Topic: Global Warming
Al Gore made a show of taking public transportation to his Nobel ceremony in Oslo, but his extensive luggage was transported by a Mercedes van. Rumor has it, he took a private jet to Oslo in the first place.
In his Nobel speech, Gore likened "Global Warming deniers" to those such as Neville Chamberlain, onetime British prime minister, who tried to appease Adolf Hitler before World War II:
"We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency, a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world's leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat, and I quote, 'They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved only to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.'"
Gore did NOT note that Global Warming advocates are largely Socialists, whom Churchill would consider a far greater threat than the weather.
When asked by CNN correspondent Jonathan Mann, "The Associated Press, among other sources, is reporting that your family home near Nashville, Tennessee, used $1,200 a month in electricity, which is 10 times the average for homes nearby. . . . Is it true? Are you a little less green than you seem?" Gore replied, "There's a global warming denier group that put out misleading information." Pressed by Mann, Gore continued with a rather extensive "non-answer":
"No, [AP] reported what that group said. And the, the, look, when you try to make a case like this, you are going to have, you're going to have people try to attack the messenger in order to get at the message. They have not been able to succeed. But the most important element of this is the message. And part of what they, part of what these deniers try to communicate is that the only way to solve this crisis is for individuals to make changes in their own lives."
Even the editor of the Harvard Crimson, Peter W. Tilton, takes Gore to task:
"Many Americans would naturally assume Gore follows the green lifestyle he widely promotes, and they would be wrong. Gore and his wife Tipper, whose children all live elsewhere, reside in a behemoth 20-room mansion outside of Nashville that used nearly 23,000 kilowatt-hours last August, more than twice the annual -- yes, annual -- energy usage of a typical American home. Gore's preferred mode of transportation between stops on his international publicity tour is his private jet, which spews out CO2 emissions at the rate of a small army of SUVs."
Meanwhile, world leaders have gathered in Bali to talk about climate change, traveling in more private jets than can be parked at the local airport. The "experts" are calling the Bali conference "the world's last chance to avoid disaster." The US has been severely criticized for not acceding to the Kyoto accords, by which developed countries are heavily fined for not meeting strict, arbitrary emissions reductions. In November, however, Weather Channel founder John Colement called Global Warming "the greatest scam in history." Economist Noel Sheppard calls it a "tax the rich scheme," noting that "rich countries" really means "United States."
Early in December, recently elected Australian prime minster Kevin Rudd, a liberal who had promised to sign on to Kyoto, backed out when he found out the tremendous economic cost his country would incur, noting that other countries "do not necessarily accept those targets, nor do they accept those targets as binding targets for themselves."
Peter Foster of the Financial Post (Dec. 6) writes, "The real theme of this United Nations gabfest . . . is whether globalization and trade liberalization will be allowed to continue . . . or whether the authoritarian enemies of freedom . . . will succeed in using environmental hysteria to undermine capitalism and increase their Majesterium." He continues, "Just at the point where Marxism was being consigned to the dustbin of history, the more or less concealed power lust that had fed it found a new cause in the environment."
Reporters from more conservative newspapers, namely Environment & Climate News, were denied press credentials and entry to the Bali conference. Critics also question the intent of Ban Ki-moon, head of the United Nations, to take an around-the-world flight immediately after the conference, including attending a music concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Similarly, Al Gore was isolated from the press at a London fundraiser by an efficient force of bodyguards; and invited guests, who had paid £1,000 to £50,000 to attend, felt insulted by his lack of access, in addition to his £100,000 fee.
On December 13, Gore told an international audience that it is the US that is the biggest obstacle to rescuing the planet, drawing enthusiastic applause and cheers.
"I am going to speak an inconvenient truth. My own country the United States is principally responsible for obstructing progress in Bali."
Posted by hughes
at 3:47 PM CST
