Scientists with political agendas use apocalyptic predictions to justify increased government regulation, higher taxes, and redistribution of wealth

In response to James Hansen's New York Times op-ed, Game Over for the Climate, Erik Axelson writes that

James Hansen is at it again, flogging the dead horse of man-made climate change as a reason to keep Canada’s tar sands petroleum locked up forever. For the past 30 years, Dr. Hansen has issued ever more dire predictions of catastrophic climate change, while actual conditions have not borne out his doomsday forecasts. If anything, as the climate stubbornly fails to conform to Dr. Hansen’s predictions, he becomes even more extreme in his outlook.

Dr. Hansen made a name for himself in the 1980s by warning that computer models predicted that increasing carbon dioxide levels would result in major global warming. In fact, since 1998, after a decade of temperature rise, average global temperatures have been stable or actually declined, according to several analyses. This unpredicted trend underscores the shortcomings of computer models.

Scientists with political agendas like Dr. Hansen use apocalyptic predictions to justify increased government regulation, higher taxes and redistribution of wealth. His latest polemic is no different and would result in major economic impacts on Canadian and American citizens, more government bureaucrats to restrict and regulate fossil fuel production, and reduced living standards.

One Way for Barack Obama to Replace Joe Biden as VP with Hillary Clinton

Instapundit says that since "Sarah Palin has told Obama he should dump Biden, that path [the one to replace Biden with Hillary Clinton] has pretty much been closed off"…

But, if Obama — or if his campaign — feels desperate enough, there is still a way to do so. Even though it won't fool many people, expect the MSM to run along with the narrative (although perhaps no longer with all that Jay Carney tries to pass along)…

The idea is not to dump Biden but to have him making, to all appearances, the decision to resign a few weeks down the road.

Here is how that scenario might work out:

• Joe Biden has been making gaffe after gaffe after gaffe.

• Needing to look strong and loyal, Barack Obama praises his vice-president and vows to keep him on the ticket.

• A few days, or a few weeks from now, Biden decides that he has to resign, probably due to health reasons. (Of course, were he to have a heart attack, real or feigned, it would be even better.) Alternatively, the decision could be made not by the White House, but by delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Virginia in North Carolina. In any case, officially, Obama's honor has been saved.

• Obama now needs another vice-presidential candidate, so he looks for someone to replace Joe, quickly. Et voilà, Hillary Rodham Clinton joins the ticket.

It ain't easy to see it happening, of course, but it's hardly beyond the possible… And, with this White House…

In any case, credit Sarah Palin (remember the clueless, unintelligent broad of 2008?) for foresight and for a preemptive strike… (Well, count the post you are currently reading as another preemptive strike…)

• Update: Come to think of it, perhaps the very reason that Biden made the North Carolina gaffe in Virginia is that he had the Democratic National Convention in mind…

Tanking Humanity Every other Generation

It’s just what they do.

European banks had bad loans on their books worth the hardly imaginable sum of €1,050 billion by the end of 2011, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) calculations presented in Frankfurt on Wednesday showed. Liabilities not repaid on time was almost nine percent larger than in 2010, PwC said.

But of course: For the Left, Leftists Are in Fact "Centrists"

Rendue à une majorité de cinq contre quatre — sur neuf membres —, sa décision [celle de la Cour suprême] de jeudi [28 juin] va peser lourd sur l'élection du mardi 6 novembre. Elle renforce les chances de réélection de Barack Obama face à son adversaire républicain, Mitt Romney. Le vote décisif a été celui du président de la Cour, le juge John Roberts, un ultraconservateur qui a, cette fois, joint sa voix aux quatre centristes de l'institution.

Where else but in a Le Monde editorial (from June) would the U.S. Supreme Court's four far-left judges ("Steve Breyer, Ruth Ginsburg et les deux plus récentes arrivées, nommées par Obama, Elena Kagan et Sonia Sotomayor") be described — be praised — as "centrists"? While any rightist judge would — but of course — become an "ultra" conservative… And meanwhile, we learn that "the former centrist Mitt Romney has reneged on all of his convictions" in what Le Monde calls "an abyss of cynicism."

Cause and Effect Take a Holiday

Sufferning from Radio-philia as I do, I rather enjoy indulging in sources from around the world. One such among the many I listen to is Harvey Stockwin’s commentary on RTHK (Hong Kong).

Among his bravery in the modern age is being open about the things that the Beijing government should be less than proud of, and of this: a critique of the cult of victimhood in Japan over the dropping of the A-Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Quite simply, woiuld a land invasion or a blockade that would make the Japanese population submit under the force of starvation and disease? It doesn’t matter to the peace-clique, very few of who were actual victims, and virtually none of them willing to discuss the cruelty the Japanese practiced on civilians, war prisoners, and Japan’s wartime population themselves.

Morality is absent among virtually anyone who makes some abstract sketch of “peace” their life’s work, and morality’s long shadow is little more than a useful tool.

There Is "An Impression of Generalized Disorganization" in the French Army, Says Paris Report on Savings in the Armed Forces

There is "an impression of generalized disorganization" in the French Army, writes Le Monde on its front page, quoting a Senate report for the reform of the armed services.

The problem is not the quality of the fighting soldier, but the politicians who have tried to make saving by instituting reforms throughout the service, with Nathalie Guibert giving a handful of examples of ludicrous changes.

For the Army, it [the reform] was a cultural shock, because it marked the end of the age-old rule, "one commander, one mission, and lots of means."

Plantu weighs in with the French army forced to jettison 7200 jobs


• You'd think we were at the Peugeot automaker!

Today is the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe

Spare a moment’s thought to the life and trials of St. Maximilian Kolbe who died at Auschwitz. Ten men were to be put to death as a result of a prisoner’s escape. He spared another man’s life by taking the place of another in that reprisal.

"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

- John, 15:13

Lack of Decisive Action from Washington: The Real Reason Why the Europeans Love Barack Obama

[During] the last four years of trans-Atlantic relations, [the] American president laid off making any big demands on the Europeans. The Europeans, in turn, continued hoping to see the multilateral fountain of reason they like to think inhabits Obama.

All in all, that’s a largely passive relationship.

Thus writes John Vinocur, the most conservative commentator working for the New York Times.

A dissonant theme from the American presidential campaign takes over at this point. It has come in the form of remarks from Obama about “headwinds” from Europe’s financial crisis endangering America’s recovery.

By way of emphasis, he sent the U.S. Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, to a North Sea island to tell the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble — and then the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi — that Europe has “to do some more things” to push growth “in the near term.” The president’s catchphrase for that is “decisive action.”

Boom, pfft, cymbal clash: …

The reaction from major voices in Germany, overseer of Europe’s austerity regimen, to the Obama administration’s perceived hectoring was harsh and bitter in a way that made criticism of Mitt Romney’s remarks in London about the “disconcerting” level of preparations for the Olympics seem frivolous.

Yet a massive irony intrudes here. On different scales, both Obama and Romney are clearly right.

… With a very good argument in the president’s hand — move decisively now, or watch the markets tear the European Union apart (with America’s unemployment rate and Obama’s re-election in the balance) — he chose to avoid singling Germany out, and instead put the problem on the back of the “Europeans.”

Obama and Geithner not naming names in any of their statements looked pretty much like leading from behind.

… The United States ought to have fit in here — even with its decreased leverage and insufficiently explicit discussion of Germany’s role — at a moment when American trans-Atlantic concerns and recommendations, like Europe lowering its interest rates, are justified and reasonable.

In fact, considerable disregard has developed in relation to the Obama administration’s capacity to persuade, dissuade, or create either serious confidence or discomfort in Europe.

In respect to Germany, there’s not much reason for it to react otherwise.

Berlin knows after four years of experience that it won’t confront anything like “decisive action” from Washington that might make it less comfortable doing what it pleases. Example: The German decision, alongside Russia and China, to abstain from approving U.N. intervention in Libya was followed four months later by Obama’s presentation to Merkel of the Medal of Freedom.

A Status Report from Socially Managed Paradise

Waifish, helpless “Youts” who just can’t help themselves are rioting in Amiens over a traffic stop. Apparently this justifies
trashing public goods such a kindergarten “for the people”.

A leisure centre, school and cars were burned overnight on Monday amid the unrest in the rundown district of Amiens, reports said.

The clashes are believed to have started at about 21:00 (19:00 GMT), ending at about 04:00 once police reinforcements arrived. Up to 150 police are said to have used tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the violence.

Authorities have brought in 550 riot cops. 16 police officers have also been injured in this outburst of youthful enthusiasm.

It’s also been reported that police have been fired upon.

The Real Rebels

¡No Pasarán!

Paul Ryan Dissed for Lack of Foreign Policy Know-How; Obama Praised for "Learning what he knows in the Oval Office"

So Emily Bazelon dismisses Paul Ryan with the fact (among others) that the Wisconsin Republican "has no foreign policy experience" (thanks to Instapundit).

Of course, this is the kind of thing that Barack Obama routinely receives praise for. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, the New York Times was waxing lyrical about the Apologizer-in-Chief for this very feature (or lack of one).

Writes Leslie Gelb in his NYT book review of the James Mann book, The Obamians:

The creator and commander of this diverse team is, of course, Obama himself. And I would go further than Mann and argue that he oversees one of the most centralized foreign policy operations in history — based principally on his brain power and intellectual self-confidence, not on knowledge or experience. Indeed, Obama was much more of a foreign policy tabula rasa than any of his subordinates. Sure, he briefly sat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But essentially he has learned what he knows in the Oval Office.

Barack Obama "has learned what he knows in the Oval Office" lionizes Leslie Gelb with obvious awe for the One's (unquestioned) "brain power and intellectual self-confidence" forming the basis of a foreign policy second to none.

But of course, Paul Ryan (thanks to Duncan for the House Budget Committee Chair's Chicago Club speech) has little to no brain power — as we learn from leftists' (incredibly well-thought-out) tweets — if indeed his skull contains a brain at all.

So, just in case the rule isn't clear yet, here it is:
• when a Democrat has no foreign policy experience,
it is an undisputed asset;
• when a Republican has no foreign policy experience,
it is an unqualified liability.

More generally, the more basic rule is that:
• whatever a Democrat has or does not have (foreign policy experience, his or her length of service in the political world, practical knowledge of the business world, an account of his or her youth and background, etc etc etc) is an asset;
• whatever a Republican has or does not have (idem) is a liability…

Update: See a 2008 campaign example comparing
Barack Obama with Sarah Palin:

Whatever the alleged lack of experience that the Republicans' choice for vice-president may have, it can hardly be greater than that of the Democrats' choice for chief executive — a man with only two years in the national legislature.

Update 2 — More from the New York Times: Obama Lionized by the NYT for "Cutting Generals Entirely Out" of Afghanistan Strategy-Making