Politics of Fear

In a recent cover story, Newsweek "breaks new proctological ground for the depth and breadth of its butt-kissing of the Obama campaign," according to Jonah Goldberg in the print edition of National Review. Newsweek claims (in a cover story, mind you, not an editorial) that "the Republican Party has been successfully scaring voters since 1968, when Richard Nixon build a Silent Majority out of lower- and middle-class folks frightened or disturbed by hippies and student radicals and blacks rioting in the inner cities."

Do Republicans sometimes play on people's fears? Of course they do. Fear is a powerful motivator. Believe it or not, there are things to fear on this planet and I don't see anything wrong with addressing them. However, Republicans do not have a monopoly on fear, as Goldberg points out.

It might strike some as odd to start at 1968 when, four years earlier, the Democratic party ran its infamous 'daisy' ad suggesting that a vote for [Barry Goldwater] might well render The Children into radioactive cinder.

How Al Gore can emit so much CO2 about Bush's fear-mongering without spontaneously bursting into flames of hypocrisy is beyond me, given that his whole post-vice-presidency has been dedicated to scaring the bejeebers out of the whole planet about global warming. 'Hurricanes! Cyclones! Famine!'

Liberals, Democrats, Clintonites, and environmentalists would respond to all of these counter-examples by saying... it's 'raising awareness' and 'highlighting the issue.'

I guess it's only fear-mongering if we're not supposed to be afraid. Clearly the media, in labeling the Republican party as the party of fear, has decided for us that we should fear global warming, "two America's", and the free market, but not terrorism or porous borders.

The Real Lesson of Burma

The devastating news from Burma gets worse and worse. The death toll may reach hundreds of thousands due to disease and hunger. Many if not most of the deaths could have been avoided if the communists that run Burma (or Myanmar as the commies call it now) had bothered to warn the people about the tsunami or if they would allow foreign aid in. The government is doing next to nothing about this crisis. They don't care at all for these poor farmers and they hate foreigners even more.

Al Gore blamed the tsunami on man-made global warming on NPR (where else?). Despite the fact that we haven't had any in the last 10 years and the global warming alarmists say not to expect any for the next 10. Actually, this year global temps dropped by about .7 degrees Celsius, which is almost equal to the warming that's occurred since 1880 (.8 degrees). Also, studies do not support this little hurricane theory. Using this disaster to advance the case for massive global warming taxes that will limit our freedom and harm our economy is pretty shady.

If there's a lesson to be learned from this disaster it is the danger communist dictators pose to the world. Spreading freedom around the world is a worthy cause.

Global Warming Is Over Already?

Global temperatures rose by .8 degrees Celsius between 1880 and 1997. Some people got very upset. Temps held steady for a decade but some people continued to demand restrictions on our freedoms and increased taxation to make this all better. These people became very popular.

Fast forward to today: the latest data from all four major global temperature tracking outlets showed that global temps cooled between .65 and .75 degrees Celsius in the last year. This wipes out all of the warming that has occurred in the last century. This is not a surprise considering all the anecdotal evidence: the first snowfall in recorded history for Baghdad, the coldest winter in 100 years for China, and record levels of Antarctic sea ice. Carbon emissions may have a small effect on climate, but there are clearly larger factors (like solar activity) at play. I wonder if they'll take back Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize. Probably not, as Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat kept theirs.

Consensus Debunked

The "consensus" on global warming that has been jammed down our throats isn't holding up too well. The media claims that the scientists who contradict claims that CO2 emissions are destroying the planet are akin to the Flat Earth Society or Holocaust deniers. A new Senate report outlines the views of 400 prominent scientists who disagree with the claims of Gore and the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 400! These scientists are sacrificing piles of grant money to stand up for the truth: that trying to control our climate is impossible, that variations in global temps are normal, that greenhouse gases are only one of many things influencing climate (and CO2 is a small part of greenhouse gases, water vapor makes up the vast majority of it), and that reasonable ideas for improving the environment are cast aside for hysteria. 

Court Rules Gore Is a Liar

The British government has been trying to force all school children to see Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." However, they were sued by a truck driver claiming the government was guilty of political indoctrination. The judge ruled that the movie could be shown, but teachers must explain that it is a political work showing only one side of the argument and must acknowledge eleven falsehoods in the movie. Here's the 11, as listed in newsbusters.org:

• The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government's expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.
• The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The Court found that the film was misleading: over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.
• The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that it was "not possible" to attribute one-off events to global warming.
• The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that this was not the case.
• The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. It turned out that Mr Gore had misread the study: in fact four polar bears drowned and this was because of a particularly violent storm.
• The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream throwing Europe into an ice age: the Claimant's evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.
• The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.
• The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.
• The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.
• The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7m causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40cm over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.
• The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

Climate Change: What Do the Studies Say?

I know what you're thinking, "Jon does not post enough about global warming." Well here you go: a researcher has examined all of the published climate studies in the last three years to see how many supported the "consensus" that man was at least partially responsible for global warming (not even, as Gore claims, that man is primarily responsible and that global warming will result in catostrophe). Out of 528 studies on climate change found in the literature, only 7% explicitly endorsed the "consensus", 6% rejected this view, 45% accepted this view without saying so explicitly, and 48% were neutral. Guess how many referred to the catostrophic results of global warming? Only one out of 528. It is clear that the global warming hysteria is being driven by politicians and tree huggers, not science.

Is the Science Settled?

The global climate models took another hit. These models are what the Al Gore's of the world base their predictions of disaster, intending to scare us into allowing massive new taxation and government control. The models predicted that for every degree centigrade of warming, precipitation would increase by 1-3%. However, the American Thinker brought to my attention a study published in CO2 Science has just shown that precipitation actually increases by 7% per degree C. This is a big difference and it's an important difference. Increases in precipitation will help cool the planet and throw off the catastrophic predictions significantly. Scientists clearly have a long way to go to understanding climate. I'm all for conservation and improving energy technology to reduce pollution, but let's hold off on Kyoto-like protocols and let's not vote for politicians that support them.

Gorezilla

Has there ever been anyone so drunk on his own celebrity than Al Gore? He is a great example of how, when you are so sure you are right, the ends justify the means. Because global warming is such a huge threat, in his mind, drastic changes to our lifestyle are needed. Americans won't go for these changes unless they are scared. Enter his book and film. James M. Taylor challenges a number of Gore's key deceptions in the Chicago Sun-Times today. It appears that Big Al is preparing to run for president. My dream is that Hillary will win the Democratic nomination and both Gore and Ralph Nader run as independents. Romney, Thompson, or (hopefully not) Giuliani would win by 10% of the vote.

Klaus - Leader of B Squad

Sorry to post two days in a row on global warming, but this article is just too good. Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, argues in the Financial Times that global warming propaganda is huge threat to individual freedom, democracy, the market economy, and prosperity. He answers a series of questions submitted by readers, some from my line of thinking, but mostly from Al Gore types. Klaus argues that global warming “is more about social than natural sciences and more about man and his freedom than about tenths of a degree Celsius changes in average global temperature.” The "imminent crisis" that is global warming is an attempt to use government to restrict our freedoms and to control markets. I highly recommend this quick Q&A, Klaus (I love the name Klaus, by the way, it reminds me of Willem Dafoe's character in the Life Aquatic) sums up the arguments I'm trying to make, only he's smarter than me.

What Consensus?

Al Gore's scientific "consensus" on the threat of global warming just does not seem to be materializing. Recent polls of those in the climate science community do not seeem to match Gore's claims. A recent poll of the National Registry of Environmental Professionals (a U.S. based, accrediting organization of 12,000) found that 59% think human activities are largely to blame for warming and only 39% think curbing carbon emissions should be a priority. Al Gore's response to these thousands of "denying" scientists? "Only an insignificant fraction of scientists deny the global warming crisis. The time for debate is over. The science is settled." In other words, "You insignificant 41% - SHUT UP!" The media and the Democrats (redundant, I know) are shouting louder and louder about global warming. If they win the White House, get ready for extreme global warming taxes.

Algore on the Hill

Gore waddled up to Capitol Hill today to try to spread his global warming alarmist propaganda. Never fear, the "scientific consensus" Gore claims for his gloom and doom message just isn't holding up (perhaps he should join Rev. Jesse Jackson's Million Snowman March against global warming as reported in the Onion). The U.N.'s latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which the alarmists have claimed as their gold standard, must be of particular concern to Gore. The report stated the worst case scenario for sea-level change in the next century is 23 inches, a slightly lower than Gore's claims of 20 feet or more in his documentary. Steven Hayward of National Review Online offers further evidence of the growing consensus: Gore is misleading the world on global warming.