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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (21949)	6/12/2008 1:17:22 PM
From: Elmer Flugum	Respond to of 36917

Off The Grid: off-grid.net

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (21949)	6/13/2008 11:27:25 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36917

Imaginary Hobgoblins The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. According to Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson, Al Gore adopted this strategy (from an H.L. Mencken quote) for his global warming crusade: Gore needed the scientific community to back up his assertions and the media to spread the word. Enlisting the help of the media was easy (apocalyptic fantasies are sure ratings winners), but getting enough scientists on board was trickier. When Gore started his GW campaign in the early 1990s, a contemporary Gallup poll of scientists showed that only 18 percent thought there was any evidence to support Gore’s theory. Even a survey conducted by Greenpeace found only 13 percent of climatologists willing to declare GW “probable.” Nevertheless, Gore repeatedly claimed that (literally) 98 percent of scientists agreed with him, and he exhorted reporters to ignore skeptics. Right from the outset, the GW cult (like other illiberal movements, such as communism and fascism) had to resort to the “big lie” technique to make it appear that the science of GW was settled. I understand that scientific evidence can change on any particular theory. Advances in scientific research can bring to light things that were invisible even 15 years ago. But how did the Cult of Global Warming do this? As senator, and then vice president, Gore used his power to channel money toward those who “played ball” and away from those who doubted GW. The latter found that grant money dried up, promotions were denied, and even jobs were terminated. Gore’s colleague, Colorado Senator Timothy Wirth, became Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs in charge of promoting GW theory and international agreements to address the alleged problem. Wirth was quoted as bragging that he could change a lot of minds with a billion dollars per year of State Department money. Indeed, recent estimates are that $50 billion has been spent promoting the GW theory (mostly governments and international organizations using tax money) and less that $1 billion to question it. Advantage: GW. This is richly ironic. GW fanatics routinely accuse skeptics of having been bought off by Big Oil. They expect Americans to disbelieve private-sector scientists while trusting government-funded scientists (i.e., virtually all the scientists on the GW bandwagon) as if, a priori, government funding is holy, but private funding corrupt. And then there’s the Kyoto Treaty. You know, the one that George Bush killed: The history is this: after the Clinton administration signed Kyoto, the senate voted 95-0 against implementing Kyoto’s provisions because they were slanted so unfairly against the United States. Clinton then signed an executive order barring the executive branch from enforcing any part of Kyoto. Bush didn’t kill Kyoto; he inherited a corpse. Never let the truth get in the way of a good Bush bash. Somewhat buried in Hendrickson’s article is this astonishing fact: Since Kyoto was written, greenhouse emissions in the countries that adopted it increased 21.1 percent on average, while U.S. emissions increased only 6.6 percent; yet, the United States has been singled out as the irresponsible global citizen. It is well known that Cult leader Gore is quite the hypocrite when it comes to global warming, but why is this the first time I’m hearing these statistics? Has the mainstream media’s self-loathing of America come this far? But all hope is not lost: There are signs that Gore’s movement is losing credibility. An English judge ruled that Gore’s award-winning film An Inconvenient Truth may not be shown in U.K. schools without disclaimers and the inclusion of opposing opinions, on the grounds that it is a work of political propaganda, and not scientifically sound. Various scientists on the political left who formerly endorsed the GW dogma now repudiate it. Remarkably, 19,000 scientists have signed a statement urging our government not to take any rash, costly actions to curb CO2 emissions. The pendulum swings… (Preemptive side note: yes, I am aware that Mencken’s quote can be applied to your particular thorn-in-the-side like the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, blowback, CPS, etc. but this post is about MY thorn-in-the-side, the myth of man-made global warming) lonestartimes.com

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (21949)	6/13/2008 4:34:33 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36917

Energy: Turn lights off, New Zealanders told, as drought hits power plants Barbara McMahon in Sydney The Guardian, Tuesday June 10 2008 New Zealanders are to be urged to wash dishes by hand and turn off some of their household lights as the country teeters on the brink of a power crisis caused by drought. After two years of dry weather the low level of water in lakes that drive New Zealand's hydroelectric power plants is causing concern. The energy minister, David Parker, yesterday denied claims that the country was facing rolling power cuts, but said that unless there was significant rainfall soon households would be asked to cut electricity consumption by up to 15% during the peak early evening time. Hydroelectric stations usually produce about 75% of New Zealand's electricity but lack of rainfall has reduced that output in recent weeks to only 50%. Coal, diesel and gas-fired power plants are trying to make up the shortfall, but more strain is expected to be put on the national grid with the arrival of winter in the southern hemisphere. Backed by the government, the electricity industry is to launch a power-saving campaign on television. "I think the advice will be that, while it's not an emergency, it is time for people to be turning off lights in rooms they are not using, certainly not leaving the computer on all night or the heated towel rail on for 24 hours a day," Helen Clark, New Zealand's prime minister, said in a radio interview. ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/10/drought.energy