Global Warming is a Religion

As I have noted before, the blind fervor of global warming alarmists has all the characteristics of a religion. Now that observation has official government sanction in the UK.

A fired British executive is suing his former employer on the grounds that he was unfairly dismissed due to religious views – his belief in global warming.

As Marc Sheppard comments,

Greenies scoffed when Michael Crichton first called environmentalism “one of the most powerful religions in the Western World” over five years ago, insisting that “settled science” was on their side. Since then it’s become increasingly evident that alarmists’ warming beliefs are based not on reason or evidence, but a trusting acceptance in the absence of either.  They outright refuse to discuss it, debate it, or abide those daring to question it.

Fighting Climate Change is Easy – Trust Me!

Economist Robert Samuelson examines the models that underlie the claim that we can overcome the effects of  global warming at virtually no cost. (For example, he quotes the Environmental Defense Fund: “For about a dime a day (per person), we can solve climate change, invest in a clean energy future and save billions in imported oil.”). Such claims, Samuelson argues, are wildly — even dangerously — unrealistic.

The selling of the green economy involves much economic make-believe. Environmentalists not only maximize the dangers of global warming — from rising sea levels to advancing tropical diseases. They also minimize the costs of dealing with it.

Actually, no one involved in this debate really knows what the consequences or costs might be. All are inferred from models of uncertain reliability. Great schemes of economic and social engineering are proposed on shaky foundations of knowledge. Candor and common sense are in scarce supply.

Bell Labs Holmdel Facility

Last year I wrote about the sad fate of the former Bell Labs facility at Holmdel, and my personal experience with it. At that time, a developer had bought the property with the intention of converting it to a large residential, commercial, and retail complex.

I recently ran across this article in Preservation Magazine describing the battle that is currently being waged to save the site. The developer, Somerset Development, still wants to follow through on their original plan. However, the local civic leadership, fearful of the impact of such a mini-city on their quality of life, wants the entire structure to be razed.

The article includes a fascinating history of the building and the architect who designed it, Eero Saarinen.The article also recounts the memories of several former Bell Labs employees who once worked at the site, and still live in the area.

Ralph Zucker, the president of Somerset Development, says concerning the building,

We know this is too significant for Holmdel, for New Jersey—it’s a worldwide resource—it’s too important to get bogged down by political passions. When you come up here that’s when you know that you can’t let this thing be knocked down. It’s simply overpowering.

Wichita Tea Party

Below are a few of the pictures I took at the Tea Party in Wichita yesterday afternoon. Officials estimate about 1,000 people showed up, but I’m not sure how they could count them. There was a steady stream of people coming and going the whole time I was there.

The event was supposed to last from4:15 to 8:00 p.m. But by 6:00 most of the interesting speakers had finished, and the crowd was beginning to break up. That’s when I left, too.

It was encouraging to see that many people exercising their right to protest their government. Even so, I fear that unless the Tea Party movement can coalesce around a clearly articulated set of core beliefs — a platform, if you will — it will sputter and fade away. What I heard yesterday was just a bunch of anti-government whining. We need not merely to  complain, but to offer an alternative.

This shot gives a fair indication of the size of the crowd.

This gal was riding around the perimeter of the crowd shouting, "The taxes are coming! The taxes are coming!" Interesting, but I suspect she would have drawn more attention by doing a Lady Godiva re-enactment.

This sign captures the mood perfectly.

Notice the sign the dog is wearing. Maybe he should run for Congress -- he's certainly qualified.

This senior citizen had an eloquent way of expressing his frustration. Notice what he's wearing around his neck.

Senior citizens weren't the only ones complaining. This sign was a perfect melding of hip and history. But you have to think about it to get it.

Tea Time!

I hope to be at the Wichita Tea Party this afternoon. Organizers expect about 800 people to show up. I’ll bring a camera and post some photos.

Don’t Mess With Texas!

Gov. Rick Perry has come out in support of a House resolution affirming states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Says the guv:

I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state. That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.

If the Feds don’t heed the message, maybe Texas should become an independent republic again.

To the Rich: Leave While You Can

In view of the increasingly punitive tax policies of the new administration, Bill Whittle has advice for the rich in America: Leave the country.

Leave. Just go away. Retire to the Cayman Islands or Bermuda or wherever, but do it now, please, while you still have some love for this country. Close your companies, fire your employees, shutter your factories and offices, sell your property, and take all of that somewhere else… better yet: somewhere scenic but poverty-stricken. Somewhere that could use some wealth creation. Somewhere that people simply are grateful to have a job in the first place. Somewhere where you will be appreciated.

You are not welcome in America any more. Take your wealth and prosperity and inventiveness and hard work and vision and insight and bold risk-taking and joy in seeing growth and wealth creation and just go away – right now, before it’s too late.

The goose that lays the golden eggs is slowly being strangled. We will all pay a price for that stupidity some day.

Springtime in Kansas

Yesterday it was almost 80 degress with a hot south wind. This morning it was in the 30s and snowing.

More evidence of global warming cooling whatever.