Friday, May 04, 2007

Quote of the Day, "global warming" department

"In a couple of hundred years historians will be comparing the frenzies over our supposed human contribution to global warming to the tumults at the latter end of the tenth century as the Christian millennium approached.

Then as now, the doomsters identified human sinfulness as the propulsive factor in the planet's rapid downward slide. Then as now, a buoyant market throve on fear. The Roman Catholic Church sold indulgences like checks. The sinners established a line of credit against bad behavior and could go on sinning.

Today a world market in "carbon credits" is in formation. Those whose "carbon footprint" is small can sell their surplus carbon credits to others less virtuous than themselves.

The modern trade is as fantastical as the medieval one. There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide is making any measurable contribution to the world's present warming trend.

The greenhouse fearmongers rely on unverified, crudely oversimplified models to finger mankind's sinful contribution--and carbon trafficking, just like the old indulgences, is powered by guilt, credulity, cynicism and greed."

-- Alexander Cockburn

At least SOME Lefties get it, don't they?

4 comments:

  1. Bubba:

    Don't you know? "Global warming" theories have been elevated to sacred text in some quarters. If you question the foundation of the dogma, the true believers will brand you as a heretic and your arguments aren't worthy of the slightest consideration.

    Does the following excerpt sound familiar? "There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now." Surprise; this warning isn't about "global warming." This excerpt was extracted from an article that appeared in Newsweek on 4/28/75 about the "grim reality" of "global cooling."

    Another excerpt from the Newsweek article: "To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century."

    Newsweek concluded the article with the following paragraph: "Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality."

    Gee, we survived all that "global cooling." Do you think that we might do the same with "global warming?”

    Wendell Sawyer

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  2. "Gee,'we survived all that "global cooling." Do you think that we might do the same with "global warming?'"

    Geez, Wendell!

    You must be some kind of a "fringe scientist", an "oil company shill", the moral equivalent to a Holocaust denier, or just a deluded nut case to not be on the "scientific consensus" on "anthropogenic global warming" bandwagon!

    Just ask the self-proclaimed know-it-all experts over at "progressive" blogs like Cone's.

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  3. Bubba:

    You didn't mention my lifetime membership in the Flat Earth Society.

    As you know, "global warming" is not simply a science issue; it is also a political issue. Most of the proponents of "global warming" are not scientists; they are political commentators (or politicians).

    They strongly suggest that "global warming' is a simply a fact that no rational person could possibly dispute. Many of these political commentators advocate major policy changes, which are political in nature, as a solution to the perceived crisis. Therefore, it naturally follows that the opponents of these policy changes aren't really capable of simple tasks like driving a car or tying their own shoelaces.

    Some proponents of "global warming" have adopted the proposition as neo-religious dogma. The skeptics are deemed to have sinister motives and are branded as modern-day heretics. The high priests of the Church of Global Warming may accuse such skeptics of engaging in blasphemy.

    So, you see, the skeptics of "global warming" don't have many places to go. Our choices are limited to: village idiot or sinister heretic? Either way, such stereotyping of the opposition by the proponents is a comfortable way for them to ignore any voices, scientific or political, that may challenge their cherished beliefs in this matter.

    Wendell Sawyer

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  4. "Either way, such stereotyping of the opposition by the proponents is a comfortable way for them to ignore any voices, scientific or political, that may challenge their cherished beliefs in this matter."

    That's how propaganda works.

    If they repeat their mantra that the issue is settled long enough, and marginalize anyone who dares to call their bluff, they figure they can move on to the next level.

    In addition to being a political issue the "scientific consensus" on "anthropogenic global warming" crowd has made it into a social and economic issue tin order to fulfill what they see as an important "progressive" agenda item.

    If we don't counter their "Big Lie" techniques, they may actually stand a chance at achieving their goals.

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