued to rise.
Climate change alarmists, however, are continuing to pose as saviours of the planet. Says U.S. President Barack Obama: “Generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell the children this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless. This is the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” The Messiah himself could not make better promises.


And what about Al Gore? A few years ago, while striving to become the leader of climate catastrophists, he made a presentation showing how the rise of the oceans would affect the coastal areas of the U.S. such as Florida, Manhattan and the San Francisco Bay. Then, with computer animation, he showed how the rising waters would flood all these places.


But according to Lord Moncton, a climate change debunker, the same year Al Gore was making these dire predictions, he bought a $4 million dollar condominium in San Francisco just a few feet away from the shoreline, apparently unshaken by his own predictions.


Over the last 20 years we have been told that we are destroying the climate through the use of fossil fuels; that our “carbon footprints” will cause the melting of polar ice caps, the extinction of polar bears, extensive flooding, diseases -- that, if we do not mend our habits, the Apocalypse is just around the corner.


A closer look at the past history of our planet, though, shows that the Earth has undergone cyclical periods of warming and cooling and this is linked to astronomical factors such as modifications in the eccentricity of the orbit, solar flares and even the rotation of our galaxy.


We have records that date back more than 300 million years: there have been inter-glacial periods, that is the warm spell, when life on the planet flourishes, and ice-ages, when many forms of life perish. We have consistent records of ice- ages followed by inter-glacial periods; we can see that temperatures and CO2 content in the atmosphere have both increased and fallen over thousands of millions of years - all without burning any fossil fuel.


John Coleman, the senior meteorologist who had the courage to expose the repeated manipulations of data by some relevant climate institutions, wrote: “Some misguided scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long-term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental extremism type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus. Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist-journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda.”


And - you guessed it! -- their radical agenda calls for more government power and less room for individuals. It looks as if Marxist economics, in which even middle-class wealth is redistributed to people in lower income brackets and which we thought had been thrown out of the window for good by the end of the 1980s, is trying to climb back in through the front door.

Apologies, war and growing up...

In the largest and most aggressive offensive to date in Afghanistan (in the Marjah province) US and NATO forces are apologizing for civilian deaths.

Last week in the first days of the offensive it was initially reported that there were 12 civilian deaths. Ultimately of the 12 initially reported nine of them were civilians and three were Taliban combatants. In another offensive this past weekend NATO Commanders are again apologizing for civilian deaths. Military commanders in the region report that in Afghanistan (as in Iraq) it has become a common to use civilians as a "human shields". More on this later...

No sane person rejoices at the deaths of 12 people. Combatant or not. In previous times the term "collateral damage" was used. Yet I hesitate even now to use it as it is dehumanizing on some level. But isn't that really the point? How can any sane person speak of the horror of war without attempting to insulate the psyche from war's heinous nature. War really is hell. This is not a cliché but a truth every soldier, every warrior, can attest to.


In previous posts I've written about the subject of “political correctness”. I bring this up because it seems to me that we are dealing with an enemy that is completely and totally committed to victory. An enemy that views this conflict as a "zero sum" game. There will be no negotiated peace nor co existence. An enemy whose time frame is radically different than ours.


I understand and even wholeheartedly agree with the current strategy of "winning hearts and minds".


This requires United States and NATO troops to exhibit a level of restraint never seen before on the battlefield. It is a testament to the character of America that we are putting our soldiers in harms way going far above and beyond not only what is required to protect civilians but demonstrating an unprecedented level of care in this regard. There is NO other nation that behaves in this fashion. Quite the contrary... even NATO allies like Germany put their soldiers first. Not allowing their soldiers to operate after dark. The dirty business falls mainly upon the United States. As even Mr Obama observed in Oslo when accepting his Nobel Prize:

"...the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms"

Under the most recent rules of engagement soldiers cannot fire upon a person unless they can see that person in possession of a weapon. Previously, if fire came from a building and eventually people walked out of that building a logical assumption could be made (of course relying on training, experience, and common sense) about returning fire directed at that person that might now be leaving the building where previously a fierce firefight took place. Our enemy is not stupid. Soon enough reports began to come on that Taliban fighters simply put down their weapons and walked out and even taunt soldiers under these new rules. They know their safe passage is guaranteed now.


Much like terrorists know that they will not ever face water boarding. Or that if they are given “tough” interrogations they will be not all that tough and a physician will be standing by and slaps to the face will be open handed and away from the airway. Such are the details divulged by Mr. Obama in a hasty attempt to placate his far left supporters at the expense of keeping America safe.


Mr. Obama takes us back to what has been called a “pre-9/11 mentality” and intimidates our intelligence officers with the threat of prosecution. All the while running about the globe apologizing for what are the greatest accomplishments of any modern nation as if this will bring anyone closer to his dreamlike utopian fantasy and vision of America as a green and clean “global citizen” Our adversaries do not fetter themselves with such ideas.


During his campaign the Obama PR machine was tenacious in trying to enrobe Obama with the attire of President Lincoln. Anyone with even a passing familiarity of Lincoln's writings, presidency and in particular his actions during the civil war (including the suspension of Habeas Corpus) rightly blushed at the mere mention of the two names in the same sentence. Lincoln understood the primacy of keeping the union exactly that : united.


IF one accepts the Declaration of Independence and its inherent “theology” that is so unpolitically correct to speak of... appealing to “Nature and Nature's God”, speaking of rights from man's “Creator” and appealing to the “Supreme Judge of the world” with a “firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence” then these “unalienable rights” accorded all humans not from any piece of paper or governmental body And that the United States best embodies these unlaienable rights then the hopes of humanity itself are the hopes of the United Sates. That is if it is properly governed in line with these “self evident truths”.


Our strategy of being buddies to the people of Afghanistan is acceptable only within the larger framework and understanding of the exceptional nature of America. At the end of the day... America must prevail for the sake of the millions who still yearn to breathe the air of Liberty in North Korea, China, Cuba, Iran and others countries still in the grip of maniacal tyrants. There may be a time in our near future when we must think primarily as a fierce warrior and less so of a “global citizen”


I'll close with Lincolns own words that I have often wondered if Mr Obama ever read. It shows Mr Lincoln as a person who I doubt could even conceive of Mr Obama's view of the world where the admitted mastermind of 9/11 who has tried to plead guilty in a military tribunal is thought to be best handled on US soil for reasons (other than political theater choreographed by Eric Holder who refuses to reveal how many of his attorneys have previously defended high profile terrorists) that are still unknown.

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs who should be arrested, exiled or hanged."

Abraham Lincoln

Checks, balances and Chicago politics ...

Hope.
Change.
You bring a knife and I will bring a gun.


That's the way things are done in Chicago. For all his vaunted intelligence and promises of a new era in bipartisanship in Washington Barack Obama has shown his preferred style of working. The rough and tumble style of politics that is the norm in the windy city. His calls anew for bipartisanship on health care after breaking his now infamous promises of CSPAN coverage of what in reality were secret meetings behind closed doors where only Dems were given a seat at the table. Where CSPAN dared not tread to televise his secret deals with drug companies, AARP, and of course the bribery of Senators from Nebraska, Louisiana and Arkansas.


After a year of this and an onerous bill weighing in at close to 3,000 pages which he reaffirmed his commitment to he NOW wants to play nice? Almost 3,000 pages and accounting trickery to claim (with a straight face no less) that it would reduce the deficit? Accounting tom foolery that would land any non federal accountant in prison?


Shame on all of us for even considering that this administration has any integrity left after its legion of broken promises.


It disturbs me that we all seem to forget that this mammoth piece of legislation was something Mr Obama tried to force through in a matter of days or weeks without ANY discussion at all... Never mind the promise of posting it on the internet and the subsequent votes to keep it from being made available by Senate Healthcare finance members. That anyone can even take the matter seriously anymore is an act of self deception. Am I the only one outraged that US Congress and Senate members voted to keep ANY non national security related information from the public? The Constitution is the greatest political document in history. No qualifications nor prefaces needed..


Depending on the version that you are reading the total number of pages is approximately 15. Yet these few pages have governed the most incredible nation this earth has seen in modern times. In less than 200 years a meteoric rise to prosperity, military might and standard of living that is unprecedented and the envy of the world. A Nation where people risk life and limb and routinely die to get IN not out...


The founders knew of the wisdom of our system of governance. So it is only with some difficulty that it is changed. It was not meant to be easily changed in any wholesale fashion nor tinkered with in response to any fad or modern novelty of thought. The filibuster is an integral part of our legislative bodies' byzantine procedural maze of parliamentary procedure. It allows a minority party to hold up legislation from being rammed through and is functionally a primary facilitator of bi partisanship. To stop the filibuster requires a super majority. A super majority the Democrats have held for the past 13 months. although the party in power does not like this procedural weapon they know that their very existence and ability to shape legislation may also depend upon it in a different time when they are the minority.


It's with disgust that once again we are witness to the antithesis of bipartisanship called for by the president just 24 hours ago. Leading Democrats are now furiously working to eliminate the filibuster after their humiliating loss in Massachusetts with Scott Brown and with him so too their filibuster proof super majority in the Senate. That is not to say that they were able to accomplish much even though they had a super majority. If there is going to be blame for the failure to pass major legislation during the honeymoon first year of the Obama presidency it certainly cannot be blamed on Republicans. The gargantuan failure rests firmly on the shoulders of a divided democratic party torn between the "progressive" contingency and more moderate blue dog Democrats.


In all fairness Tom Harkin has been calling for elimination of the filibuster for many years now. However this is a new chant for most everyone else in the recently formed chorus of whining on Capitol Hill. To hear congresswoman Wasserman Schultz (D FL) opine that Republicans have,"... used the filibuster beyond the founders intentions" when she herself has been supportive of legislation that would make most of the founders shake their heads in bewilderment at how their simple clear instructions could be so hideously twisted. Once again this administration has demonstrated that it says one thing - usually what it believes the public wants to hear - and then proceeds to pursue it's extreme ideological agenda without regard to anyone or anything else.


At least conservatives CAN take solace in the consistency of what these tenacious proponents of state-ism actually DO as opposed to the perpetual verbal pandering to special interests and constituencies. For the progressive who governs from a fantastical Utopian dream state that is unachievable The answer always lies in additional regulations and legislation More dictates as to how you as an individual must live your life because you are obviously incapable and the "progressive" obviously of superior intellect DOES know what you need.


The cause of ALL problems is NOT human nature or our shear flawed state of humanity - the reality of which a conservative faces head on and must deal with in practical ways - but to the "progressive" ALL problems have a root cause in an imagined universal deficiency of governmental authority which must be constantly expanded in pursuit of achieving the unrealistic utopian dream of collectivism. I'd be happy to entertain the notion if anyone can tell me where it has ever worked in all of history.


I'm still waiting.

Audacity Indeed...

Today, like most days presents ample opportunity to be outraged. Joe Biden's has begun to take credit for the success in Iraq! Indeed the audacity of this administration knows no bounds! Joe Biden claims that Iraq can be one of the "proudest achievements of this administration"!


Yet 5 minutes on You Tube or Google easily locates video of Joe Biden and his boss Barack Obama declaring that not only will Iraq be a complete failure but also that the "surge" will "never work." Barack Obama stated that he felt the surge would have the opposite effect. Since taking office and particularly of late as his image as commander in chief has suffered he has taken to claiming credit for Iraq.

It's interesting to recall the negative PR strategy over Iraq and the surge's fantastic results. First with absolute opposition to the very idea then as the surge began working (then Sen) Obama claimed this was simply "spin" and as the success continued it became an egregious act of willful denial . At this point Obama and his cadre of "progressives" simply started to ignore the questions and stop talking about it while simultaneously the news media simply stopped reporting about Iraq all together.


For a while Iraq (at least in its early phases) should not be used as a model for future actions the latter phases (post surge) are in terms of the military effort and nation building an unmitigated success.


Afghanistan of course remains a book whose conclusion is as yet unwritten. For while Iraq was a functioning society albeit a dysfunctional one replete with sons of the tyrannical dictator who routinely chose women from the street and had them kidnapped for a night of rape it still was a society with organizational structure, industry and institutions. Afghanistan remains an essentially 12 or 13 Century land of warring tribes and villagers whose primary export is opium. America can export Democracy... and it can be argued that this is in the interest of our national security. It can also be argued from the sound position of the founders that it is not our responsibility to ensure the enforcement of the unalienable rights that are the cornerstone of our own society. For this would lead us down many dangerous paths. George Washington warned of this in his farewell address to the Nation.


The proper goal of Government is the preservation and improvement of our United States - first and foremost. All else is necessarily second. America remains the last best hope for all those yearning to breathe the air of liberty. Excessive foreign entanglements will only serve to weaken our ability to remain that shining city on a hill.

The emperor has no clothes... and no coattails!

It is with some amusement that I have watched the egregious arrogance of Mr Obama. In a previous post I mentioned the interview Mr. Obama, gave ABC news. When asked why he thought that the unemployment rate and economic situation had gotten so bad he replied that he had been so busy looking out for us that he had apparently lost focus.

As the graphic above so pointedly illustrates Mr. Obama is THE most seen and heard from president in history. One has to wonder how he had any time for anything BUT speeches, meetings, press conferences and and the like.  158 interviews equates to three per week and that does not include all the other categories listed.


Tonight we will see more of the same arrogance. Obama will reportedly “double down” on his commitment to “progressive” ideology in his state of the union address. As in Mass. Where his advisors continue to believe that Scott Brown's win was simply a matter of a bad campaign by Martha Coakley (indeed it was) rather than a sound repudiation of his policies.


How “tone deaf” can any one person be? Month after month of repeated opinion polls showing declining support and they act surprised? Embarrassing losses in the gubernatorial races in both New Jersey and Virginia which the President's operatives termed simply “about local issues” !


One thing is for certain I look forward to the President's address this evening so I can learn what George Bush is doing wrong now!

What Direction now??

So much to talk about!!!

I have so much frustration at the actions of both this administration and its most egregious hypocrisy

Perhaps I should start with the interview Obama gave ABC yesterday with George Stephanopoulos. It's most distressing that ABC has the audacity to portray Stephanopoulos as capable of objective news reporting since as he was Bill Clinton's press secretary. Yet this is a sad state of the news media today. Mr Obama began his commentary on the Massachusetts upset by blaming George Bush AGAIN in a display of his unique incredible ego-maniacal immaturity. So Obama says that the same anger that propelled him to office was behind Scott Brown's win in arguably the most liberal state (sorry “commonwealth”) in the nation. Yet it simply does not follow that that anger he claims propelled him in to office has now also swept Scott brown into office and it is the same anger. Brown ran a campaign aimed squarely at repudiating the Obama agenda and made health care a primary core issue. Public and internal polls all show this to be a fact and to deny this was a referendum of not only Obamacare but the “Progressive” agenda is simply an exercise in denial.

Adding insult to injury we learn more of the idiocy of Eric Holder's Justice Dept and Obama's lack of a coherent strategy for combating terrorism. In a stunning display of incompetence and disregard for the safety of the American public the respective heads of the Dept of Homeland Security, TSA, and the National Director of Intelligence all were asked if they had been consulted regarding the venue or how to handle the Christmas day “underwear bomber.”

The answer repeated over and over and over was an emphatic, “no.”

Again one must wonder at the motivations for a hurried push to civilian court where this enemy combatant will receive rights and privileges reserved US Citizens. The underwear bomber chose a Christian Holy Day – Christmas – and waited until the aircraft was just above the airport so as to create maximal terror by the scattering of bodies from such a low altitude. He selected his seat for its proximity to the fuel tanks.

Why is it again that we cease offensive operations during muslin holy days?

It seems to me that when an enemy is determined to win at all costs and respects nothing and regards his killing of an infidel or non believer to be acceptable and he is sent from God that political correctness is simply a recipe for defeat.

Obama and holder continue there onslaught against the safety of America and our dedicated intelligence professionals who have been demoralized by this pair's deliberate thwarting of these agencies ability to carry out the formidable task they are charged with fulfilling

This week we commemorate the abomination of thinking and logic that resulted in Roe versus Wade that legalized the murder of unborn children in 1973. Since that time between 1,200,000 and 2,000,000 million children have had their lives extinguished EACH year since 1973. The vast majority black.

Without resorting to euphemisms and requisite profound self deception required to entertain the notion that abortion on demand is nothing more than a simple procedure I will simply say that it is worth reflecting upon the 50 + million lives taken. How many Einsteins... how many Nobel prize winners... how many scientists that may have discovered the cure for cancer HIV and any number of evils that plague civilization have we murdered? How many MLKs, Mother Teresa's and Ghandi's? Certainly from a pure statistical and mathematical point of view we must have deprived humanity of a multitude of these special ones.

It is with a sad irony that I note Mr Obama is the most pro abortion president in history. The African American community has yet to awaken to the reality of the genocide perpetrated on it by abortion mainly at the hands of planned parenthood and racist and eugenics roots of Margaret Sanger, the founder of planned parenthood.

No recap of recent events could not be complete without mentioning Haiti of course. Anti American figures like Hugo Chavez laughably make criticisms regarding the US lead efforts while their own efforts are conspicuously impotent. Chavez thinks the earthquake was caused by the United States Navy testing a new weapon

I watched him with the usual incredible pride for my country which despite the polarization that has gripped us politically and has been so divisive - we -= The USA - did the right thing and stepped up and provided the most aid of any nation on earth. We remain the most generous nation ever providing humanitarian and other aid where ever it is needed

It was with great sadness that my own commitments prevented me from assisting doctors without borders myself in Haiti. I am very proud of my profession whose heart and humanity extends to all regardless of location, politics or any other superfluous characteristic that would obscure our basic shared humanity. Seeing the United States take the lead in providing this aid should reaffirm to the world we are the last best hope for liberty freedom and dignity.

Reality of Tax and spend idiocy...