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.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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/