http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/02/global_whining.html
February 16, 2007
Global Whining
Ari Kaufman
"We are at a tipping point. We must act, and act swiftly ... Such action
requires international cooperation. This was Al Gore on February 3rd,
gloating over the 46 nations--most of them European--that backed a new
French-led environmental body to save us from global warming. Did you
honestly think it was about combating terrorism? Unless stuck in a cave or
flying around in one of Laurie David's private planes the past few weeks,
one couldn't help but hear that "warming" is approaching us faster than
ever. We have now been blamed for creating it, and according to those who
attended that enthusiastic conference in Paris, it is "unstoppable." So, if
you were saving your alarmist concerns about the Jihad in Western Europe,
America, Israel or elsewhere, forget about it; Al Gore was right and you
were wrong. And soon he'll have the Nobel "Peace" Prize and Oscar to prove
it. From the AP and the BBC to Brian Williams and Energy Czaress Barbara
Boxer, Global Warming--along with Scooter Libby updates--is the intangible
enemy we must fear. He, she or it is the news that should matter to us, they
think. That established, as I look out my window in Indianapolis, I should
forget about the snow falling and tonight's temps being five below; that's
just a passing trend. After all, a friend recently e-mailed me an LA Times
article saying that we will have freezing winters before the real "climate
change" occurs that wipes out the world. Either way, the Ad Council and
others are pulling out all the stops right now, from movies and political
statements to children going "tick, tick" like a clock in an advertisement
for fightglobalwarming.com. Believe it or be accused of doubting science.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the end of the world some thousand
generations from now--a natural phenomenon that began in the Ice Age became
a clever political tool of the left to divide this country along the
electoral campaign trail these next 21 months. Whether it's Rolling Stone
lionizing Gore for becoming the first "environmental" candidate or
"grassroots" bloggers begging Uncle Al to get revenge for 2000 in 2008,
these publicity hounds forgot to check their common sense and their personal
lives first. Rises in temperature are natural over time, and there is no
qualitative evidence that the US has more culpability in this "disaster"
than other nations. In fact, despite being criticized for ignoring this
imminent threat, the Bush Administration should be commended for judiciously
not signing the Kyoto Protocol a few years back (or this most recent
effort), as these flawed documents fail to cover the world's biggest
polluters: China, India, Brazil and many others. And then there is the
hypocrisy. The most fervent critics of our policies are typically the folks
that are far too important to practice what they preach. "Enviros" like
Laurie David, Ted Kennedy and Babs will whine and kvetch until they can hate
America no more, yet ask them to close down the 12,000 square foot
air-conditioned barns at their Malibu estates or install
electricity-generating wind turbines along their sailing route on Nantucket
Sound and expect a tongue-lashing. John Edwards, the populist who
incessantly rants about "Two Americas" is having a 30,000 square foot house
built for him. Apparently, this is more of that do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do
liberal doublespeak that Michael Moore employs while he flies his jets to
the mansions he financed with Halliburton stock. If Americans paid more
attention to the personal duplicity of folks with purely ideological
agendas, we'd be better off. As it is, we're using our beautiful country's
natural atmosphere to be as divisive as we can and ignore the inherent
threat of terrorism that is as real as ever. But I'm sure that the
aforementioned millionaires have spent a lot of time researching this issue,
traveling to a dozen national parks in the past year and writing a book
about it (like I did) before spewing their balderdash. At least Gore did
some research. Then again, his documentary ends by filming Al jumping into
his private jet. I hope it uses "environmentally sensitive fuel," though.
In a June 2006 article, Dennis Prager wrote, "People who don't confront
the greatest evils will confront far lesser ones...One day, our
grandchildren may ask us what we did when Islamic fascism threatened the
free world. Some of us will say we were preoccupied with fighting that
threat wherever possible; others will be able to say they fought carbon
dioxide emissions. One of us will look bad." Perfectly put. Enough said.
Ari Kaufman works as a military history researcher and writer in
Indianapolis. He is the author of "Reclamation," an upcoming book on
educational reform. Access his archived work here.