Of course, the big news this week had to do with the unbelievably vile and stupid video produced by the carbon reduction activist group 10:10 this week. But in its shadow, was another embarrassing news item the you’d think the green crowd would also want to denounce and distance from. Joe Romm and Bill McKibben have announced they detest the 10:10 video. Good for them, that’s the right thing to do, and I applaud them for doing it.
But Joe couldn’t resist his urges to get some licks in with his usual flaming rhetoric, making sure that his readers get reinforced with the message: 10:10 video bad, Watts bad. That’s not a surprise, as it is his standard predictable MO. Mr. Romm is as easy to forecast as DC summer weather; hot, muggy, with a chance of storms.
Due to the uproar over the 10:10 video, this story got rather buried in the climate news cycle. It is almost as embarrassing as the 10:10 video, because, well, who would want this guy to align with their cause?
An audio recording attributed to the al-Qaeda leader and broadcast on the internet yesterday expresses concern about the devastating floods in Pakistan and calls on Muslims to provide relief for the victims.”The number of victims caused by climate change is very big… bigger than the victims of wars,” says the recording.
If genuine, the recording would be Bin Laden’s first since March 25.
It was not clear when the tape was made, but Bin Laden congratulated Muslims on the holy fasting month of Ramadan which ended September 10.
“The catastrophe (in Pakistan) is very big and it is difficult to describe it,” the recording says.
“What we are facing… calls for generous souls and brave men to take serious and prompt action to provide relief for their Muslim brothers in Pakistan.”
The recording makes a series of recommendations to deal with climate changes namely preventive measures that should be taken by governments in the face of disasters.
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Given the events of this week, do the proponents of AGW really want to have OSBL, a man who kills people for having a differing view than him, as an ally for their cause? Do they really want an ally with a world voice that confuses weather with climate?
Note and update: Some people misunderstood my intent, that’s my fault for not writing clearly in the first place, and I accept the criticism for that and offer my apology if I unduly offended anyone. This was simply a case of writing something, then realizing that people were seeing it completely differently than I intended. I’ve removed the lines above that caused the issue and added this clarification below:
In case somebody misunderstands, it should be clearly understood that it is not my intent to compare these AGW proponents to OSBL in any possible way. I only want to point out that like with the 10:10 fiasco, AGW proponents that don’t want this sort of bad publicity connected with their movement, IMO should distance themselves and their organizations from OSBL.
Geothermal air conditioning is easy, its been in practical use in millions of homes since about 1900 as “fridges”. Its just another heat source from that commonly used.
As i understand it the audiotapes by OSBL were meant as a code to trigger terrorist attacks in Europe. Europe is on very high altert.
I think we need to give cred it where it is do. Osama or whoever, has better PR people on his staff then 10:10 and the rest of that rabble. Politics makes strange bed fellows as we all know and this is about politics and nothing more. Image is all and substance is always on the sacrificial alter. At the very least the humor of the situation Anthony pointed out, is better then the withdrawn video. Thanks for pointing it it out. Perhaps the video makers hired Osama’s previous PR people, the connection between blowing up things, even your own followers, is perhaps irony in the extreme.
For crying out loud! Bin Laden has been dead for quite some time now. Video cameras are really cheap, and I’m sure AQ can afford one. Don’t some of you think it odd that he hasn’t appeared on camera for quite some time? Are you the same people who believe in crop circles, and that 9/11 was a CIA conspiracy?
I did see fit to mention the “unlucky” coincidence of having an article on Osama right next to the “10:10” film on the Guardians “Climate Change” site to the Guardian.
The didn’t seem to think it was a problem.
Is it possible to be left wing, an environmentalist and green activist and still see Climate change science as riddled with holes?
It it outrageous to suggest climate change activity at present is more about money, and capitalists making money from trashing the environment, then making more from bleating they have the answer to the damage as long as enough money is poured into their coffers? Is it possible that whatever your political, religious or economic background to understand how the great swindle is being perpetrated and oppose it?
I am a green activist and environmentalist, but also proud to be a sceptic.
While great efforts have been made by the hard right in North America to highjack this issue and claim the moral high ground, scientific truth is not a characteristic of any nation or political group, it belongs to all of us, and if people are beginning to understand the issue, regardless of who they are, we should welcome them with open arms. I don’t blame the hard right in North America for the disinformation and scare tactics spread about climate change. I do though strongly suspect that big money and capitalism is behind the whole shambles, but I would never assume this to be the truth and categorise complete sections of society for having a presumed attitude to climate change, but unfortunately that is what can happen on this site, and it detracts from one of the best scientific sites I have ever interacted with.
When I see posts like “Obama or Osama remind me of the difference” etc I see the fatal flaw in many sceptic arguments which can easily be exploited by warmanistas.
( “You guys are not interested in science, you just want to promote your own hard right agendas”) So lets stop giving open goals, and lets try and stick to the science and welcome anyone who is brave enough and bright enough to make the effort to see the light. And remember, you don’t have to be right or left wing to understand science.
Tim says:
October 2, 2010 at 6:42 pm
As confirmed by both Bhutto and Musharraf, OSBL apparently died in December, 2001 from natural causes. He remains ‘alive’ as a convenient PR weapon, in this case connecting weather to AGW. I’ll be convinced only when he makes a personal appearance on camera.
EXACTLY!
OBL has been a propaganda tool from the very beginning.
I think its clear that Osama it trying to recruit greens to the islamist cause. Several analysts have noted that the green movement is more inclined to drift to the Authoritarian side than the libertarian/ democratic side and with the left discredited that may move towards Islam. Osama may have read this work. The pagan religions such as Wicka and Animism do not lend them selves to authoritarianism. Post modernism with its rejection of the concept of truth does not work. The only two religions that are compatible with the green authoritarian trends developing is Islam and the Occult of Nazi Germany.
In such a drift most greens will proceed to move back to the mainstream. Going back to saving the trees in their neighbourhood and the whales in the sea. Activities and areas that we can all agree to.
Osama bin laden is trying to recruit the remaining 2% that will become far more fanatical, seeing green house or population reduction as a holy cause. These would make perfect agents for Al Qaeda because they don’t appear to be of middle eastern appearance and can hide in hundreds of moderate green networks. They may not be willing suicide bombers but there are ways around that problem. This is not as strange as it seems since some have seen it coming.
Osama is not alone:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/06/prince-charles-urges-environmentalists-to-follow-islamic-spiritual-principles.html
lalaloola
now, now 899. that kinda talk isn’t welcome around here. altho if they gonna indulge in fantasy….!?
kevin says:
October 2, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Oh? Bin Laden? You mean the guy in cave on kidney dialysis who’s been running around with his dialysis machine in tow, keeping one step ahead of infidel forces?
I call US intel nonsense, like a bunch of the other released videos and recordings that were shown to be fakes.
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Absolutely Kevin.
People would do well to bear in mind that the west supported OBL when he was fighting the Soviets with the Mujahidin. People should be aware of the known background of OBL and who his supporters have been:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20010912&articleId=368
In fact the west destabilised Afghanistan before the Soviets invaded; see this brief extract from a 1998 interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser at the time of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html
C Moore says:
October 2, 2010 at 8:45 pm
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Absolutely! I find it interesting that sceptical, rational, analytical people – who demand evidence for climate theories, and can see through all the BS – will accept other highly unlikely scenarios (official narratives) from their governments without batting an eyelid or questioning a word.
kidney dialysis, tim osmand (aka OBL) , OBL family flown out of america while all other planes grounded after 9/11. WT7 in free fall for 2 seconds. Path of the plane that hit the pentagon.
if you can’t be arsed to look this stuff up thats fine, if you would rather distance your self from people who are an easy target for opposition who can scream conspiracy theorist which is a term that has been designed to conjour pictures of green aliens, tin hats and basement dwellers, thats fine.
but why oh why print anything at all about OBL, just stay away from the subject if you have not put as much research into that as you have of AGW. don’t just puke up the same drivel the MSM have given you on a plate without thinking about it.
regards
No, because then the juxtaposition wouldn’t make sense, OBL would merely be another member of the AGW Cult, nothing to see here folks, move along.
What you might ask yourself is how two separate entities found their way to the same conclusion of destroying western civilization.
entity-1: AGW cult : De-Industrialize or Die (because of it)
entity-2: Radical Islam : Convert or Die (because of us)
Unfortunately for the AGW cult, the 10:10 campaign (Red Button, Exploding Children, No Pressure!) ties you closer to them than you care to realize. This association would be more difficult to make without others like Earth First, Malthusians, Ehrlich’s ‘Population Bomb’, GreenPeace and WWF commercials and yes, the Unabomber. And that is far from a complete list.
No not “publicly distance themselves from every…”! But how about distancing yourself from this single one? Presumably OBL would be the last person on Earth that the AGW cult would want as an ally.
Serious question: Can you think of some less desireable than Bin Laden to have as an ally? (I’m guess reading your mind here: Sarah Palin, Jim Inhofe, Marc Morano, correct?).
Now there is a sentence you never thought you’d see! No SARC tag either! Have a look at it sans-science sans-politics …
Yup, I’d say ‘utterly lost‘ just about covers it.
Amino Acids in Meteorites says:
October 2, 2010 at 10:19 pm
“Are people on the left of politics, which is where ‘global warming’ comes from, going to take the time to think about whether it hurts their reputation or not if OsBnLaden is their ally? Some on the political left say BnLaden and others like him are tantamount to the Founding Fathers. They will probably not give having them as allies a second thought.
Heck, they’ll probably even make a movie about blowing people up……errr, wait…….”
An effective post Amino, thought is act in fancy. People that make videos like the 10/10 crowd deserve to be taken as sincere in their extremism.
I agree with C Moore. Bin laden is like the character goldstein out of George orwells 1984. A boogey man invented to scare and manipulate us. Bin Laden died of kidney failure in Dubai in 2001. The AGW hoax is just one of the many fights we have with a move to global government and a totalitarian state.
Personally it just shows how the warmists are part of a narrow world view rather than the broad church they would like us to all believe that they represent. Maybe some of these moments of dissonance will give some of them a chance to re-evaluate themselves and their views.
The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley says:
October 3, 2010 at 12:15 am
For crying out loud! Bin Laden has been dead for quite some time now. Video cameras are really cheap, and I’m sure AQ can afford one. Don’t some of you think it odd that he hasn’t appeared on camera for quite some time? Are you the same people who believe in crop circles, and that 9/11 was a CIA conspiracy?
This is a logical fallacy known as “Burden of Proof”. You assume he’s dead because of a
lack of evidence that he’s still alive. Well, he is in hiding, so the lack of evidence is understandable. Is it odd that he hasn’t appeared live on camera? Perhaps. The fact remains that the burden of proof lies with those claiming that he’s dead. As for the crop circles, and 9/11 conspiracy stuff, you have it backwards. Those “theories” also lack evidence, as does the CAGW/CC/CD “theory”.
I will believe he’s dead when they discover either him, or his remains.
Gareth Phillips, thank you. ‘Bout time someone said that. I’ve been thinking similar thoughts myself of late. There is too much greenie-bashing and lefty-bashing on this site, which is a shame for the site. There are climate sceptics across the whole political/environmental range. It’s a political issue because politicians of all colours have been duped and led astray, but where I live on the planet there are also people of all political colours who are saying that it’s time to cut the crap and stop wasting taxpayers’ money.
BTW, mods, I’ve noticed you snip the ‘bs’ word but not ‘crap’? Just out of curiosity, why is that? Aren’t they the same thing?
Thomas says:
October 2, 2010 at 10:03 pm
LOL Come on, stop being children. Osama has likely been dead for a long time. But no, the adults of the west still believe in the boogie man. You have been played.
Well, whoever “OBL” is “he” speaks for radical Islam, which is certainly not dead.
DJ Meredith says:
October 2, 2010 at 6:22 pm
OSBL wants to disrupt western civilization at any cost. He’s very intelligent, and he kn0ws what a farce AGW really is, and what an economic disaster it will deliver if western governments implement expensive and unproductive climate related policies.
What better way to help us destroy ourselves than endorse the climate change fearmongering? It is fearmongering, and that’s what OSBL is best at.
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personally I think he is a non person BUT hes being used for some handy agit prop, and suddenly appearing as a Pro warmist, supporting the damages WE 1st world countries are doing falls right into their agenda, Just another reason to hate and remove us same as 10;10.
I think Blade nails it.
Blade said:
“But how about distancing yourself from this single one? Presumably OBL would be the last person on Earth that the AGW cult would want as an ally.”
Presumably that’s so obvious that it’s not necessary to dignify OBL’s inane ramblings with an official rebuke.
“Serious question: Can you think of some less desireable than Bin Laden to have as an ally?”
Seriously, I don’t normally sit around classifying crackpots, idiots, and terrorists based on their degree of desirability to have as a friend. But to (sort of) answer your question, here are a handful of people that I would NOT want to add to my facebook friends list: Kim Jong-il, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bill Ayers, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda… probably others.
“I’m guess reading your mind here…”
Hmmm, I’m guessing your tinfoil hat is interfering with your telepathic abilities since your attempt at reading my mind was an epic failure. No worries, I’ll just check my Magic 8-Ball instead: “Reply hazy, try again later…”
Is Osama expanding his network?