High Priest (and major profiteer) of global warming Al Gore says that global warming skeptics "are this generation's racists" and must be marginalized just as racists were during the civil rights movement. "My generation asked old people 'Explain to me again why it is okay to discriminate against people because their skin color is different?' And when they really couldn't answer that question with integrity, the change really started."
"Answer the question with integrity." This lies at the heart of the matter. PRO-manmade (anthropogenic) global warming (AGW) activists such as Gore have been caught time after time cheating, misrepresenting, and deceiving in order to score points in the "conversation."
- Gore admitted pushing subsidies for corn-based ethanol, despite evidence showing lack of results, simply to score political points in Iowa.
- The Climategate e-mails show that scientists privately conspired to punish editors of peer-reviewed journals for publishing studies that disputed AGW, while publicly deriding any research that was not published in those same journals.
- Hysterical claims -- inevitably followed by calls for more government funding -- have been shown to be based on a single author's words, discredited data, or sloppy research.
- Claims of horrendous consequences have been "adjusted" when reality fails to match earlier predictions.
The lack of integrity in the methods shown by the pro-AGW side, combined with their religious fervor in attacking anyone who dares to even question them -- Gore's "marginalization" process -- is enough to make a reasonable person question their conclusions.
Several months ago, Wisconsin teachers and their union supporters protested a budget proposed by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. They staged walkouts from their classes, encouraged students to join them in the protests, closed schools, and occupied the state capitol building. The fight, fueled by union and Democrat activists, was angry and bitter. The protests were against particular provisions of the budget – some public employees (including school teachers) would lose collective bargaining rights, they would have to contribute to their own retirement funds, and they would have to pay a higher percentage of their health insurance premiums.
Democrats, ever-loyal supporters of unions, screamed that Walker’s budget would be disastrous for the state. But in at least one case, a school district turned a $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. That’s great in and of itself, but the reasons for the turnaround are revealing.
In the past, teachers and staff of the Kaukauna School District paid nothing toward their pensions; it was all paid by the state. Now they will have to contribute 5.8% to their pensions. They also paid only 10% of their health insurance premiums. They will now have to pay 12.6%, less than employees in the private sector pay on average. Obviously, getting public employees to pay part of their own insurance and pension saves money.
What’s interesting is that the total cost of their insurance coverage, as a result of Walker’s budget, went down. Here’s why.
As part of the teachers union collective bargaining agreement that had been in place, the school district was required to buy health insurance from a company set up by the Wisconsin teachers union. The district was forbidden to negotiate with anyone else. This company, the WEA Trust, charged rates higher than the competition, and had informed the district that there would be a “significant increase” in premiums this year.
With the implementation of Walker’s budget, and the end of collective bargaining, the school district was able to shop around for the best deal. Lo and behold, the WEA Trust notified the district that it would match the lowest rate.
There is much more to the story, which can be found here. What this illustrates is that in direct contrast to what Democrats and union activists claimed would happen, in at least one case Wisconsin taxpayers have benefited greatly, along with the students in the classrooms. The union had negotiated conditions that worked against taxpayers, and which were designed to line the union’s pocket with inflated prices. The union's demands were like a festering wound that was killing the patient. Heal that wound, and the patient immediately returned to health.
From an opinion piece titled "What Happened to Obama?" by devoted Liberal and Democrat Drew Westin in the New York Times:
"... [Obama] is simply not up to the task by virtue of his lack of experience and a character defect that might not have been so debilitating at some other time in history. Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted "present" (instead of "yea" or "nay") 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues."
Well, this distinguished professor of psychology finally got the message -- thirty-three months and four trillion dollars too late.
(Note: When I looked at the web address for Professor Westin's piece, it reads "What happened to Obama's passion?" Apparently his original title was too harsh for them.)
Yep, a twofer.
From a Peter Wehner column in Commentary magazine:
Standard & Poor’s downgrade of America’s credit rating is a crushing political blow to President Obama. It reinforces, perhaps like nothing else has, the impression Obama is overseeing, and in some respects engineering, the decline of the American republic.
From a "Random Thoughts" column by Thomas Sowell:
Three little words -- "We the people," the opening words of the Constitution of the United States -- are the biggest obstacle to achieving the political goals of the left. For that, they must move decisions away from "We the people" -- from individuals to government; from elected officials to unelected judges; and from national institutions to international institutions like the United Nations -- all safely remote and insulated from "We the people."
Last December, Barack Obama blasted the Bush tax cuts as being for "millionaires and billionaires." Several days ago, he blasted Republicans, particularly the Tea Party, for refusing to increase taxes, for only wanting to benefit "millionaires and billionaires" (especially those who have corporate jets.)
Today is Obama's 50th birthday. The birthday boy attended a party for himself last night in Chicago. A thousand people were expected to attend -- at a cost of up to $35,000 per couple. For those who really wanted to wish him well, another party was planned for afterward, limited to only 80 or 100 people. You know, VIPs.
Hmmm....what kind of people could afford to attend such celebrations in Obama's honor?
