Friday, December 21, 2007

Bite This, Steve

You can tell a lot about a politician by how it approaches the topic of global warming.

For the purposes of this discussion we'll leave out the deniers. They're going the way of the dinosaurs, at least the honest ones are. Most of the rest have slithered over into the "we get it camp", sort of.

The other two groups are the leaders, Group A, and the fearmongers, Group B.

The leaders are those who do what legitimate politicians are supposed to do - lead. They're the sort who come to the fore in tough times such as depressions or wars. They rally the people, rationally explain the problem, what must be done about it and why remedial action is necessary, worthwhile, even desirable. In a word, they're "leaders." They generate awareness and consent. That's Group A.

Then there's the other kind, Group B. This is the bait and switch type of lowlife. In the face of challenges they begin with denial and, as that option closes, invoke the next option, delay. To buy as much time as possible to do nothing, they pull out their tried and true weapon - fear.

This is the face of our very own Furious Leader, Stephen Harper. Have a Merry Christmas, he says, warning that, come the New Year, we'll all be wearing sackcloth and ashes as the government is forced to choke the very joy of life out of us in order to reduce industrial carbon emissions.

Hey Stevo, the Europeans are way ahead of us on climate change and just how are they doing anyway? Have they reverted to living in mud huts and eating grass? No? Why not? Maybe it's because they're focusing on ways to deal with the carbon problem that actually minimize the economic and social consequences. Maybe because they've explained to their people the positive side to this. Maybe because they're not working to protect something as environmentally vile as the Tar Sands.

Now no one is saying the Euros are there yet but they're a long way further down the road than we are, sitting on our fence watching them fade into the distance.

So Steve, take your fearmongering and shove it. Either lead or quit. Better yet, just quit. We'll all be better off without you.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harper is only going by the way he was talking about the Liberals ruining the economy with their plan, and he is trying to scare us again, He really does not have any idea what he is going to do.
I wonder if that government is close to a deficit?

Oldschool said...

As the gorebull warming thing raises its head like the wounded snake it is . . . . a hundred real scientists sign their names to a letter sent to the IPCC.
The UN chairman beats back debate by not allowing real scientists with differing opinions speak at the Balia gathering.
While we freeze in the great white north . . . some reminiss that we are only a few degrees away from perpetual summer!!!
Just think, if it were not for GW the temperature in Winnipeg today would not be -20 . . . . it would be -20.7 . . . .wow!!!
The IPCC is just another UN politico/marxist/money grabbing scheme. Just send us the money . . . life will be better.
There are evidently "thousands" of scientists that support Big Al and the GW freek show . . . but nobody ever got their names, or their qualifications . . . soooo sad!!!
2008 will be the year the real Climate Scientists put an end to the scam that has been perpetuated on manking by the likes of Strong, Suzukki, Gore, Annan and the enviro clubs like Club Sierra.
By the way . . . www.junkscience.com . . . has posted a $150,000 dollar reward to anyone that can scientifically prove Anthropogenic GW is REAL . . . why don't some of you believers go collect the funds???

The Mound of Sound said...

Oldschool, you're fixated on nonsense. I assume it's because it gives you comfort. Here's an idea. Do you believe, even for a minute, that Big Oil wouldn't pay billions for evidence disproving the IPCC if that could be found? Of course they would. Now, which of those hundred brilliant scientists you so childishly cling to is running around with Big Oil's multi-billion dollar prize money? I guess that would be not a single one of them, right chum? There are vast riches to be had by the fossil fuel industry if they could repudiate the IPCC. They can't and, sure as hell, neither can a bright light like you.

Scruffy Dan said...

"a hundred real scientists sign their names to a letter sent to the IPCC."

Actually it was 400 but most of them weren't climate scientists, and they certainly aren't publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Give me the resources of the oil industry and ill find 400 'scientists' who claim the moon landing was faked, that Elvis lives, or that the earth is only 6000 years old. If it isn't peer-reviewed it isn't science. I wrote about it here:
http://www.scruffydan.com/blog/?p=1125

"Just think, if it were not for GW the temperature in Winnipeg today would not be -20 . . . . it would be -20.7 . . . .wow"

I see you don't understand the problem. Small changes (and they will be much bigger in the arctic) can have profound effects on the carefully balanced ecosystems we depend on.

"The IPCC is just another UN politico/marxist/money grabbing scheme."

whose conclusions are supported by pinko commies like Stephen Harper George Bush, Preston Manning, Brian Mulroney, the Rand Corporation, AEI, and many of the big oil companies, amongst others.

"2008 will be the year the real Climate Scientists put an end to the scam"

Well so far the models have underestimated the predicted warming, but if new research appears in (and this is the important part) PEER-REVIEWED journals, that seriously challenges the current consensus (read several papers that stand up to scientific scrutiny) then you will be right. Until that happens (if that happens) it is rational to listen to what the experts are saying.

"www.junkscience.com has posted a $150,000 dollar reward to anyone that can scientifically prove Anthropogenic GW is REAL"

A debate like this is not how scientific debates are settled, they are settled in the peer-reviewed literature. That is where science is debated, everything else is just noise that should be ignored.

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