Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
From an interview with Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, a man of whom Bill Clinton said “We should all heed his advice”:
You’ve talked before about the civilizational challenge that climate change poses, how confident are you that the human race is up to meeting that challenge?
We don’t know and there is no guarantee that we will. But we do know that change can come very quickly. Look how quickly the US restructured its whole economy in 1942. At beginning of 1942, the automobile companies were producing automobiles. By the middle of 1942 they were all producing tanks and planes. It didn’t take decades or years, just a few months and they totally converted. If they could do that then, certainly we can restructure the world energy economy today. What Roosevelt did was ban the sale of cars. He didn’t say they couldn’t produce cars. He just banned the sale of cars.
Would you like to see President Obama do that?
I’d like to see him ban the sale of coal and oil.
Dear heavens, the Imperial President should “ban the sale of coal and oil”? Oh, yeah, that’s the ticket. Some 40% of US electricity, lots of our industrial energy, and ~ 100% of our transportation fuel comes from coal and oil, so I’m sure that other than the small matter of impoverishment, suffering, death, and economic ruin, banning them wouldn’t cause any disruption at all … while I want to ask “is this Imperious Idiot for real?”, the sad truth is that Lester Brown is totally serious.
But even more frightening than the horrendous economic disruption and human suffering from such a suicidal course of action is that Lester Brown is advocating tyranny, and given his history, our Imperial President Obama would likely be more than happy to accommodate him.
As a candidate, Obama spoke out strongly against expanded executive power, saying in October of 2007:
These last few years we’ve seen an unacceptable abuse of power at home. We’ve paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power.
and
I taught constitutional law for ten years. I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that were facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all, and that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m President of the United States of America.
After watching George Bush, Obama’s position on limiting executive power was one of the reasons I voted for him in 2008 … back before I realized that if Obama’s lips were moving, there were non-zero odds that he was lying, as in this case. Which is one of the reasons why I voted against him in 2012.
Now that he’s in power, and particularly now that he’s in his second term, he’s decided that he gets the last say on everything under the sun, and has presided over a huge increase in executive power, viz:
Whenever this Congress refuses to act in a way that hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, I’ve got an obligation as president to do what we can without them.
Despite being a “constitutional scholar”, he seems to misunderstand the separation of powers. He has no such obligation. It’s not his job to decide what “hurts the economy and puts the people at risk”, and more importantly, he has no such power. If the Congress decides not to pass a law, that’s their choice. The President’s job is to be the “Chief Executive”, and as such, the Constitution says he is to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”. Nowhere is he given the power to make or interpret the laws. That is the job of Congress on the one hand and the Courts on the other … and if Congress won’t act, well, tough. If you don’t like the Congress, vote them out of office.
However, obviously, neither President Obama nor Lester Brown see it that way. As we just saw with the new regulations involving coal plants, President Obama is more than happy to make new “environmental” laws by presidential edict. And I’m sure that both the Imperial President and the Imperious Idiot firmly believe that Obama has the power to ban the sale gas and oil.
The Founding Fathers were very concerned that the President should NOT have this kind of imperial powers, and for good reason. They’d seen the damage that strong-men had done in a variety of monarchies and tyrannies. So they devised a system of “separation of powers”—Congress makes the laws, the President enforces the laws, and the Supreme Court interprets the laws.
Sadly, we have fallen very far from that, and President Obama has done immense damage to that system by “solving” every problem, from glitches with Obamacare to interim appointments to immigration reform to destroying coal plants, by imperial proclamation. At this point, all I can do is fervently hope he doesn’t listen to Lester Brown …
Gotta say … 2016 can’t come fast enough for me.
w.
End Note: Please do not use this as a springboard for general political attacks on either side. There are lots of web pages for doing that. The issue here is the Imperious Idiot’s asinine proposal to ban the sale of coal and oil, and the Imperial President’s claim that he has the executive power to do just about anything, presumably including Lester’s proposed ban.
The Usual: If you disagree with something that I or anyone has said, please QUOTE THE EXACT WORDS YOU DISAGREE WITH. This avoids many misunderstandings.
The Interview: The full interview is here.
‘What Roosevelt did was ban the sale of cars. He didn’t say they couldn’t produce cars. He just banned the sale of cars.’
Um, could Lester Brown please explain precisely what, in his mind, the difference is?
”
Jake J says:
July 5, 2014 at 1:53 am
The issue here is the Imperious Idiot’s asinine proposal to ban the sale of coal and oil, and the Imperial President’s use of executive power to do that.
I’m no fan of Obama these days but he has not used executive power to ban the sale of coal and oil. The author is gripped by fever, and needs aspirin and bed rest.
”
Of course they are not banning the sale. They are already banning the USE. The EPA has been setting up impossible standards for new coal plant use already. IT’S DONE! Next will be existing facilities and the plan is to bankrupt the companies using coal.
BTW, Willis, your title should have IDIOT in the title plural because it’s applicable to both brown and obama.
The Obama way is the classic ‘African way’ that we have seen for decades in countries like Zimbabwe and other politically corrupt African nations with their tin-pot ‘dictators’. It is not the American way, and Americans are obliged to remind Obama of this.
So Willis, you seem like a man who takes action when you see things that need action. We use your efforts. Article V of the Constitution provides that the States, 2/3 required, can apply and require Congress to call a Convention for Proposing Amendments. Amendments proposed and passed by 3/4 of the State legislatures become part of the Constitution WITHOUT THE APPROVAL of Congress. In other words, Congress has no vote, nor does the President. Currently the move is underway to do this and we are getting close to the 2/3 of States required to call the Convention. One of the amendments to be proposed is term limits on the members of the House and Senate; something that they would never do to themselves. If only this amendment passed it would dramatically shift the power from Washington back to the States. You can learn more here:
http://action.conventionofstates.com/movements/convention
FYI, this convention is not called to rewrite the Constitution as some opponents say as a scare tactic. It is only for proposing amendments.
Jake J says:
July 5, 2014 at 1:53 am
The issue here is the Imperious Idiot’s asinine proposal to ban the sale of coal and oil, and the Imperial President’s use of executive power to do that.
I’m no fan of Obama these days but he has not used executive power to ban the sale of coal and oil. The author is gripped by fever, and needs aspirin and bed rest.
Jake
Where have you been? The EPA has virtually killed the sale of coal for power generation. Willis is has tagged this president as imperial I would tag him dictator complete with soviet style commissars.
nickreality65 says: “What transportation fuel derives from coal???”
The electricity that is used to charge batteries in electric cars.
Obama is an arrogant narcissist with way too much power. A narcissist without power is a nuisance. A narcissist with power is dangerous.
The kooks flock to Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama does not disappoint them.
Co2 SCIENCE blog has an article on Dark Ages Cold Period(Europe) The article mentions that during our recent past there have been three major cooling periods, namely
975-250 BC- SUBATLANTIC COOL PERIOD
250 BC-450 AD- DARK AGES COOL PERIOD
1400-1850 AD- LITTLE ICE AGE
I think we could experience a similar cooling period during the remaining part of this century
if the oceans continue to cool as they did in the past
Oil and gas will not be banned .It may be rationed . During just one severe winter(2013/2014) , propane and natural gas were already in short supply in many parts of United States. Regional supply was rationed until the supplies were restored
.Ocean cycles are 65-70 years and cool period runs 30-35 years . There could be two such cold troughs before 2100 if past history is a guide. We had similar shorter cool periods more recently1790-1850,1900-1926, and 1964-1995 when the North Atlantic was running cold and AMO was negative.
“A nation that can’t control its energy sources can’t control its future.” ― Barack Obama
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“A nation that can’t control its leaders can’t control its future.” ― We the People
One measure of Brown’s ignorance is his belief that what FDR did at the start of WWII – convince
(not order) our automakers to convert to war production is in no conceivable way equivalent to what he is suggesting – FDR’s order simply meant that no one could buy a new car during the war.
It didn’t require building some new transportation infrastructure or a new mode of transportation.
So much for Brown’s World War Two analogy.
The only practical alternatve to a gasoline powered car would be a natural gas powered car, which
is not exactly a giant positive leap if you’re talking carbon emissions. Ditto for coal – every utility would immediately build gas powered electric generators, as they have since the time when fracking caused the price of natural gas to drop precipitously, from being “a very expensive method of making electricity” to almost as cheap as nuclear power, our cheapest form of electricity. No giant leap in carbon reduction there either, and the supply of natural gas is not infinite, especially when everyone starts using it to both power their cars and make most of their electricity. His banning of coal and gasoline would almost certainly simply replace those two fuels with natural gas. Using natural gas in an open cycle gas turbine produces carbon emissions not all that different than what you emit using coal.
Cutting electric power emissions is very simply done – put up a trillion dollars as no interest loans
for building nuclear plants. That would build 200 nuclear plants, each guaranteed to last at least 60 years (80 to 100 years more likely) , which would , in conjuction with our existing nuclear and hydro provide for roughly 85% emission free electric power. Sending the Treasury payments of one cent for each kilowatt hour of power produced by each new nuclear plant would completely repay the loan in 50 years. Problem solved.
After watching George Bush, Obama’s position on limiting executive power was one of the reasons I voted for him in 2008 … back before I realized that if Obama’s lips were moving, there were non-zero odds that he was lying, as in this case.
=========================================================
Sorry you didn’t do a little more homework back then? Obama’s actions have been entirely predictable to, and predicted by, those of us who looked beyond the disinformation promulgated by the propaganda arm of the DNC (a.k.a. “mainstream media”).
That he was an outright liar was completely obvious: Bill Ayers was “just a guy from his neighborhood”. Oh, yeah, and the bit that he forgot to mention: Ayers hired Obama to head the Annenberg Challenge and worked with him on the Woods Fund, and was introduced as Alice Palmer’s successor at Ayers’ home.
All these facts were available at that time.
The point being that Obama was an obvious liar in 2007.
Having just passed July 4th, as an outsider (Canadian) looking in, I can’t help but think that the US has become what they fought against and declared independent from in 1776. There is no representation from Congress anymore and the Presidency has morphed into a Monarchy that has more power over people’s lives, both individually and collectively, then King George ever had.
Perhaps a complete ban on coal and oil would help certain control freaks gain an appreciation of driving cars and taking airplanes rather than walking or riding horses and bicycles.
Or perhaps not.
rogerthesurf says:
July 5, 2014 at 3:46 am
“Congress makes the laws, the President enforces the laws, and the Supreme Court interprets the laws.”
One would hope that if the president violates this rule, which no doubt the constitution makes very clear, it would open the way to his impeachment?
Arguably, he already has regarding the Affordable Care Act, Immigration Law, and EPA regulatory restrictions and maybe in other areas.
He is worse than the liberal press implied Bush could become.
/sad
Ed Zuiderwijk says:
July 5, 2014 at 12:23 am
The best guarantee that a “ban the sale of coal and oil” will never happen is the simple fact that a “ban the sale of fire arms” has been shown to be impossible. People tend to shoot back at those who ruin their lives.
______________________
I live in a large metropolitan area in the central US. Last night, the 4th of July, both fireworks and firearms were quite noticeable fired off by happy citizens until well past midnight (and I can’t hear very far.) Both activities are banned, yet the view from any high vantage point confirmed that aerial bursts were frequent and prolific as far as the eye could see. Recent laws banning certain guns and multi- round magazines, while calling for strict registration of those firearms already existing in Connecticutt and New York are known to have produced at best, 10% compliance from the citizenry.
People like Lester Brown may have an audience within certain political power structures which are all too ready to gain total control of the nation through any means, but in the end, they won’t last and they won’t succeed.
“Gotta say … 2016 can’t come fast enough for me.”
That reminds me of the ABB folks (Anybody But Bush). They were out in force back in 2007/8 even though Bush’s second term was ending and we were going to elect a new President who clearly had to be SOB (Somebody Other than Bush).
So, we get President Obama – EWB (Even Worse than Bush).
Why would anyone believe that a junior Senator with no real executive experience and no track record of being true to his word would be anything but what he is?
Now he says, “This (climate change) is a problem that is affecting Americans right now,” Obama said. “Whether it means increased flooding, greater vulnerability to drought, more severe wildfires — all these things are having an impact on Americans as we speak.”
Source: http://www.today.com/news/obama-al-roker-climate-change-2D79627268
When, dear Mr. President, was not a changing climate a problem that affected Americans? Remember, the real problem, according to your trusted advisors, is “global warming” caused by increased atmospheric CO2 primarily due to fossil fuel burning. With no significant atmospheric temperature change, either cooler or warmer, in around 17 years, “global warming just isn’t happening as predicted, but that darned climate just keeps changing anyway. With your vast array of advisors one would think you would get it right, but, speaking for myself, it appears your advisors are, at best, half-vast.
mjc – I have a completely different reaction to people who are manipulating me into changing my driving in an unsafe manner. I will, and have, slammed on the brakes, and pulled into the breakdown lane, thrown the car in park and explained, in detail, how what they are doing is dangerous. I don’t move until I extract a promise that they will cut it out.
People who are driven around by me generally understand that I’m an understanding sort about everything except when they pull this sort of dangerous stunt.
” If only this amendment passed it would dramatically shift the power from Washington back to the States.”
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Which is where it should be Tom….
Obama studied the constitution…to find ways to get around it
There are several options in play for just how coal power generators will respond to the EPA’s CO2 limits. Shutting down old, marginal, performers, sequestration, co-firing coal w/natural gas, efficiency improvements, buying credits from CCPPs. Is this unit specific or site or utility wide like CAFE? Shut down 2 out of 4 coal units at a site, install a medium size CCPP and the site is now under the limit.
Every time the EPA rolls out some save the environment regulations, unintended consequences start popping up like Whack-a-Moles. Time will tell.
“ban the sale of coal and oil” ?
Well maybe shivering in the dark would be just the thing to wake up the Obamanoids.
BTW Willis shame on you for voting for him the first time. What were you thinking? If you want a president who obeys the Constitution you won’t find many choices among the Rs and none among the Ds. Ron Paul was the only one last time and likely Rand Paul will be the only one in 2016.
I voted for him in 2008
Jeeze Willis. The least amount of due diligence in 2008 would have shown you Obama was at the very least politically associated with communists. And may very well have been one himself.
I have many stains on my soul. Thank the Maker that voting for Obama for President isn’t one of them.
I did vote for him over Keyes. Theocon or Communist – tough choice. I chose the communist. But at least I knew what I was getting. Ah. Well. Interesting times.
thingadonta says:July 5, 2014 at 1:17 am
“Lester Brown is totally serious”
In my view, Lester is one those academics who can’t tell the difference with proportion anymore.”
Yes Lester completely misses the vastly different proportions between banning the sale of cars and banning the sale of coal and oil.
It’s striking that he uses “certainly” to show how sure he is. He’s actually suggesting the coal and oil ban-restructuring the world energy economy would be easier.
“If they could do that [ban the sale of cars] then, certainly we can restructure the world energy economy today.”
It’s scary how little he must have thought about that before spewing forth.
However the idiot is a useful idiot.
Just look how reasonable, moderate and compromising Obama’s tyranny appears to be in comparison.
Toto: Thanks for the “Black Count” book suggestion. I have it on order. From its excerpts, it reminds me of the life and times of Ulysses Grant’s military career, a favorite read of mine regardless of author.
Admitting to voting of the O. You can be forgiven for doing it once. There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.