This isn’t a new XKCD, but I hadn’t seen it before.
Category Archives: Science And Society
Another Bad Day For The Church Of AGW
Some more thoughts on those cosmic-ray studies. It is an interesting theory, and as he notes, it does have more explanatory power. However (as with the greenhouse theory) the science is far from “settled,” and will likely remain so for years.
You Can’t Pray In Public Schools
…but you can ostracize kids because they don’t adhere to the sacred rituals of the green religion:
“Ziplocs are the biggest misstep,” said Julie Corbett, a mother in Oakland, Calif., whose two girls attend a school with an eco-friendly lunch policy. In school years past, she said, many a morning came unhinged when the girls were sent to school with disposable sandwich bags.
“That’s when the kids have meltdowns, because they don’t want to be shamed at school,” Ms. Corbett said. “It’s a big deal.”
Someone should bring a First-Amendment suit.
The “Green Jobs” Scam
Even the left-most Democrats are noticing what a fraud it was. That’s what happens when you base spending on religious beliefs instead of sound engineering, economics and business practices. Not to mention having it filtered through corrupt government agencies.
Better Early Than Never
The Times couldn’t even wait until the storm was over:
The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?
And the old answer is, as always…no.
But you can predict warm-monger propaganda like this every time the ocean spins up.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Of course, as Andy McCarthy notes, it might be easier to find a convincing answer to that question if the University of Virginia would stop trying to hide the ball. Speaking of which, no Phil, Climaquiddick was not “manufactured,” the case is not “closed,” and Michael Mann has not been exonerated. That whitewash will not end this.
Skeptical About AGW?
Well, obviously, you’re a racist.
Still Bad
…but Irene may not be as catastrophic as it appeared yesterday. It looks to me like the most likely major consequence, beyond flooding, will be a lot of power outage. Regardless, you should always be prepared. As Frank J says, it’s a hurricane, not a procrastinate-cane.
[Update a while later]
If you want to support relief efforts, both in the Bahamas and (next week) on the east coast, this is probably a good organization.
More Green Madness
The greens lobbying President Obama to block the pipeline are asking him to forgo thousands of jobs (in an election year in which jobs will could well be the major issue!) and billions of dollars in economic advantages — not to save the planet or reduce the carbon in the atmosphere, but to confer an economic and political advantage on China. If President Obama takes the green advice, the US will get almost all of the disadvantages that come from using the oil ourselves, and lose out many of the benefits.
There’s another factor that has to be weighed. Getting secure oil sources for the United States isn’t just a matter of convenience; reducing US exposure to foreign blackmail, and reducing our need to consider military interventions and other actions to protect our energy supply helps make war less likely — and allows us, all things being equal, to get along with somewhat smaller armed forces than would otherwise be required.
More, forcing China to look to less stable places than Canada for its oil transfers some of the costs of global energy security to the Chinese, and also helps tie them into the development of a rule driven global system. If the US oil supply comes largely from friendly neighbors, while China (and other US competitors) must rely on unstable, far flung sources, we are going to have more flexibility in our foreign policy and China will have so many fish to fry and cats to herd that it will be less likely to think about mounting a global challenge to the US.
Don’t expect the enviroloons to think rationally about this. We should prefer ethical oil over conflict oil. Of course, in their unrealistic fantasies, we would use no oil at all, and just power everything with windmills (ignoring the bird kill) and unicorn flatulence.
[Update a while later]
Speaking of green madness (and now anger) it looks like climate models will have to be revised. Damn those extraterrestrial causes! Can’t you just leave us green Ptolemaians alone?
The Sterility Of “Liberal” Thought
The contradictions of environmentalists:
…the fact that the morality of having children is subject to debate in respectable liberal circles speaks volumes about just how unhinged modern progressives have become from the ordinary aspirations of ordinary people.
There’s nothing liberal about these misanthropes.
Batten Down The Hatches, East Coast
Irene could be worse than Katrina, in terms of total property damage, and even in terms of loss of life, if people don’t prepare and evacuate. I don’t live in hurricane country, any more, though we still have a house there, but as I always noted when I went through this, the most annoying thing about hurricanes is that you have warning of them, and have to prepare, even if in the end it turns out to be a false alarm. I sort of dread the day they start to think they can predict earthquakes, because unless it’s better than they do with hurricane location and intensity, it’s going to result in a lot of lost productivity in earthquake country. Nonetheless, be prepared, and be careful out there.