Subject: News of the Weak and the weekly Chilling Effect cartoon
From: "editor@thechillingeffect.org"
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:55:23 -0500
To: bob@cosy.com

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July 14, 2009

 
 
 
Check out this argument from Mindy Lubber over at Politco’s Arena on the Waxman-Markey bill:
 
“The historically singular thing about climate change is that it’s a planet-wide threat to the very fabric of life. That sentence is not hyperbole: The vast majority of worldwide, peer-reviewed, independent science attests to the threat – including our own National Academy of Sciences and the Nobel-prizewinning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Some legitimate scientists disagree but they’re a very small minority. Given the stakes, dare we bet our future on them?”
 
Wow. “Historically singular.” “Planet-wide threat to the very fabric of life.” Wow. Wow.
There really aren’t words. It is at least nice that the pro-regulation side is finally being forced to admit that some serious people are skeptics. That’s a crack in the dam. It’s also why lefties are trying to force through legislation before the crack gets bigger and the dam breaks.
 
 
 
On occasion, The Chilling Effect interviews experts on environment and energy. This week, we discuss current events with Tom Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research.
 
 
 
 
It hasn’t been an all-together good week for global warming alarmists. We wanted to highlight a couple of small items we were alerted to by Marc Morano of ClimateDepot.com.
 
First, of course, is the news that James Hansen — alarmist extraordinaire — has decried the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill as “a monstrous absurdity…less than worthless!” We’ve noted Mr. Hansen’s preference for a carbon tax (the lesser of evils, we would say), but this is a strong rebuke to the absurdity and obscenity of the House’s recently passed legislation.
 
Then, of course, there was Al Gore’s week weak. In a short period of time he managed to claim the U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About ‘Global Governance.” And then there was that high point of civil discourse in which His Furor likened the alarmist notion of global warming to the threat posed by the Nazis.
 
Just like we wouldn’t want to call the bottom in the stock market, we won’t officially declare this week the high point of the global warming hysteria fever. But if there’s a global warming shark, consider it jumped.
 
 
First it was Rep. Harry Teague getting corrected in public about his mistake in voting for the Waxman-Markey cap and tax bill. Now small business is fighting back in Missouri:
 
Fed up with his congressman’s vote on a sweeping climate-change bill that passed the House of Representatives in late June, the proprietor of McArthur’s Bakery took to his street sign and posted a clear message to all passersby:
“Russ Carnahan voted to … close us and other … small business.”
 
David McArthur, vice president of the 52-year-old family operation, a Gateway City institution, is one of a growing number of business owners and taxpayers nationwide who are mobilizing against the so-called cap-and-trade bill, which would levy harsh fines on energy consumption that harms the environment.
 
This certainly won’t be the last we hear about this kind of citizen displeasure with their elected representatives.
 
 
Great catch by Tom Nelson (via ClimateDepot.com) is this statement for Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, who voted against the Waxman-Markey cap and tax scheme:
 
My final reason for opposing this bill was you, the constituents of New York’s 29th Congressional District. In the week leading up to the vote, our offices received hundreds of phone calls urging a ‘no’ vote. In fact, after we tallied the responses, the “vote no” calls outnumbered the “vote yes” calls by a ratio of 19 to 1. My job is to represent you, and that’s exactly what I did in casting my vote. While voting based only on polling data is not in concert with my vision - representing this District is my job and I take your concerns very seriously.