This is a departure for The Sacramento Bee~ctm
By Ben Boychuk
July 27, 2017 2:00 PM
Arnold Schwarzenegger really should be careful about calling people liars. Especially when he’s trying to pass off faith as scientific fact.
Maybe you saw the former governor and erstwhile action star berating conservatives the other day for refusing to accept his view that the answer to climate change is the heavy hand of government.
“Don’t those conservative Republicans get the message?” he asked. “And can’t they just think about it for a second and say, ‘Maybe we should stop lying to the people.’ Stop lying to the people. Stop it.”
Lying, eh? It’s a wonder he didn’t add, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Schwarzenegger was on hand Tuesday for Gov. Jerry Brown’s big cap-and-trade bill signing ceremony on Treasure Island in San Francisco. After months of wrangling and the eventual defection of eight Republicans, Brown and the Democrats succeeded in extending the program until 2030.
Under cap and trade, the state gives credits to certain carbon producers, such as power plants and manufacturers. “Polluters” may exceed their allotted carbon caps by purchasing (or “trading”) more credits from other credit holders. The state expects to raise billions of dollars on the scheme.
Schwarzenegger was there to lend a bipartisan veneer to the spectacle. Remember, he signed Assembly Bill 32, the “Global Warming Solutions Act,” at the same location a decade ago. The law mandated that Californians cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and another 80 percent by 2050 in “a manner that minimizes costs and maximizes benefits for the California economy.”
How has that worked so far? Schwarzenegger thinks it’s going just great. He said California showed how bipartisan cooperation can work, though he was a little iffy on the details.
California’s cap-and-trade program is full of carve-outs for industry. That’s the only way it can work without manufacturers abandoning the state wholesale and electricity and fuel prices climbing even higher than they are already.
And they’re quite high. California’s gasoline and electricity prices are the highest in the western United States. We had the highest gasoline taxes at around 54 cents a gallon, and they’re about to go up again in November between 12 cents and 19 cents per gallon, depending on the type of fuel. Cap-and-trade mandates will likely add another 63 cents a gallon by 2021, according to Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor. Low-income Californians will be hardest hit. The state’s answer seems to be, “Let them eat solar.”
Yet Schwarzenegger chided Republicans in Washington, D.C., for not following California’s lead. He was particularly harsh on President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.
“America did not drop out of the Paris agreement. America is fully in the Paris agreement,” Schwarzenegger said. “The states and the cities in America, the private sector, the academic sector, the scientists – everyone is still in the Paris agreement.”
Back in the real world, where the U.S. Constitution continues to hold some sway, America will drop out of the Paris agreement because the duly elected president judged it would be in the nation’s interest to do so.
But far be it from me to call the former governor a liar. He’s merely an actor on a stage playing a role.
Arnold. What makes you believe you hold the truth about our planet? Your education and experience perhaps? Who do you think holds the truth at that scale? Well, not many even claim such an absurdity. In case you chose to listen those who made such claims, I have news for you. None holds the truth: there is more than one religion on this planet and science is in continual evolution by definition.
Now, you are entitled to your political convictions, but not to instigating hate towards a group of people. It is not only counterproductive, it’s outright wrong. How do I know this? Because it is against human rights, see the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights e.g.:
Article I
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
And in your case the wrong-doing is far worse, you are public figure and supposed to lead by example. And, because of your origin, you should know well why the declaration has been written in the first place. For these reasons you have profoundly disappointed me and should be ashamed.
To prevent further embarrassment, please read the declaration urgently at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
While waiting for a more reasoned opinion to pass the sieve. It is known old age nurtures nostalgia. What if it’s Mr Freeze, Arnold?
H.L. Mencken said it best:
“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”.
He also said “The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule”.
What makes the work of watermelons (green outside, red inside) so easy is because, as Mencken said, “Most people want security in this world, not liberty”. If you frighten people enough, they will give up their liberties and happily do anything you say as long as you offer them soothing words.
And to quote HL again, “All government, of course, is against liberty”.
Can you think of a more apt description of climate change? And by the way, HL died in 1956
I have a collection of Mencken first editions, along with a nasty letter typed and signed by him. Thank you for providing a public service by keeping his thoughts alive.
“America did not drop out of the Paris agreement. America is fully in the Paris agreement,” Schwarzenegger said. “The states and the cities in America, the private sector, the academic sector, the scientists – everyone is still in the Paris agreement.”
OK, then when will the States and cities in America start writing the checks to the green climate fund as the Paris agreement demands? I believe the US portion is around $26B per year and at about 7% of the US economy, that would make California’s share just shy of $2B per year. If your in, your in, right Guv?
I know my state, Florida, isn’t ‘in’ as well as the rest of the Red States the socialicommimarxifascists call ‘flyover country’.
Don’t hold your breath waiting to see the socialists fork over their own cash to anyone, that’s what they’re best at-taking money from you & me & giving it to…….
Thanks to this article, I’ve discovered the following today:
WUWT? Combustion exhaust can be 1,200 degrees °F. Hydrogen only combustion, with zero carbon involved, >5,000 °F.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/julia-seymour/2016/11/10/schwarzenegger-wants-strap-anti-epa-mouths-exhaust-pipe-turn. Arnold is paving the way to be sued for crimes against humanity.
Our President was accused of trying to get journalists killed for merely reposting a satirical wrestling video.
Here we gave an Austrian from a certain touchy generation openly calling for killing skeptics and that’s okey dokey.
Arnold, your pal Al thought you were serious. It took him 10 seconds to tap out LOL
The EPA already tried this on seniors, although they didn’t quite strap them to the exhaust, just fed it into a sealed chamber.
https://junkscience.com/analysis-of-the-epa-documents-part-5/
“In 2007, the EPA began testing for the effects of diesel exhaust on “healthy, older adults” and whether dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids would reduce any adverse effects of the diesel exhaust exposure
In these experiments, “older adults” meant study subjects of up to 75 years of age — 5 years more than the older adults (with metabolic syndrome) exposed to PM2.5 and ultra fine particles starting in 2004.
In exchange for risk life and health, the elderly adults will be paid the princely sum of $12 per hour (plus mileage) — up to a maximum of $1,087.
the EPA confusingly described the risks of diesel exhaust to the elderly subjects — you may cough or you may die…:”
“America is fully in the Paris agreement”. Sure it is Ahnold, sure. Just keep telling yourself that.
The cognitive dissonance is strong with this one.
Arnold seems to have lost something vital. Perhaps we can recover some and call it WUWT award.
http://www.genuinelostmarbles.com/images/wellrounded.png
I like it! I saved that pic & will redistribute as necessary–which probably means often.
Have to admit, I’m getting fundamentally fed up with the misanthropic mob central. But, after a second thought: if they throw determined enough hissy fits, it might haste the following development.
http://www.scienceforthepeople.net/graphics/GOCTectonicMap.jpg
Looks like a win-win to me.
Unfortunately, that’s only Baj
a, but I hear ya!
That’s why I think we should make nice with the North Koreans by allowing them to test their latest & greatest nukes along the San Andreas. Then maybe Arnold (and ours too) will get his wish & Cali really will be its own country, somewhere in the eastern Pacific.
A has been and a lunatic agreeing that everyone else is lying.
What can possibly be dubious about that?
http://hint.fm/wind/
One of the tell-tale signs of long-term steroid use is a swelled head and shrunken chestnuts.
Check. Check.
I don’t know what Jerry’s excuse is. Too much LDS back in the 60’s?
It very difficult for any politician to pass up an excuse to increase government power over the economy and people. Even their own “science” would show the stupid caps they came up with won’t stop the problem their “science” has created. They never conclude that maybe government waste is generating more carbon dioxide than all their efforts to cap it.
Farmland is being bought up in central British Columbia and fertile farm land near Dawson Creek area by a British firm to “offset” their carbon use in the U.K. Former Premier Chrusty Clarke, never said a word. They planted trees. Can’t have the people depending on themselves and not the government for food now can we. You can use your non-google search engine to find this. ie DuckDuckGo or Startpage. 🙂