George Will : Perils of a Bright Idea

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Perils of a Bright Idea

by George Will

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Prager H2: A New York Times Conservative

H3: Emmett of the Unblinking Eye, Tarzana Joe

Was the Copenhagen Global Warming Summit Walk-Out a Win for the U.S.?

Yes
No
Maybe/ Don't Know

Fervent. 1. Hot, burning, glowing, boiling. -- Oxford English Dictionary

WASHINGTON -- "Fervently" is how America will henceforth engage in talks on global warming. So said the president's climate change negotiator Sunday in Germany, at a U.N. conference on reducing carbon emissions. This vow was fervently applauded by conferees welcoming the end of what AP's news story called the Bush administration's "eight years of obdurate participation" in climate talks.

Reducing carbon emissions supposedly will reverse warming, if it resumes after the current period without warming, a period that began, according to statistics published by the World Meteorological Organization, 11 years ago. Regarding the reversing, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change has many ambitions, as outlined in a working group's 16-page "information note" to "facilitate discussions." For example:

"Tariffs can be lowered to grant special preference to climate-friendly goods, or they can be maintained at high levels to discourage trade in GHG (greenhouse gas)-intensive goods and services." The working group says protectionism "in the service of climate change objectives" might virtuously "shelter domestic producers of climate-friendly goods."

Furthermore, using "border carbon adjustment," a nation might virtuously "impose costs on imports equivalent to that (sic) faced by domestic producers" operating under a carbon tax. Or a nation with a cap-and-trade regime regulating carbon emissions by domestic manufacturers might require foreign manufacturers "to buy offsets at the border equal to that (sic) which the producer would have been forced to purchase had the good been produced domestically."

Cynics will see only potential for mischief by governments, including the U.S. government, using such measures to give a green patina to protectionism. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is having its own problems with one "climate-friendly good" that might not be. Last week The New York Times front page carried this headline: "The Bulb That Saved the Planet May Be a Little Less Than Billed."

The story recounted some Americans' misadventures with the new light bulbs that almost all Americans -- all but those who are filling their closets with supplies of today's incandescent bulbs -- will have to use after the phaseout of today's bulbs in 2014. (You missed that provision of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007?) Continued...

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About The Author

George F. Will is a 1976 Pulitzer Prize winner whose columns are syndicated in more than 400 magazines and newspapers worldwide.

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The nation's weather

A Picture Can Lie

Disclosure as liberal coercian

Earth's Next Last Chance

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leewolf Location: AZ

Reply # 1
Date: Apr 3, 2009 - 2:27 AM EST

WDC and the 50 Dwarfs

It is refreshing to see this subject talked about from something other than the good, the bad, or the ugly, referring to the science behind accepting CO2 as an atmospheric poison.
I can say this as I have written a few myself.

The whole premise of AGW rests on the idea that CO2 (Carbon Dioxide)is a miracle molecule that single handedly, and in micro-minuscule amounts can destroy the, planet earth's obviously precarious atmospheric temperature balance. After all it has only functioned within life sustaining limits for some 1 to 2 billion years. Obviously CO2 as a danger to mankind is sheer poppycock.

Man made CO2 and the concept of AGW aka Climate Change, the new ALGORE earth religion is, on the other hand, fully capable of creating a miracle of another sort. It can make a certain group of unscrupulous prevaricators (Politicians) obscenely rich while depleting the United States of Trillions of Dollars to finance a world (Globalist) fascist (Socialist) state.

It is more than a little encouraging that our Congress is feeling some serious heat from the people on this Cap and Trade thievery. I wish I could herald this as a reemergence of something even remotely resembling representative government. This will last until they can cook up some other scheme to extract those same trillions.

I have to wonder if it is not time for an "overhaul". Remove the current "engine", WDC and the 50 Dwarfs, and replace with a new model.

PC is Thought Control
LEE

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Dick Location: CA

Reply # 2
Date: Apr 3, 2009 - 1:20 AM EST

Dennis Prager, this poem's for you.

Heard on your radio show today a discussion on this column. As someone from your generation, thought you'd appreciate my "ODE TO GLOBAL WARMING": However has it come to pass// That 59 years I've managed to amass// For in every decade I've been told// I should not plan to ever get old// Life on earth it has been said to me// Is about to come to an end, you'll see// In the 60's Zero Population Growth said// From mass starvation we'd all be dead// In the 70's Newsweek told of sceintists with sage// Who were sure I was gonna freeze in an approaching ice age// Reagan's election brought warnings without compunction// Of my imminent vaporizing from Mutually Assured Destruction// Later, Jane Fonda warned no basement in my home// Would stop me from glowing in the coming China Syndrome// And I really took in much asprin from Bayer// When told of a hole in the ozone layer// Next it was to be more human caused bedlam// When the clock struck midnight on the new millenium// Now a new catastrophe-to-be is a forming// My life could be cut short by global warming// This is really more than I can take// 60 candles now banished from my next birthday cake// But wait, alas, things are becoming clear// If the soothsayers were right, why am I still here?// Endtimers thought warnings might spur a solutions inspirer// But they have a worse record than the physics in Enquirer// As highliving fearmongers tree planting "carbon offsets" take root// It's looking more like symbolism, do they really give a hoot?// I hold no grudge for my sensibilities made brittle// For maybe they were convinced just like Chicken Little// I now discount seriously the doomsdayers din// I feel so much better without all that spin// So when next the fanatics sound the alarm// Be thee skeptical it'll cause real harm// Don't panic for you have this poem with rhyme// Pause to remember and think a second time. Richard Lefevre, Tarzana, Ca

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