The 841-page National Climate Assessment released by the US government last week has been described as “sobering”, but Americans do not appear sobered.
Story submitted by Eric Worrall
The Financial Times, a major international business newspaper, the main competitor to the Wall Street Journal, has just published an article, highlighting the insignificance of the impact Obama’s National Climate Assessment has had, on American public opinion.
According to the FT,
“Americans have been receiving such warnings for a decade. None has managed to rouse the country from its seeming indifference.”
“… the authors seem to have forgotten that weather is not the same thing as the climate.”.
“Former US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman wrote recently of having watched a debate at which “all the Republican candidates chuckled at a question on climate change – as if they had been asked about their belief in the Tooth Fairy””
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/31320b68-d6ae-11e3-b251-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz31OwBG0TQ
(Note – you only get one viewing of this link, due to FT content policy. If you try to click this link a second time, the site will likely demand you buy a subscription)
The Wall street Journal summed it up this way:
Obama’s Climate Bomb
He’s flogging disaster scenarios to promote his political agenda.
Supervising the Earth’s climate—or at least believing humanity can achieve such miracles—may be the only political project grandiose enough for President Obama. So it shouldn’t surprise that after reforming health care and raising taxes, the White House is now getting the global-warming band back together, though it is still merely playing the old classics of unscientific panic.
On Wednesday the White House released the quadrennial National Climate Assessment, an 829-page report.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304885404579548453104239932
The GST replaced the hidden Manufacturers tax that was placed on all Canadian produced products. In the new world of open trade with other countries, this old tax would have harmed Canadian producers.
I voted against the political parties that wanted to axe the tax, but they won any way but did what I wanted them to do any way, which was to keep the GST. Bye the way, Stephen Harper reduced the GST a couple of times, the only government in history to actually reduce a VAT like tax.
The prompt counter responses via Blogsville have quickly neutralized the science-less NCA report. The lame stream media has done no investigative CAGW reporting AGAIN. In our critical economic recovery, the usual pigs are continuing to feed at the public funding trough. This frenzied feeding creates no wealth and buries our country further into debt. The red-inside, green-outside “environmentalists,” have no concept of the dangerous neighborhood in which we live (Planet Earth). We, The U.S. of A, must be morally strong, fiscally responsible, and economically viable in order to remain the Last Beacon of Hope for the freedom loving peoples of the world.
By succumbing to the vitriol of the president and his fossil fuel hating lemmings, we are destined to become a second-rate economic failing nation. We must have quality, affordable, and available on demand electrical power to compete in a 21st Century world economy. China and India have placed their economic development at a higher priority than recycling the phoney “CO2 is our planet’s thermostat” hoax. The EU is having serious discussions about Renewable subsidies, while Germany is now building 24 coal-fired power plants. Looking closer to home, Obama and his EPA are engaged in shutting down over 1100 power plants.
His plan will drive our economy into another recession and move China into the world’s predominate economic leader. What happens if the U.S. dollar is not the international reserve currency?
May 11, 2014 at 10:35 am | Mike Roddy says
——
That’s a very poor attempt at intimidation, a/h.
We’re talking about this dipsh8t … http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/22/my-thanks-to-mike-roddy-for-helping-with-best-replication/
Bill Vancouver – except for (retired?) Reuters hack, Scott Sutherland, now a “digital meteorologist”, whatever that is, pumping the alarm sirens… That houseboat has left the harbor, Scotty.
This is like a parlor trick that has been shown way too many times. An 841 page yada yada does nothing for me at this stage. Here is my problem. On one hand you have the Republicans, who, generally speaking, haven’t been able to think their way out of a paper bag if you tore the bottom out. Who, by dumb luck ended up correct on the issue of CAGW, but not because of any intricate and correct mentation. And then you have the Democrats who think they can manipulate the whole world with their wit and brilliant progressive ideas delivered by comedians and night time talk shows and an 841 page opus magnum that won’t be read by more that a hundred people, maybe. If you are like me, who wants to maintain some scrap of freedom and prosperity for now and into my children’s future, and who wants money spent wisely and legally, what are you going to do? The climate change lie is just one issue that has shown me that science can be corrupted to the very core and people who should have know better and acted, didn’t. That pisses me off. Nobody can be trusted. Right now I want the Democrat party taken to the wood shed and flogged within and inch of their political lives. But to do that we have to elect Republicans. Somehow, some way, I hope that the political system I am in will get the simple message that I want common sense for the common good. I don’t want agendas, and I am really tired of a government that thinks it knows what is best for me. If it can be shown that certain people pressed on with CAGW when they knew the facts did not support their statements, I want payback. No more government grants, jobs, pensions, whatever. A lie should not be rewarded. Keep up the good work, WUWT.
Several here are referring to the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSSO). It is one of several organizations that came together to develop a set of standards in reading, writing, and math that would be uniform across states and that would attack the problem the US has with regard to academic ability when compared to most other developed nations. Another way of putting it is that “we kinda dumb” compared to other students in other equally developed countries. Education Chiefs from VERY red and VERY blue states all agreed that “we kinda dumb” and decided to do something about it. So did Chamber of Commerce organizations. Otherwise we will continue to be outperformed by every other country in Math and English Language Arts unless something is done.
The Common Core State Standards expecations by grade level are considerably more rigorous than many individual state standards. However, each state can decide, if they have adopted the more rigorous standards, to adjust their own state criterion referenced tests to reflect this new set of standards or use a criterion referenced test such as the Smarter Balanced Assessment which will be normed on a much larger student sample. And each state can set their own passing level. In summary, the assessment systems that have been developed for multi-state use are more rigorous, and include essay responses. The state tests were comprised of nearly all multiple choice offerings and clearly were not able to demonstrate college and career readiness in students going onto college or starting a trade.
So I ask again, what CCSS boogy man do you see? I proctor Oregon tests (a blue state) and have used their practice tests, which was recommended, to help students prepare for this end of the year exam. Not one question was ever remotely connected to climate change, nor was it possible to “teach to the test”. I could only use the practice tests to help students become good test takers. I have also been actively reading and trying out the practice tests now available for the multi-state assessments. Again not one question can even be remotely connected to climate change.
I have also spent the last 6 years serving on district committees and attending seminars on the CCSS, and have read the entire document several times over. No where is there a remote link to climate change in all of its pages. And make no mistake, I have read every single word of it several times over. My continued impression is that the Common Core standards (which is NOT a curriculum or text book) and multi-state assessments look a LOT like the 1912 Common Exam. If my impression is correct, we all have our work cut out for us to prepare our children and our students to pass an exam that looks as difficult as, and longer than the 1912 Common Exam used in public schools at the turn of the century.
But hey, if some folks want to continue with the “dumb as burnt toast” Math and English Language Arts status quo in the backwaters and byways found in each set of separate individual by state standards, along with their easy peezy multiple choice state test and passing low bar, be my guest.
I happen to think we should be graduating students who CAN compete on the world stage. Right now, they can’t. Sorry, but they can’t. Why? Dumb as burnt toast. And I lay that square on the shoulders of public education in each state and each state’s dumbing down of educational standards over the past 100 years.
Look, if you still see boogy men, download the common core standards and do a word search. You just will not find climate change there.
If you want to discuss the many different science standards out there, that is a different issue. My beef has been clearly centered on the misdirection being used by several commentors here, and the slight of hand slide to science standard as if they were connected, regarding the CCSS. I will continue to respond consistently when that misdirection and misinformation shows up.
And my fingers are just fine ;>)
Jim, please tell me you do not find anecdotal student information a valid form of direct observational data.
Pamela successfully introduced CCSS into this discussion. She is right, it does not mention AGW – so what? The US Constitution does not mention it either. There is a real thicket of Common Cores.
dear pamela:
so rigor is the new ‘robust’, is it?
in my kindergarten, every 4 year old could read, write, add, subtract and we were up to our 12s table in mulitplication and starting cursive.
the ‘educational institution’ you represent is churning out little idiots.
you are a collaborator and apologist.
to judge by the results of your tribe of troughers, lady- you are part of what made the kids sick in the first place- so you prescribe more rigor?
when do we get to rigor mortis, will you still claim the best intentions?
Rubio Has Blunt Words on Climate Change, Hillary Clinton: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/05/11/rubio-has-blunt-words-on-climate-change-hillary-clinton/
Humans not responsible for climate change.
Finally a Presidential Candidate with some common sense.
gnomish, what country are you from? In the US kindergarten starts at age 5. And would you care to back up your statements with some facts? I’ll start with an easy one. What’s the name of the school or district you refer to?
That said, we do agree on one thing. The English system of writing symbols is rare in that it has two forms of lettering, block style (with at least two variants) and cursive. In most other written languages, there is only one form of lettering and students start learning just that one early on. I wish we used cursive only or block only. The different forms are confusing to many kids.
As for me being part of the problem I have some facts for you and an opinion. First the opinion. I have never settled for anything but best effort towards grade level performance. Ever. Now for the facts. In 2012-13, my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students, many with special education learning needs specifically in math and reading, outperformed in terms of growth the regular white non-disabled kids in reading (a growth score of 56 versus 53), and math (a growth score of 69 versus 58). In fact these kids of mine were instrumental in earning our grade school a higher than average performance when compared to other Oregon schools. We were solidly in the top third of schools in Oregon. And we got there on the shoulders of kids who historically struggle to attain grade level performance.
See, the difference between you and me gnomish, is that I demand to see the data before I form an opinion. That includes the raw data. Do you settle for biased opinion, your memory, or hearsay?
Keith, I am sorry to say that California is nuts about climate change. Hell, they wet their pants everytime Obama speaks. If California ever wanted to become a country all to itself, I would gladly vote to remove its star from the flag.
By the way, regarding the California connection issue mentioned by Keith. The “integration” of the ill-defined NGSS sections starting at grade 3 regarding climate change. with CCSS has to do with the CCSS requirement to learn how to read informational text thoroughly as well as critically, and demonstrate proper use of math when answering science questions. It is not connected in any way in the sense that one agrees with the other in terms of the science claim of climate change.
If anything, CCSS in reading requires students to more closely examine informational text with a more critical eye than previous individual state standards required.
Pamela says: “The English system of writing symbols is rare in that it has two forms of lettering, block style (with at least two variants) and cursive.”. Cursive is also known as handwriting. What the hell is the English system? Is it different from Italian? Greek? Russian?
English was good enough for Jesus Christ, English is good enough for me.
Curious George, that is the funniest thing I have read all day! Bravo!!!! I wonder who will actually fall into that delicious trap.
Has America still got a real actual live, human flesh President ?
Unlike all past American Presidents I can recall during my 76 years Obama has about completely dropped out of any mention in the Australian MSM.
Almost as though it is embarrassing to mention him.
Past American Presidents and past American affairs, your politics and your impact on the world constituted the basis for a steady diet and flow of fact and opinion on America in our Australian MSM as seen from the Australian perspective.
Now we see much more of Chinese and even Indian affairs being reported along with American orientated news items.
From here Obama seems to be a non person of doubtful background and an increasing impression that he is very narrow in outlook and somewhat incompetent and does not seem to understand at all that he is supposed to be President for ALL Americans.
And consequently the impression is one where America is seen and assumed to be sinking fast as it seems America under Obama’s presidency is becoming just another also ran nation in the international scene.
Given the sordid and corrupt history of the democrats in Chicago, I asked at the time of your presidential elections why the hell anybody let alone one of the worlds most advanced and important nations would be “naive” [ I didn’t say stupid ! ] enough to elect a Chicago Democrat as President of anything let alone as the President of America.
But you did and now you and we and the world are paying the price.
Mind you, here in Australia we were nearly as stupid 7 years ago when we elected the Labor Party to power which chose to elect as it’s party leaders and therefore the Prime Ministers of Australia what was to become two of the most incompetent Prime Ministers [ and perhaps somewhat more than incompetent in one case,],Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, that we have experienced in the last 40 years
And George, you do know that block letter penmanship is different than connected cursive penmanship and that the former is taught before the latter is introduced in US schools. Most non-English speaking countries do not have two different forms. Children learn the adult standard form right from the getgo.
Re the CCSS – it seems a gap may exist between the design and perhaps some of the implementation. That would be nothing new where competing bureaucracies exist.
Or at least in Australia. 🙂
Piers Corbyn says we are headed for a mini ice age lasting about 25 years. I think teaching CAGW in schools is an EXCELLENT idea.
BTW Piers is a magnetic field guy when it comes to climate. He says CO2 has NOTHING to do with it.
Maybe according to some technical definition, but for me the Alarmist mythos is nothing more than a speculation, which has been perversely elevated to the status of dogma. The problem is that disputing a dogma held by people in positions of power quickly becomes heresy.
And that leads me to the parallel discussion in this thread about Common Core and the education establishment’s subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways of indoctrinating students in the prevailing dogmas. While Pamela Gray may be technically correct that the official Common Core performance standards do not explicitly endorse any ideological position, others have I think made the case that the CAGW dogma, along with many other favorites of the Left in this country, has been insinuated into curricula in a variety of ways. It is inevitable that the the toilers in the classrooms, for the most part, will shy away from any hint of heresy, especially when the official dogma has been enshrined in the materials that the teachers are required to use. Indeed, most will not even realize there are contrary views.
What the argument over Common Core ignores is that there is no authority in the Constitution of the United States for the Federal Government to play any role in education whatsoever. Indeed, it is effectively forbidden by the Tenth Amendment:
/Mr Lynn
L.E. Joiner:
An “equivocation” is a kind of argument. A “speculation” is kind of conclusion from an argument. The two words reference ideas that differ in this respect.
Pamela Gray says:
May 11, 2014 at 9:29 am
So Jim, pass the 8th grade 1912 public school exam and issue a correction to your CCSS statement WRT climate change.
===========================================================================
To use one of your words in this thread: STUPID!!! Sit that 1912 8th grader in front of a laptop a third grader of today routinely uses, and that 8th grader craps himself and runs out of the room screaming about witchcraft. Point being: It is what they were taught at that time. If we still had the need, we would be teaching kids how to use a framing square to lay out a stair riser, and how to calculate the lumber needs for a 1200sq.ft. home.
I have no dog in the CC fight, but I seem to recall that Gates and Buffet are big funders. That tells me a lot.
Pamela Gray says:
May 11, 2014 at 6:38 pm
.
While I don’t disagree with much of what Ms. Gray has written in this thread, that observation threw me.
The Japanese must learn 3 distinct forms of writing: kanji, hiragana and katakana. Of course, many Japanese also learn English.
I think young Japanese students begin learning Kanji in the 2nd grade. Kanji, which are borrowed Chinese ideograms, have two readings: One retaining something close to the original Chinese meaning & pronunciation, and another reflecting native Japanese.
To further complicate matters, kanji have at least three forms, roughly from block to cursive. Cursive kanji is very nearly impenetrable to all but native speakers of Japanese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji
Cyrillic also has cursive and block forms, and again, many Russians also learn English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_script
As far as I know, all books are printed in block letters, but most people write in a form of cursive, whatever the language.
~
I think good education comes down to good teachers, and a strong support system at home. One parent is needed at home to “be there” for the kids. I know it’s not a popular thing to say, but division of labor was developed over the many millennia since we came down from the trees, if that’s what really happened
Furthermore, In my opinion, the credentialing process is a big part of the education problem; no matter how skilled you are in your particular field, you are not qualified to teach in California until you’ve passed the CBEST, and wallowed through the required educationalist teaching curriculum.
CBEST is also required for teachers in Oregon, ne c’est pas?
~
By and large, American kids are not making a good showing against their foreign peers. The proof of the pudding is in the eating: our educational system needs a major overhaul.
Pamela Gray also says:
May 11, 2014 at 5:12 pm
Some of the best students in the USA can and do compete with the best foreign students, I attribute that success to bright kids with good teachers, but I am in general agreement with what you’ve written here.
Unfortunately, it’s not just our educational system that’s been “dumbed down”; that fate has befallen the entire country. For proof, just flip on your TV to GMA, the USA’s top-rated morning “news” program.
Pamela Gray says:
Don’t know where you are from, but please tell me that you don’t think our kids here are lying. I have found ranch and rural kids to be very credible and much more capable of acting ‘adult’ than much of what I see of adults in politics and the ‘news media’ and even some folks on school boards. Plus I happen to know that upon which they are tested. Also, you obviously did not read, or possibly not understand, all of what I wrote.
Hangul, the written form of the Korean language, has both block and cursive forms.
The Common Core is not a federal program. Never was. It started at the state level and was an issue in need of solving. Look people, many, if not most students heading to college take an SAT or ACT test without running into the night screaming it is some kind of federal mandate. It is simply the vehicle colleges use to measure incoming freshman and assign them to proper entry level classes, or worst case, decide not to let them in. Nor does anyone cry foul over the freshman and sophomore classes everyone is required to take in college. That these classes often, if not always, transfer from state to state means that the standards are pretty well universal. There is no knicker bunching or twisting over freshman Speech 101, English Lit, or College Algebra, or any of the other common class offerings that sound the same, look the same, and smell the same from one college campus to another.
Common Core is no different. It is a set of expectations in reading, writing, and math that says to colleges and hiring companies, we are doing our part in the public school elementary and secondary system to give you students and employees with college and career ready skills. Skills that these very same entities said were needed because they were tired of having to offer remedial coursework and settle for poorly performing entry level employees.
If individual states want to mandate human caused climate change as part of their adopted curriculum, that is indeed a state’s right to do so. It is against the law for the federal government to do so.
What the federal government has done is put a carrot out there for states to grab. And grab they have. Follow the federal rules for instructing students with disabilities. Follow the federal rules for nondiscriminatory practices. Follow the federal rules for this and that. And if you do, the federal government will give you money that you then do not have to squeeze out of your citizens. And states jumped on that. Pour states especially.
Bottom line, you got an issue with Common Core or Science standards? Take it to your state. That’s where it lives. The federal government doesn’t give a rat’s ass which standards you use and is barred from mandating specific standards and curriculum anyway.