Guest post by Steve Goreham
Originally published in The Washington Times
With barely a whimper from the media, John Kerry is President Obama’s official nominee for Secretary of State. Mr. Kerry is the senior Senator from Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and was the 2004 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Kerry has also been a long-time crusader in the effort to try to stop global warming.
With the possible exception of former Vice President Al Gore, Senator Kerry has been the most fervent climate hawk in the United States Congress. Kerry believes that “catastrophic climate change represents a threat to human security, global stability, and—yes—even to American national security” and that global warming is man-made. He further states that “Once you accept the science, it’s clear that such massive environmental change will create dislocation, destruction, chaos, and conflict.”
Senator Kerry and his wife authored the 2008 book This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future, asking the question, “And what, in the face of so many powerful interests defending the status quo, are each of us willing to do, today and tomorrow, to force a change of course?”
True to his convictions, Kerry co-sponsored the American Power Act in 2010. The bill would have established a US cap-and-trade carbon trading system, but died in the Senate without a vote.
Senator Kerry parrots the “science” of man-made global warming with the starry-eyed ideology of a young environmentalist. After tornados killed 50 people in the Southeastern US in February 2008, Kerry appeared on MSNBC and concluded that man-made warming was to blame: “…this is related to the intensity of the storms that is related to the warming of Earth…the storms are more intensive and the rainfall is more intense…” But a simple look at data from the National Climatic Data Center shows that strong tornado activity in the US has decreased since the 1970s.
In a 2009 interview with the Huffington Post, Mr. Kerry stated, “Nowhere is the connection between climate and security more direct than in South Asia—home to Al Qaeda. Scientists now warn that the Himalayan glaciers which supply fresh water to a billion people in the region could disappear completely by 2035.” He was referring to a statement in Chapter 10 of the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
But in 2010, Dr. Murari Lal, the coordinating lead author for Chapter 10, admitted that the “melting by 2035” statement was not from peer-reviewed literature, but had been added to Chapter 10 to try to put pressure on world leaders. An accepting Senator Kerry fell prey to the ruse.
In another example last July, Senator Kerry warned about rising seas, stating, “With the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet alone, global sea levels could rise by as much as 3.26 meters in the coming years. And the Pacific and Atlantic coasts may be in for a 25 percent increase above average levels by century’s end.” But, empirical data indicate growth of both Antarctic sea ice and land ice over the last 30 years.
Data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia show no increase in global surface temperatures for more than ten years. Nevertheless, Mr. Kerry continues his climate crusade. In a speech on the Senate floor in August of this year, Kerry declared that global climate change was “as dangerous” as nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran. President Obama recently said that climate change would be one of his top three priorities for his second term. Mr. Kerry may be just the man to lead the crusade.
During the next four years, look for Secretary Kerry to boost efforts in a futile fight to stop global warming. The real problems of the world, such as hunger, poverty and disease in developing nations, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation, may need to take a back seat.
Steve Goreham is Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of the new book The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism: Mankind and Climate Change Mania.
Why does Mencken come into mind?
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hlmencke101109.html#ixzz1fJjU8xSJ
I have always looked at the USA as an example, a beacon of freedom.
My parents and my home country were liberated with the blood of (amongst others) US soldiers.
Something I never thought would happen has taken shape in the last 10 years.
America is being attacked from within.
I think the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ is the least of your worries.
Good luck and God bless….
Kerry is an awful choice from the standpoint of climate issues. He has been one of the most virulent advocates of irrational policial and economic policies on the issue for 20+ years:
John Kerry, global warming activist
p.s. get ready for the concern trolls to tell you not to discuss “politics” here — even if the SoS nominee is well outside the mainstream of his Senate colleagues he will be easily confirmed, as Senate “courtesy” is well oiled in cases like this one…..
Nowhere is the connection between climate and security more direct than in South Asia—home to Al Qaeda.
Global warming caused 9/11?
Really?
Gosh!
Thus Kerry jostles for first place in the Megalodon Steeplechase. He’ll be signing up at Al’s Gym and taking up climate boxing next…
I prefer to keep to the science and the valid reasoned debate about it, as you do too; but you do wonder sometimes when clearly pressing problems which are killing and sickening millions now are shunted to the back of the queue in favour of theoretical future problems. What’s it about? Earlier this year I tried to get some response published to Donald Prothero’s diatribes on climate (which now apparently have been published in print) in eSkeptic without success. At one point I wrote, ‘Let us think about geopolitical interests. Currently, the US and the European Union dominate the world stage economically and politically. Developing countries, especially India and China, which hold nearly half the world’s population, are making efforts to raise their people out of poverty. If these countries continue with their scientific, technological and economic development, they will represent a perceived ‘threat’ to the existing dominant powers. Because of their level of development, the most obvious route for India and China to get access to the energy needed for development is by using fossil fuels, just as the currently developed nations did and do. It does not require a highly Machiavellian mind to see that imposing severe restrictions on CO2 emissions, and thus on the use of fossil fuels, would restrict the development of these countries, and reduce the ‘threat’ to the currently dominant ones. (Personally, I do not think that these countries’ development would necessarily be a threat, rather an opportunity.) It is, sadly, normal amongst AGWT supporters to refer to NAGWT proponents as ‘industry shills’; but perhaps the AGWT scientists and organisations are in the hands of someone’s slightly murky geopolitical strategy. I don’t know, but it bears thinking about.’
I thought, on a first quick glance, that the Kerry/Edwards logo strapline read “Astrologer America” which would at least have had the advantage of being accurate!
So depressingly transparent. And with the influence of the liberal MSM, most people will suck it right up as always. Keep up the good work Anthony. Please!
The real problems of the world, such as hunger, poverty and disease in developing nations, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation, may need to take a back seat.
To be fair, the world is probably better off is if the US doesn’t try to solve terrorism. When it has been defeated (Red Brigades, IRA, Tamil Tigers etc) it has been without US help. Where the US “helps” things tend to get worse.
Al Gore did an excellent job with his exaggeration, deceit and obvious desire for personal gain in discrediting the claims of the CAGW cult. Hopefully, John Kerry will prove equally as inept in his support for the Global Warming Industry’s gravy train.
Speaking as a non-American, few thought Hilary Clinton would do such a good job as Secretary of State, perhaps in his new job Kerry will find himself too busy to continue pandering to the whims of the econuts in the PDR Massachusetts. We can always hope.
I suppose for a non scientist like Senator Kerry it is very difficult to accept that a deeply held conviction should be discarded when the observed scientific facts make your position incorrect. Let’s face it politics is about persuasion not about facts and he is a very persuasive man, to wit he is a senior senator.
Interestingly in the UK Prime Minister Cameron is replacing climate activists with realists in his administration and President Obama is going the other way. Cameron has a reputation for doing policy U turns when the facts prove him wrong. I wonder if Obama will show the same degree of pragmatism or , if like many weak men, he will continue with his course no matter what for fear of appearing weak.
http://rt.com/news/russia-freeze-cold-temperature-379/
Dear John.
While you are flying pointlessly around the globe, please whip in and explain to the Ruskies how the warm is detrimental to their well being.
shyster.
regards.
John Kerry certainly was foolish enough to pick John Edwards as his running mate. However George H W Bush chose J Danforth Quayle, a genius act to prevent assassination, and George W Bush chose Dick Cheney, a man constantly in a secure location but still willing and able to shoot a lawyer friend in the face because his friend looked like a small bird.
However I must have missed the point since the secretary of state is the President’s roving ambassador in foreign affairs, not domestic energy policy.
The reality is that no-one, not even the Democrats, is going to vote for higher energy costs through a cap-and-trade while America still struggles with the results of the near collapse of the American economy during latter Bush administration.
I must leave as there’s a man at the door offering me a ride in his Swiftboat….
Looking at the issue from another angle you could state that: It’s now time to take forceful action to avoid the next ice age which, if we let the current trend since 8000 years continue, will affect our children and coming generations most severely.
Perhaps the time has come for an open letter to Mr Kerry showing that the fight against CAGW has been won already by Gaia. Otherwise, it is certain that in his panic over the lack of ‘global warming’ for 15 years, he will join forces with President Obama, his ‘czars’ Holdren and Sunstein, and the UN to enforce Agenda 21 on the world.
John Heinz-Kerry Is a [snip . . c’mon now . . mod], Just like Algore. Neither one even try to live the lifestyle that the preach for the rest of the world.
Surely there must be a better choice available for Sec of State than Kerry. He simply does not command the respect he needs for the job in my view.
Seasons greeting to Anthony, his family, mods, commenters and lurkers 😉
To wish any nation’s Secretary of State busyness in their actual business is fraught with possibility. Yet, in this case I find I am thinking along those lines.
May he live in interesting times. Keeping his nose out the things he either knows nothing of or refuses to research. /benefit of doubt.
Senator John Kerry seems to be what I thought was impossible,,,,even more dangerous than Al Gore!
Peter Hannan says:
December 26, 2012 at 12:43 am
“It does not require a highly Machiavellian mind to see that imposing severe restrictions on CO2 emissions, and thus on the use of fossil fuels, would restrict the development of these countries, and reduce the ‘threat’ to the currently dominant ones.”
—————–
Peter, that’s a given for anyone with a modicum of interest in following geopolitics. There are other odd allies such as those on the extreme left conservationists and extreme right Malthusians, or combinations thereof, but these are not the prime mover of the AGW campaign.iimho.
“Cameron has a reputation for doing policy U turns when the facts prove him wrong.”
Not really Keith. Facts say his severe cutting in the public sector, cutting benefits (raising by 1% when the inflation is at 3% means you’re cutting by 2% Spinster Cameron!) is detrimental to the economy. The economy is supposed to be growing by 3% according to his plan 4 years ago. It has obviously failed dramatically. We’re near a tripple-dipped recesssion now, with things projected to stay the same till 2018. We lost our tripple A rating, something George Osborne has said before was incredibly important to guage how the plan is working out. Not surprisingly after the rating was lost he said it’s not a big deal anyway.
Yup, even his own indicators tell him his economic policy has failed, yet Cameron still won’t admit it and carries on this path that threatens many more with severe poverty.
As a followup to my previous post. I have just finished dinner here in Zhuhai, China, while watching CCTV13 news.
Mongolia under siege, -44C, same for Urumchi, and Wuhan in the centre. Terrible road conditions causing accidents.
But then, this would only be weather, wouldn’t it??
regards.
even the locals here in Zhuhai are commenting on the cold.
John Kerry is emblematic of the massive problem facing America. Its Political class. The worst ever, without a doubt. What a mess!!!!
regards
Stop worrying about words and beliefs. Everyone in Washington (except heroic James Inhofe!) believes and says the same things. Everyone in the Euro ruling class (no exceptions!) believes and says the same things. Despite that, they’re not getting anywhere. The parasite has already eaten the resources that would be needed to continue its growth. So the hosts have to find other ways of living, even while they loudly sing the praises of the parasite.
See Kerry stand by Florida U. police taser a student for asking “difficult” questions. What a guy.
Kerry might want to watch some Russian TV,
Moscow,
soviet built heating systems that centralize heating, have for the lack of maintenance been freezing in Moscow’s recent cold spell ( – 30c ) + 500,000 apartments have been affected, a minister of public services has said it will be sometime in May next year before service is restored completely, Schools and public buildings with independent heating systems have been opened to the public!
Eastern Siberia
Temp of up to minus 62c have been recorded in the cities of the region !
Bet Kerry always says “climate change, never “global warming “
Kerry is a perfect choice from just about all perspectives.
Politically, it’s great. Hillary was never going to sign anything that would materially impact her run in 2016. Obama deeply desires to still the oceans. Another lefty from outside DC would be a bit much (re Susan Rice) so he offers up a herring (Hagle) then moves to a mostly useless Senator virtually assured comfirmation by the Club Of The Senate. Even if Scott runs against whomever is picked to replace him in MA, the Perpetual Campaign will focus on that state for months, if needed. And, of course, the GOP has perfectly positioned themselves to be blamed for everything from the economy to blisters on the big toe.
Environmentally, it’s even better. Obama swaps a difficult woman with a true demagogue who will actually lead the charge to control just about everything related to the economy. After all, name any business that has no CO2 “emissions”. Not only that but Obama has simply a raft of folks to do his thinking. All they need is for him to read their scripts and sign protocols, trade agreements restricting CO2, guns, etc., and the Executive Order pen will produce all the authority needed. Not only will EOs be used in ways that may spin your heard but those vast grants of regularory powers Congress conferred to the Federal Agencies will be twisted nearly beyond recognition. Expect to hear “in anticipation”, “using the signed … as a guide”, etc., etc.
Since Obama took office, my monthly electrical bill has increased by about 40%; our power company has just sent letters explaining at least another 20 to 30% due to just what the EPA has been doing.
One supposes, if Reid ever gets around to producing a budget, it’ll be along the lines of the old five year plans of the cold war period. Oh, and don’t expect any treaties that Kerry signs to ever see a vote in the Senate until the Democrates get a 2/3rds majority. All they need is the “signed by Kerry”.
Once the regs start showing up in the Federal Register, there’ll be so many with so much scope that they won’t really be able to be stopped until some future Congress and President remove the agencies power(s). Any bets on when that might happen?
What to do? If you’re investing in equities, bet on the really large companies, like GE, BP, Exxon, etc. It’ll be an economy along the lines of 1930’s Germany where all but the big are cast aside. And anything that responds well in inflationary times.
All in all, Obama has proven to be a simply brilliant political strategiest. Of course he has no effective opposition. The GOP could change the trajectory and blunt some of the tsunami gathering at the horizon but don’t bet your energy bills on it.
Alright, Wucash, exlain how increasing the national debt is going to improve the economy. How is taking money from earners and frittering it away on largely pointless government spending going to improve the economy?
It’s not. It’s as simple as that. Taking money from the productive class and handing it over to the public sector (which I have worked in, and which I discovered is, outside certain critical areas, largely a glorified benefit system for people who haven’t got the nouse to do some real work) is a drain on the economy, not a supply. The government needs to cut spending and cut taxes if it wants the economy to pick up. They aren’t cutting spending and they aren’t cutting taxes, they’re simpy raising both at a slightly slower rate. That isn’t “cuts”, it’s not “austerity”, and its no wonder the bloody economy is still in the pits if people think a reduction in the rate of increase is the same as a reduction in the actual amount.
All this rubbish about government spending being the only way to bring us out of the economy is a happy little fantasy that has no basis in reality. It was government central planning that got us in this mess in the first place. It was government spending on “failsafes” – buying up debt – and government central planning that created the sub-prime scandal, destroyed the health service, estroyed our eduational system and set up the conditions for this whole bleeding mess. Without the government subsidising the failure of the banks and mandating charges to subsidies green energy (amongst other such things) we would be on our way to recovery. Instead they throw billions at the blighters, and for what? So they can fritter it all away on green rubbish and huge prizes for scamming so much of our money out of a government that thinks it can grow the economy by borrowing money more slowly.
We are broke. We do not have the money. Printing more money does not magially make the economy grow. Spending money we don’t have doesn’t make the economy grow. Cameron retending that he’s made cuts when he’s only reduced the increases a little is not going to make the economy grow. You might as well just stick your fingers in your ears and pretend that the economy will grow if you wish really hard. It’s about the same level of fantasy economics as you’ve just advocated.
How depressing that someone so high in our “democratic” decision making process takes so little time to do some background work before committing himself to cranky theories of Global catastrophe. Just a little forethought and research would enable him to avert spending/wasting billions and interfering in the private lives of individuals he is supposed to represent and look out for.
But this type of politician lives in a bubble, lacks these basic skills of thinking for himself and does not have the courtesy to check his facts before shooting his mouth off.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_kerry_homes.htm
The many Homes of John Kerry
Check out the size of his Carbon Footprint
I’m afraid that in foreign affairs he is actually ideally placed to drive the green agenda via international agreements. He could for example
* commit the US to “binding CO2 reduction targets”
* promise to “pay reparations for the damage caused by climate change” to developing nations.
* volunteer billions in aid to “assist developing nations to switch to green technology”.
These are all prime elements of the current climate agenda. Unless he is reigned in by his boss or grows some common sense and a better connection with reality he could do quite a lot of damage.
Kerry is a climate hawk, but as Secretary Kerry, he may do less damage than he would as Senator Kerry.
This clumate conspiracy must hide/front some incredibly wvil agenda. Really nasty people are pushing for global climate control and there is zero possibility in my mind that they do so for the benefit of anyone but them selves, certainly not the poor. It is time for some clever persons to investigate what the heck is going on. What is the true intent of all this legislation.ä?
Just hear in the news that the US got a load of global warming in the form of snow! The Gore effect working for Kerry!
“Data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia show no increase in global surface temperatures for more than ten years.” A debunking of the Daily Mail article to which that sentence links can be found in an article in the Guardian here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/16/daily-mail-global-warming-stopped-wrong
wucash says:
December 26, 2012 at 2:29 am
You are failing to hide your lack of understanding of economics.
George Tetley says:
December 26, 2012 at 3:02 amTemp of up to minus 62c have been recorded in the cities of the region
Down to ??
What will slow Kerry, CAGW alarmists and the likes of the EPA down is the law of diminishing returns. If global temperatures continue on their hiatus and they should as the Northern Altlantic follows the Southern Atlantic and Pacific in switching to a cold phase, then more economists will be asking where the real returns are. Added to this a real fiscal cliff in terms of tax payer fatigue world wide and folk will be scutinising the real need to ‘convert’ from cheap gas to economy killing renewables…
Politicians when in power find it difficult to implement costly policy promises. Astute politicians when in power always take second opinion advising caution.
I expect that the AGWs instead of ‘consensus of adoration’ soon will be accusing secretary Kerry of abandoning the ‘cause’.
Time will tell.
“During the next four years, look for Secretary Kerry to boost efforts in a futile fight to stop global warming. The real problems of the world, such as hunger, poverty and disease in developing nations, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation, may need to take a back seat.”
I imagine he would like that to be the case, but I have a feeling that the next few years are going to keep him too busy dealing with other issues to make much of a show of this. Then again, I suppose he could always try to paint CAGW as the great uniting enemy of all mankind.
He’s not going to get any further with his Chicken Little scare tactics now than he did in 2004….
Before Mrs. Clinton resigned, she had already initiated the action against carbon soot (including this time in Doha). This action apparently follows the 2010 Hartwell Paper (http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2010/05/hartwell-paper.html); it makes more scientific sense and is more applicable than the anti-CO2 movement.
I am not sure whether Kerry as the new Secretary of State will continue with this direction.
The Senate confirmation hearings would seem to be the ideal place to challenge Kerry’s
“science,” such as it is, with some very pointed, very leading questions. But we need
a Senator who is familiar with the science. See the problems you face when politicians are tasked to make decisions – they are almost never qualified to deal with the subject at hand. Gee, I wonder why so many Federal laws are failures? That’s a tough one , all right.
Well, unfortunately for my Colonial Cousins, I must say that you reap what you sow. Here in the UK we only narrowly avoided the Red Peril (Labour Party) but at the cost of lying (sic) with the Lib Dems….in a hung parliament. In November 2012 you had the chance to free your country but the majority (?) chose not to.
As to wucash 02:29 – As far as Standard & Poor are concerned (Dec 26th) the UK remains with a AAA credit rating on a negative outlook. Care to correct your incorrect statement?
Don’t forget that Kerry and Heinz set up Second Nature to make college and universities change curriculum to sell Sustainability. http://www.secondnature.org/
The re are basically 2 views of higher ed these days. The primary one that second nature is designed to feed is to change the student’s perceiving worldview. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/changing-the-filtering-perception-the-way-we-see-the-world-is-key/ explains the desire to jettison the current “dominant techno-scientific worldview which influences us all, is essentially positivist, objectivist and reductionist, and based upon the root metaphor of mechanism.”
Silly people cause and effect is not metaphor. We get modelling in its place based on preferred interpretations of society’s future. Just reminding everyone that the quite serious Future Earth Alliance goes live in 2013 even if it is operating with all our tax money over in Sweden.
And the tied in Belmont Challenge has education pushing to destroy that deplored rational worldview above and replace it with emotion, instinct, and barely basic skills. All over the world. It also assumes replacing material prosperity with collective well-being that emphasizes relationships.
Now won’t Kerry so enjoy pushing that vision? At least until the reality of Russia or the Middle East makes delusions of peace with sufficient will an untenable pipedream.
Perhaps the media will simply refuse to cover anything that interferes with the scripted plans.
I used to think Kerry was doing a really bad Lincoln impersonation, but since he’s moved on to saving not just the country, but the world, I get the feeling that he’s morphing into his Jesus impersonation. I expect him to start gathering disciples any day now. Paid by the govt (of course).
Hey, disciples don’t come cheap these days.
I think communist Ed Markey is second to Gore putting Kerry further down the list. Markey and scientific moron Henry Waxman authored a monstrosity cap and trade bill “ACES” in 2009 that narrowly passed in the House but was thankfully shot down in the Senate.
We dodged a big bullet back then when there was less public awareness of the fraud of CAGW so I think the chances of anything like it being foisted on us again are very remote and getting through the House right now – impossible.
Clinton lays out goal of integrated power grid in the Americas
http://terrawatts.com/connecting-americas.html
This now begs the question, what if any companies have received more than just stimulus funds for projects outside the US, that may have received funds for domestic projects.
john from DB.
“Nowhere is the connection between climate and security more direct than in South Asia—home to Al Qaeda.”
That’s a geography fail then. The middle east isn’t South Asia. I have a lot of respect for America, and give thanks for American’s sacrifices in defence of the free world. I really wish Americans would elect politicians capable of reading a map. I sincerely hope I don’t wake up to the headlines “America bombs Singapore: Al Qaeda disabled”.
Given how effective Ms. Clinton has been as Sec. of State, maybe that is the best place for Sen. Kerry.
[snip . . you can do better . . mod]
I would disagree with KeithAB that Cameron changes his policy based on fact. He is controlled by PR spin and what is popular with the ‘bien pensant’ liberal metropolitan clique. He is not a conviction politician and certainly not a conservative. He hates conservatives and does everything he can to upset them – successfully it would seem as party membership has crashed since he came to power causing many constituencies to lack the resources to fight the 2015 election.
wucash is not correct that evidence shows that cutting tax-payer funded government spending damages the economy. High taxes to fund unnecessary spending by the state does hit growth as that money isn’t available for businesses and people to spend more wisely. How can stealing money from people to fund uneconomic windfarms be a good idea? And as for the much vaunted cutting of public spending – contrary to the bleatings from the loss-making Guardian, leftie-BBC and vested interest public sector unions, the national debt is increasing not reducing because no meaningful cuts have been made. Those on benefits have had it so good as they have had rises that private sector workers can only dream of and they are still getting 1% more next year. Some of my joint-venture colleagues have not had a pay increase for 5 years and my company has had 3 years of no increases.
I agree that Osbourne’s economic plan isn’t working as he is not making big cuts in state spending and not cutting taxes to boost private sector investment. We need a simple flat tax system that removes the incentive for tax-avoidance and rewards work.
Kerry ought to fit in well with this administration. He’s focused on anything but the real issues and climate change has absolutely nothing to do with the duties of the State Department.
I would be interested in knowing what Senator Kerry and his wife have personally done to mitigate their carbon footprint- he indicated he was going to do something: “And what, in the face of so many powerful interests defending the status quo, are each of us willing to do, today and tomorrow, to force a change of course?”
John Kerry is sadly a mere shadow of the Man he so wanted to be, past President JFK.
Kerry is a dangerous combination in that he lacks the intelligence to lead, yet has the insatiable political drive for power. Along with thinking far to highly of himself, as in a narcissist. Evidence by his filming his Vietnam antics to portray a himself as hero.
Mooloo says:
December 26, 2012 at 1:16 am
“To be fair, the world is probably better off is if the US doesn’t try to solve terrorism. When it has been defeated (Red Brigades, IRA, Tamil Tigers etc) it has been without US help. Where the US “helps” things tend to get worse.”
Are you mad? Have you even noticed what happened in Sri Lanka?
wucash says:
December 26, 2012 at 2:29 am
““Cameron has a reputation for doing policy U turns when the facts prove him wrong.”
Not really Keith. Facts say his severe cutting in the public sector, cutting benefits (raising by 1% when the inflation is at 3% means you’re cutting by 2% Spinster Cameron!) is detrimental to the economy. ”
wucash, do you believe in Kurgmanomics? Spending yourself to prodperity? You work in the public sector, right? Now here is reality for you: The US, the UK and the Eurozone will have to undergo a severe culling of their public sectors or face desaster. That tiny sub-inflation wage raise cut won’t do it.
Given the courage of our politicians I’d bet on desaster.
This post is all well and good, but I’m afraid there is going to have to be a more proactive engagement here. This is a very dangerous development. At least the IPCC has to pay attention to and react to contrary scientific information and try to squirm around it. Kerry is essentially a model with fixed parameters and a designer brain. He will we studying up on Skeptical Sciences list of talking points while his constituents are skating off Cape Cod.
I wonder what primal man made CO2 emissions caused the Climate Change described in this article in The Telegraph here in the UK. Must have been much more dramatic than what we experience now. Maybe John Kerry can find out on his first mission to Africa.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9766200/Climate-change-may-have-driven-evolution-scientists-believe.html
So we can thank Climate change for our big brains. Pity that some of us don’t know how to use them properly.
John Kerry is a horrible choice for any cabinet post, but this is what happens when you lose a major election. Even Republican senators who know better will vote to confirm because Kerry is a member of “the club”. I would almost rather have Susan Rice.
This one is more recent .They think hes worth 194 million.Too much money for one man to tell everybody else to reduce their Carbon Footprint and sacrifice a decent standard of living.
George Tetley says:
December 26, 2012 at 3:02 am
Kerry might want to watch some Russian TV,
Moscow,
soviet built heating systems that centralize heating…
– – –
Vancouver, whose American environmental activists organization backed current mayor wants to be the greenest bla bla bla, is pushing the soviet inspired central heating idea:
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Environment+vancouver+looks+expand+district+heating+concept/7390367/story.html
http://www.getnetworth.com/john-kerry-net-worth/
Keith AB says: “… a non scientist like Senator Kerry it is very difficult to accept that a deeply held conviction should be discarded when the observed scientific facts make your position incorrect.”
I doubt Senator Kerry knows anything but what he is told by his office staff, a few of his big donors, what ever Congressional Research Services is being told to propagandize, and what mainstream news is pushing.
Kerry like most of Congress knows mainly half-truths, with few facts. Problematically, Congress knows less than the public, while thinking they are more enlightened. Another lawyer turned Congressman demonstrating his superior intelligence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg (you can skip to about 55 seconds).
Climate change may have driven evolution, scientists believe,
The early landscape shifted between woodland to grassland half a dozen times over 200,000 years, meaning man had to adapt to survive.
Experts from Penn State university say that this may have set the tone for the rapid evolution which then took place.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Clayton Magill said: “The landscape early humans were inhabiting transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland about five to six times during a period of 200,000 years.
These changes happened very abruptly, with each transition occurring over hundreds to just a few thousand years.”
The findings appear to contradict previous theories which suggest evolutionary changes were gradual, and in response to either long and steady climate change or one drastic change.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9766200/Climate-change-may-have-driven-evolution-scientists-believe.html
If that means he’ll be an unpersuasive advocate for climate alarmism, good.
Other_Andy says:
December 26, 2012 at 12:17 am
I have always looked at the USA as an example, a beacon of freedom.
My parents and my home country were liberated with the blood of (amongst others) US soldiers.
Something I never thought would happen has taken shape in the last 10 years.
America is being attacked from within.
I think the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ is the least of your worries.
Good luck and God bless….
——————
Hello Other_Andy,
We in the US have always had enemies within, but never anything like what we see now. Many of us would agree with you that we have been under a very obvious and concerted attack from within (and without) in recent past, more often than not, aided and abetted by those in political power.
Gerry Beauregard says:
December 26, 2012 at 4:22 am
“…”
_____________________
You quote Nuccitelli and SkS?
LOLZ
Stick around and learn something.
Quote from another CAGW site (Australian i would hate to admit, but we are a UN experiment)
“Anyone else – I don’t care what they think. If they’re not an expert in a field I’m working in, or they’re not someone whose judgment and opinion I respect, I have no reason to listen.”…She is not an expert in any field….so that leaves???
Gerry Beauregard says:
December 26, 2012 at 4:22 am
“Data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia show no increase in global surface temperatures for more than ten years.” A debunking of the Daily Mail article to which that sentence links can be found in an article in the Guardian here:
The trend line for the last decade is pretty simple to see and to understand. They just dont like to have the trend to be viewed for a shorter time than what makes their weak case. Nothing is debunked at all. Do I accept the Guardian view or my lying eyes.
I think this is a gift to the Republicans. Get this idiot out of the senate and put him in the in-effectual position of Obama’s SoS. IMHO he is a joke considering he committed treason by negotiating with the North Vietnamese in Paris (1970) (something only the President is authorized to do) not to mention his what appear to be exagerated testimony at the Winter Soldiers media event. Get him out of the Senate and we have a small chance of getting someone in there who isn’t a western civilization hating megalomaniac. He can go live out his days off his “Continential African” wife’s ketchup fortune. (If you were one of the few to have the misfortune to watch her speach at the 2004 DNC Convention, you will understand that reference).
A ineffectual poseur as Sec of State- that will get the global warming crew going.
The reason he doesn’t perform due diligence is that he assumes any cause anointed by those he trusts must be correct, and any position taken by the opposition and smeared by the opinion leaders he follows must be wrong–so why bother to risk getting misled by the tricksters on the Other Side by paying them any attention?
In this he is in step with millions of fellow Democrats who are in similarly propagandized and unwilling to listen on AGW.
This one-sided attitude comes naturally to a partisan politician (as opposed to a statesman)–which is what the majority of politicians are and must be, by the nature of the system and its incentives.
I read her someone wondering if Obama will do a U turn when events prove him wron, they miss the point, I doubt many on the left have an ounce of trust in AGW, or even want it to have substance but they know a good crisis when they see one. Think of the threat of the USSR to Tito’s Yugoslavia, it kept mortal enemies working together without a thought of their differences, the left use climate the same way. Obama’s handlers (Soros among them) know what they are doing and the useful idiots want to occupy Wall St they will never know how and why they were almost right there! what we all see as lies is just a good way to enslave the people of the USA and EU. Without the truly good people like Anthony and all the others who stick their necks out thei would be a rout, thank you all and the very best of health and luck next year.
Lies come to Lt. for life John F. Kerry easier than the breath of life.
HIs last long moment he will lie to himself that he never told one lie in his life.
Keep in mind his children, they know the CIA hat is a lie.
They know the facts from the SwiftboatVet Blog where “Navy Chief” and other posters gathered the logs and communications from every one of his missions and the true background on his false, fraud, and lie based awards and citations.
They know he was in the Navy Reserve when he met with the North Viet Goverment, officers of the NVA, and the leaders of the VC in Paris France.
If he is that low, more lies to all of us has no wight at all to him.
Beware of traitors.
First, the Met Office’s debunking applied only to the claim that the temperature had been flat for 16 years, not to the much solider claim that it’s been flat for 11 years.
Second, the Met Office’s “debunking” isn’t as solid as warmists like to think. It was critiqued in these WUWT threads:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/15/the-met-office-responds-to-global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/15/noaas-15-year-statement-from-2008-puts-a-kibosh-on-the-current-met-office-insignificance-claims-that-global-warming-flatlined-for-16-years/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/25/met-office-statistics-questioned/
Dave says:
December 26, 2012 at 7:29 am
” Get him out of the Senate and we have a small chance of getting someone in there who isn’t a western civilization hating megalomaniac.”
_____________
Replacing a senior senator with someone at the bottom of the seniority ladder will in itself be beneficial.
“catastrophic climate change represents a threat to human security, global stability, and—yes—even to American national security”
That might be true. What I know is true is that limiting the energy around the world by raising the price is also a threat to all of those things. I believe even worse of a threat.
The real problem is Obama. He’s the one who appointed Lisa Jackson, who is a little more than a clueless apparatchik under his direction. I’m sure if you checked the Senate voting records of Kerry, Obama, Boxer and Clinton, they all voted in lockstep on climate and environmental issues.
Climate stupidity is only a part of Liberal, no-growth, strangulating and corrupt environmental policies. Obama can do a lot of damage just with presidential directives in that direction.
The good news is that the Republicans still own the House and will probably pick up seats there and in the Senate in 2014. If Kerry resigns, Scott Brown stands a good chance of winning his seat.
This will mean more to Brits.
John Gummer (or Lord Deben) was recently appointed chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, despite certain business interests relating to renewables, etc. These interests were declared by him.
What he does not seem to have declared is that he is a Council Member of the World Future Council (WFC), whose stated aim is to influence decision makers and bring about
a fair and ecologically intact world for current and future generations
Their policy list makes Greenpeace look like the Tea Party!
This cannot possibly not result in a conflict of interest, and there may be much more to come out of this yet. e’g. why Gummer has not declared the WFC on his Parliamentary Register of Interests.
More detail here.
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/john-gummer-and-the-world-future-council/
If he gets confirmed as our Secretary of State there is a good chance he will go down in history as America’s Neville Chamberlain and will bumble his way into some disastrous foreign policy moves that will cost us dearly.
If I made a list of the 5 least competent Senators, he would appear on the list twice.
Larry
Speaking as a non-American, few thought Hilary Clinton would do such a good job as Secretary of State, perhaps in his new job Kerry will find himself too busy to continue pandering to the whims of the econuts in the PDR Massachusetts. We can always hope.
Speaking as an American, I rather agree. He’s not stupid, and there is plenty of real stuff to keep him occupied.
Also, AR5 is showing the first signs that the “consensus” is breaking down. Figure 1.4 is as easily an argument against CAGW as it is for it, and this is being pointed out in a highly vocal and articulate manner. They are also lowering the “consensus” prediction of warming by the end of the century, increasingly constrained by facts as they emerge.
I don’t see this state of affairs changing unless the data changes and another burst of rapid warming occurs akin to that in 1997-1998. Which could happen, but probably requires a strong ENSO to take place.
rgb
wucash says:
December 26, 2012 at 2:29 am
……………… We lost our tripple A rating, something George Osborne has said before was incredibly important to guage how the plan is working out. Not surprisingly after the rating was lost he said it’s not a big deal anyway.
Yup, even his own indicators tell him his economic policy has failed, yet Cameron still won’t admit it and carries on this path that threatens many more with severe poverty.
*********************************************************************************************
Do you have your own news feed? In the real world the UK still has a triple A rating albeit with a warning that the rating is on watch. I
If you do not know this what are your other points worth in terms of credibility?
Steve T
AleaJactaEst says:
December 26, 2012 at 5:43 am
I’d agree, largely, but with a caveat: Cameron was doing immensely well in the polls until he backed away from his “cast iron guarantee” for a referendum on continued membership of the EU. You can trace to the very day he said it and see the polls start their inexorable slide toward the election. If he’d stuck by that one promise, the tories would have won with a landslide.
I think it was the fact that he backed away from something he’d essentially laid his entire political standing over. The fact that it was a referendum on the EU added some emotional ooomph, but the fact that he was so willing to drop something that he’d declared was inviolable revealed a great deal about his character. People weren’t willing to vote for the party of such an obvious charlatan and they went to the minnows instead, or just stayed at home. Turnout at that election was the lowest it’s ever been.
Data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia show no increase in global surface temperatures for more than ten years.
To elaborate on this point, here are the latest times for no warming on both Hadcrut3 and Hadcrut4:
Hadcrut3: since May 1997 or 15 years, 7 months (goes to November)
Hadcrut4: since December 2000 or an even 12 years (goes to November.)
See:
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut3gl/from:1997.33/plot/hadcrut3gl/from:1997.33/trend/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:2000.9/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:2000.9/trend
However the times for no significant warming are as follows:
For Hacrut3, the warming is NOT significant for 19 years.
For Hadcrut3: 0.098 +/- 0.113 C/decade at the two sigma level from 1994
For Hacrut4, the warming is NOT significant for 18 years.
For Hadcrut4: 0.098 +/- 0.111 C/decade at the two sigma level from 1995
(P.S. RSS has NO warming for 16 years and no significant warming for 23 years.)
theduke says:
December 26, 2012 at 8:02 am
The real problem is Obama. He’s the one who appointed Lisa Jackson, who is a little more than a clueless apparatchik under his direction. I’m sure if you checked the Senate voting records of Kerry, Obama, Boxer and Clinton, they all voted in lockstep on climate and environmental issues…
…The good news is that the Republicans still own the House and will probably pick up seats there and in the Senate in 2014. If Kerry resigns, Scott Brown stands a good chance of winning his seat.
————————————————————————————————
You better read this…
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/02/24/kerry-brown-call-for-extension-wind-energy-tax-credits/VyL5FzAHoqoO2YkIw7PF8O/story.html
john from DB
P. Solar says:
December 26, 2012 at 2:56 am
“See Kerry stand by Florida U. police taser a student for asking “difficult” questions. What a guy.”
Kerry …in that videw one can easily witness what a coward he is. Obama nominated John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, saying Kerry’s ”entire life has prepared him for this role.” He further contended that Kerry’s service as a Vietnam veteran taught him the “responsibility to use American power wisely, especially our military power.” Us Vietnam veterans whose reputations Kerry trashed in order to advance his own radical political agenda permanently cemented his yellow striped character. Keep the truth flowing.
CAGW will prove to be the modern version of the Piltdown Man. When Dart discovered the Taung child he was roundly criticized, for as everyone knew, the brain size was too small. Piltdown Man, on the other hand, was just right…he fit the concensus among the experts that brain size was the first step from ape-hood, and he had a big brain. It took decades before the “fossil” was determined to be a fraud. Anthropogenic global warming as a concensus is at the point Raymond Dart entered the picture. About to have the legs cut out from under it.
Lest Canadians be tempted to smugness because our Prime Minister has pulled us out of Kyoto and away from AGW fear-mongery, we need to remember here that whatever the US does is going to unavoidably drag Canada and our economy with it.
Senator Kerry and President Obama cannot change fundamental economic science. There are hundreds of past examples where governments repeating the same policy mistakes and discovery economic reality. There are millions of ways governments can waste money. The extreme AGW paradigm is a classic create an artificial crisis to justify spending billions of dollars deficit dollars on scams and studies.
The good times for the bureaucracy and scam artists eventually ends. The problem with massive deficit stimulus spending on green scams and entitlements is the massive deficit spending leads to a currency collapse as surely as objects fall down rather than up. Individuals understand that that a family’s standard of life does not improve by taking on massive credit card debt. Deficit spending is a type of a ponzi scheme. Ponzi schemes are lose-lose.
The only difference between deficit spending by an individual and a government is there is a longer delay or lag time between the initiation of the massive deficit spending and economic collapse. Obama won the election by selling a scam. It does not matter whether he and his followers believe their scam. Leaders can lead followers off of cliffs. The reality of the cliff does not change. Changing direction and addressing the problem takes a different type of leader. (i.e. A leader that leads in the correct direction and makes real fundamental changes rather than talks about change.)
Western unemployment will continue to rise until the Western governments address the structural problems. (We need a dozen Margaret Thatchers.)
“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing”
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money [to spend].”
“Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.”
“To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.”
The green scam mania is not going to end well. US tax payers are not going to support spending billions of dollars to set up a world bureaucracy to monitor and control a “carbon trading scheme”, when there is high unemployment and massive cutbacks in government spending. US tax payers are not going to support sending billions of dollars to corrupt third world governments and green scam companies.
The green scams will end due to the economic facts on the ground and Svensmark’s mechanism.
Predictions for the next four years:
1. Large default of Spain banks, riots and politic instability in Spain
2. Greece leaves the EU
3. UK takes steps to leave the EU
4. US currency controls to stop run on dollar
5. Solar cycle 24 leads to a Maunder minimum
6. Obvious and unequivocal planetary cooling due to solar cycle change
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/03/31/height-of-antarctica-ice-sheet-increasing
Height of Antarctica ice sheet increasing
According to findings come from the Europe’s Space Administration ESA’s ice-measuring satellite, CryoSat, over the last two years Antarctica’s ice sheet has increased in height.
In a press release ESA announced that the measurements from their 2010-2011 campaigns show the height of Antarctic ice to be an average of nine centimetres higher than the measurements obtained during the 2008-2009 campaigns.
ESA says these findings not only provide good news from the ice sheets, but also show the effectiveness of the CryoSat missions.
According to the ESA press release, there was a five cm drop of the height of Antarctic ice from 1991-2000 that continued until 2008. ESA does not yet have information explaining why the ice height has increased, but are encouraged at the possible upward trend.
Wucash – are you getting your factoids from the Socialist Worker?
UK still has – just – a triple-A rating.
Cameron’s government is spending ( and taxing) more than Brown or Blair ( remember Tony B. Liar?) ever did, unhappily.
The deficit this year will be between 119,000 and 135,000 million pounds.
The government is spending, this year, about a hundred and twenty-five thousand million pounds it doesn’t have – borrowing, not least to pay the interest on the existing debt.
That is he economics of the madhouse.
Better to cut red tape, make “elf’n’safety” about important things, not stopping students from making cups of tea in case they scald themselves.
Government ‘does’ many things.
Some it may not need to do.
Those it does need to be done more cost-effectively -and incompetent staff need to be moved or sacked.
If this sounds bad, of course, it is!
There are now too many functionaries all over the world justifying their existence by drafting regulations.
Too much government
Too many regulations.
Rant over. John Kerry, as POTUS candidate, spawned many funnies. Perhaps, as SoS, he will redeem himself.
Perhaps not, too.
The broad sweep of regulatory authority granted to President Obama under environmental law and product safety law could be used as the legal basis for immediate action against further increases in global greenhouse gas emissions, and without the need for legislative authorization from Congress.
As one of his first actions as the new Secretary of State, John Kerry should place his publicly-stated convictions about AGW first on his personal agenda by asking President Obama to initiate a War on Global Warming as the President’s number one priority for his new term, operating through a series of previously existing and/or newly promulgated Executive Orders:
–> Operating through product safety regulations and/or environmental compliance regulations, President Obama should impose what is effectively a broad-scope trade embargo against any industrial nation which refuses to meet the goal of a 20% reduction in their total greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
–> Operating through his executive authority for dealing with national security issues, President Obama should declare a national carbon pollution emergency with strictly enforced rationing of carbon fuel consumption.
–> Operating through environmental compliance regulations, the President should instruct the EPA to levy stiff environmental compliance fines on all industries in the US which produce significant greenhouse gas emissions.
It is the duty of those who are truly serious about dealing with ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions to seize this opportunity for taking serious action and to inform John Kerry of the nation’s expectation that he must act in accordance with his own stated convictions.
Senator Kerry must be made to recognize that nothing less than the three-point program described above could have any measurable impact in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, and that he has no other choice but to convince President Obama of the pressing need to move forward with this plan as expeditiously as possible.
Another story about Kerry and his new job.
Kerry to face climate test at State Department but not Keystone XL
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/12/24/kerry-to-face-climate-test-at-state-department-but-not-keystone-xl/
All these guys work for the banksters, and the banksters want their money.
The fact that carbon credits will be traded on Wall St. tells you exactly who is behind this scam.
Pretty much everyone knows that Kissinger called us “useless eaters” – watch the video below and hear some bankster from Montreal call us “canon fodder, that unfortunately populates the Earth right now” – you can also find speeches by Edmund Rothschild and Maurice Strong from the same conference.
John A says: …..
………The reality is that no-one, not even the Democrats, is going to vote for higher energy costs through a cap-and-trade while America still struggles with the results of the near collapse of the American economy during latter Bush administration.
=================================================================
John,
While I believe that you and I disagree politically, don’t you think that the Obama Administration is going to have a go at Cap and Trade bureaucratically instead of legislatively?
TR
Make my day.
(In the 2014 elections.)
Mike M says:
December 26, 2012 at 5:46 am
I think communist Ed Markey is second to Gore putting Kerry further down the list. Markey and scientific moron Henry Waxman authored a monstrosity cap and trade bill “ACES” in 2009 that narrowly passed in the House but was thankfully shot down in the Senate.
We dodged a big bullet back then when there was less public awareness of the fraud of CAGW so I think the chances of anything like it being foisted on us again are very remote and getting through the House right now – impossible.
==================================================================
Mike,
I am from Massachusetts and, no word of a lie, “Easy Eddie” Markey’s only foray into the private sector economy is running an ice cream truck after he graduated from Boston College, from there he went into congress.
You couldn’t make it up iany funnyer/sadder.
Good luck America, We have been through the climate idiocy down here (Australia).
All you can do is hang on until the next election and HOPE that the population wakes up to reality, before too much damage is done.!!!
I watch CSPAN when I get a chance – so I can see what our politicians are saying. Henry Waxman is a buffoon! In a House debate he claimed that Obama has saved the auto industry from going bankrupt, and that Romney would have let them just go bankrupt.
He was corrected
1) Ford did not take the bailout and did not go bankrupt.
and then asked the following:
2) Did you know that GM and Chrysler did go bankrupt after the bail out?
His response was that he has not heard of such a thing. He’s that stupid that he believes his own Democrat party’s hype. He did not know that GM and Chrysler indeed went bankrupt!
There are experts on the committee to help states implement Obamacare (ACA) who did not know what our national debt was… not even a wild guess. Yet, they were proposing that states get free money from the Federal government to help them with implementation of the ACA.
That we we have people in congress this dumb and completely aware of the subject matter of their profession scares the hell out of people like me. People like wucash exist here in the US and vote. That is sad indeed.
If global warming alarmist John Kerry becomes Secretary of State, one can only wonder why the Obama administration is determined to make Americans poorer from its green agenda, allowing the rich to become even richer and more powerful, particularly the banking cartel behind the Federal Reserve, which does well in normal times and even better in times of chaos and depression.
I wonder if the skuttle-butt about his Vietnam antics will be raised link 1 and link 2.
Reality bites, and the Invisible Hand uses brass knucks as necessary. Hunker down.
Not only are Senator Kerry’s views on global warming of concern. His knowledge of geography is also deficient.
Most of the people in the foothills of the Himalayas live in India and Bangladesh where the influence of Al Qaeda is practically zero. The strongholds of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and North West Pakistan are less influenced by the Himalayan runoff. Such awareness is important for a Secretary of State.
This follows the lead of some climate scientists, who are similarly cartographically challenged. Take the (now withdrawn) Gergis et al. Australasian temperature reconstruction. Six out of the 27 temperature proxies were outside the study area of 0ºS–50ºS, 110ºE–180ºE. Most extreme were 2 proxies from Vostok base Antarctica at 78° 28′ S, 106° 50′ E. Vostok is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the coldest inhabited place on earth. Also Palmyra Atoll at 5°52′ N, 162°06′ W. Both are over 2000 km (1200 miles) outside the zone. Also, not a single proxy from the sub-continental land mass of Australia.
Beta Blocker says:
December 26, 2012 at 10:02 am
I looked for any indication of sarcasm and found none; am I being punked? So be it.
Would you care to speculate on the likely reaction of China to an embargo? Keep in mind they hold almost $1.2 trillion (10E12) in US debt as of October 2012. Japan holds just slightly less. The full list is here . Take a look; it’s instructive. I hold a low opinion of John Kerry, but if he can convince the major foreign US debt holders to continue buying Treasury securities while at the same time imposing the embargo you call for, I will cheerfully admit I have grossly underestimated him. You may also wish to review the history of the EU’s new carbon tax imposed on airline flights into the EU. Along with the US, China, India and several other asian nations refused to comply. China never openly threatened to cancel orders with Airbus, but the implied threat was always there. See here . In November the EU agreed to freeze implementation of the new tax, in effect backing down without openly surrendering.
In 1947 it is possible the US could have gotten away with unilateral policy demands like this but we cannot in today’s world, as the fate of the much more modest demand by the EU has just affirmed. I have an even lower opinion of President Obama than I do of John Kerry, but I don’t believe even he is dumb enough to think he could make such a policy stick.
Good luck with that. The political problem with rationing is it hits everyone directly, so it generates a lot more negative public reaction than trade embargos which affect most people indirectly. Obama is a politician and he judges policy primarily by whether he can claim credit if it works and deflect blame if it doesn’t. Look at the reaction to even temporary rationing in disaster zones, such as the recent “superstorm” Sandy. Even if you don’t see it Obama and his advisors will; they will remember the reaction to Jimmy Carter effectively rationing heat by his “mandatory voluntary” regulations on thermostat settings. Everybody hated and ridiculed them, and yes, the “mandatory voluntary” tag was actually how the Carter Administration described them, which gives you an idea of how hard it is to sell rationing.
That would be “all industries” period. And what do we call it when you impose stiff penalties on all industries? We call it a tax increase, targeted at industrial activities — basically every activity which produces or consumes electrical power, produces or uses any chemical products derived from petroleum (for example plastics), or uses any knd of artificial heat (metals, ceramics, etc.). And what happens when you enforce a high tax on an activity? Why you get less of it of course, or it goes underground and is not reported — in effect a price support on criminal activity.
Dear blogger formerly known as a beneficial drug: please read some history before offering foolish policies. If we could transport an average person living in the pre-industrial age into our world they would think we had achieved Heaven. If we want light, we flip a switch. If we want heat, we do likewise. We have access to food in both quantity and variety not known even to royalty 200 years ago. In the US less than 100 years ago many people grew up in rural areas having a bath once a week due to the cost of fuel to heat water. Today virtually everyone has access to hot bath/shower daily.
The average person can go to places on this planet our pre-industrial forebearers could only read about, if they could read. And while we might view the TSA as an unwarranted and overreaching inconvenience in travel, I suspect when compared to rats, scurvy, storms, pirates and other dangers of the earlier time, even they would be viewed as an improvement. In 1853, using clean renewable wind energy the Flying Cloud set the record for New York to San Francisco travel — 89 days, 8 hours. Less than 10 years earlier it had been 200 days. Today you can make that same trip in 8 hours if you’re willing to generate “carbon pollution”.
All of this is made possible by our mastery of combustion energy. I don’t know what kind of population the earth could support without all the industry and technology built on combustion processes, but I’m sure it’s well short of the 7 billion we have now. In the 1930’s, foolish policies in the US and Europe triggered a worldwide depression, drastically lowering industrial production and giving the world’s population a taste of what it is like to be thrown off an industrial standard of living. I don’t recall ever reading an account by anyone who remembers that time fondly. And to “rescue” them from the depression, some people turned to charismatic totalitarians who launched a world war which left an estimated 62 to 78 million dead.
Bad policy matters, and you’ve just advanced three outstanding examples of same. To bring this discussion back to the subject matter, I don’t believe John Kerry is dumb enough to believe in any of them, but I believe both he and President Obama are slick enough to make pleasant sounding empty noises to cause deluded people to believe they believe in them.
Ok, now you can tell me I’ve been punked.
If Senator Kerry gets on his Climate Soapbox his nomination will be over before it even begins. It is for that reason that Kerry will remain mute on the subject. And don’t think the GOP Senators will ask any troublesome questions. Senator McCain has been an avid promoter of Kerry for the Sec of State.
Kerry is a political mediocrity. He’s spent nearly 2 decades in the Senate with nothing to show for it other than marrying up. But, like so many Senators he picks a subject in which he can build a legacy. Lugar and Nunn chose foreign affairs. Kerry picked Climate. No one really knows how devoted he is to his cause. But, if he isn’t careful he could be picking fights with the wrong people. The Indians and CHICOMS are not about to be intimidated. And rightfully so. Europe and North America outsourced not only their heavy industry, but also their pollution. We now consume industrial products with a self righteous and clean conscious. But, that was only made possible by developing nations. Our aging and gentrified elite live in a fantasy world. But, that world is coming down around them. Senator Kerry may wish to double think his desire to become out next Sec of State.
Alan Watt, we must give John Kerry the benefit of the doubt and assume he is a man of his convictions. Senator Kerry is in a unique position at this point in history to remind Barack Obama of why he was elected President in 2008, and why he was returned to office in 2012 – because the voting public expects that the President’s agenda of hope and change, including action on climate change, be continued forward into the next four years.
We, the US voting public, must expect that Senator Kerry will act in accordance with his convictions, and this means that the voting public must hold both President Obama and the future Secretary of State accountable for backing their words of warning concerning the dangers of climate change with effective action.
Any plan to globally reduce greenhouse gas emissions must have real substance, and this means recognizing that the largest industrial emitters will not voluntarily reduce their GHG emissions unless compelled to do so through a credible threat of economic sanctions. As listed in my earlier post, the three-point program which President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry should be adopting is this:
–> Operating through product safety regulations and/or environmental compliance regulations, President Obama should impose what is effectively a broad-scope trade embargo against any industrial nation which refuses to meet the goal of a 20% reduction in their total greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
–> Operating through his executive authority for dealing with national security issues, President Obama should declare a national carbon pollution emergency with strictly enforced rationing of carbon fuel consumption.
–> Operating through environmental compliance regulations, the President should instruct the EPA to levy stiff environmental compliance fines on all industries in the US which produce significant greenhouse gas emissions.
As has been pointed out, the plan outlined above could not be implemented without significant economic and personal sacrifice on the part of the American public.
However, Senator Kerry has a wealth of past experience in communicating unpleasant truths to the US pubic, and his advice to the President could draw upon that experience to offer an effective approach for gaining public acceptance of the nation’s War on Global Warming:
(1) The President should initiate a series of public forums concerning AGW topics which include leading climate scientists as speakers and which explain the science behind AGW theory to the public.
(2) The President should make it clear to the public that he has absolute confidence in the predictions of the climate scientists, and that he stands behind them both as knowledgeable scientific professionals and as honest reputable individuals concerned with the future of humanity on this planet.
(3) The President must explain why immediate action is necessary to save the planet from the effects of global warming; why US leadership is vitally necessary if the planet and its global population are to be saved from these effects; and how the sacrifices expected of the US public will contribute to the future success of the President’s plan.
(4) The President should inform the leadership of both houses of Congress of his expectation that should severe economic dislocations arise from his War on Global Warming, all US workers who are directly affected by his AGW policies will be appropriately compensated by the US Government.
President Obama has the opportunity to do for climate change what President Johnson did for civil rights fifty years ago in the 1960s, and that is to stand foursquare behind a pressing need for the US Government to take effective action on the most important issue of the day. For President Johnson, that issue was the need for action on civil rights, for President Obama, the issue is the need for immediate action on climate change.
John Kerry must convince President Obama of his obligation to recognize his pivotal role at this juncture in world history. Barack Obama will either fulfill his appointed role as the last best hope of Planet Earth, or else he will go down in history as being the one man who had the power to save the earth from the ravages of climate change, but who refused for his own selfish political reasons not to do it.
Beta Blocker says:
December 27, 2012 at 11:19 am
The President should initiate a series of public forums concerning AGW topics which include leading climate scientists as speakers and which explain the science behind AGW theory to the public.
But who would choose the speakers? I believe televised debates would be more appropriate. And each side should be allowed to choose who would debate for their side.
Beta Blocker says:
December 27, 2012 at 11:19 am
Maybe you are serious, but I notice you answered none of my reasons why your proposed policies are politically dumb, even if you believe in the premise of AGW. And you give way too much weight to “climate change” as being an important issue even to Obama voters — He has much more powerful constituencies to pay back. Take a number, wait in line and stop your complaining. He will get around to you when He has decided that His position on the issue has Evolved. Please don’t bother Him with reminders of why you think the people elected Him — He already knows.
And what, pray tell, do you take John Kerry’s convictions to be? The record is amply clear that his cherished principles do not include truthfulness. Why would you assume his recent statements are any more credible than previous ones? His major assets are good hair, wealth by marriage (twice), and the good fortune never to face a Kennedy in an election in Massachusetts. That will only carry you so far, even in Massachusetts. All politicians lie, but Kerry has demonstrated the poor judgement to pick lies that are so easily revealed.
The more interesting question to me is why he would want the Secretary of State position. As a democratic senator from Massachusetts he effectively has lifetime tenure (unless a Kennedy comes along …). As Secretary of State he will last at most another four years, and only that long if it suits President Obama. And look how quick He was to dump blame for the Benghazi debacle on Secretary Clinton.
The recent record of the Secretary of State as a springboard to higher office has not been encouraging. The last SoS to make it to the oval office was James Buchanan who served under President Polk and then was elected on his own in 1856. Both WIlliam Jennings Bryan, who served under president Wilson and Edmund Muskie, who served under President Carter held the office after their respective unsuccessful runs for President. Ditto for Colin Powell, who was never a serious presidential contender anyway and also not a career politician.
If Kerry wanted to return to the Senate he would likely have to defeat another incumbent Democrat. Governor perhaps? About the only asset Kerry brings to the SoS job is his presumed ability to shepherd whatever new treaties President Obama signs through the Senate. That was probably a significant part of President Carter’s choice of Edmund Muskie — not that it worked out for him. In modern times, the SoS position has been an end-of-career slot for a politician, although many believe Hilary Clinton will try to change that.
So in addition to your dubious policies, I question your belief that Kerry wants the SoS job to advance global action on climate change. If that is truly his passion, he could certainly do more for it as a senior senator in the majority party of the US Senate that as Secretary of State under President Obama.
So just as with Obama, if you want Kerry’s attention on climate change, you must take a number and wait until he has gotten what he really wants out of the job.