The American Spectator : What a Piece of Work

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What a Piece of Work

By Ben Stein on 12.15.09 @ 6:08AM

Turning the heat on Copenhagen and the EPA.

“What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!…In apprehension how like a god…” so said the Bard, and of course, he was right. Man’s capacities, for good and evil, are stupefying. In science, in language, in war, in healing, how miraculous are man’s achievements.

And yet, so much eludes us and how tiny we are compared with our challenges. Disease strikes us down in our prime. We age and grow weak and then pass away, often cruelly. We make war upon our own kind and kill largely for sport. We cannot control the tides or the sun or man’s theft from man.

But we try to rise above our puniness compared with our problems and pretend that we have solutions and explanations that will take away much of the mystery of life and history and make everything clear. We create models that we think make us appear to be gods.

Karl Marx invented such a model that purported to explain all of history. It was a cruel sham and an excuse for the most breathtaking cruelty in the history of the human race. Now largely abandoned, except on the campuses of universities, it promised salvation and delivered death and suffering.

Adolf Hitler, borrowing largely from the vicious racist doctrines of the superiority of the Nordic races, promised a beautiful super race and a super future. He delivered mass murder and war.

Yet man still tries to come up with a theory to explain everything and then to use that theory to control his fellow man, always in the presumed wish to save the white race or the working class or someone or something.

The model we have now in this long and sordid catalogue is about climate. Based upon a great deal of data, many scientists have come up with a theory that human activity is wrecking the climate of the planet and that if the wise, good people are not allowed to compel the stupid, evil people to change their ways drastically, terrible things will happen. Unless some men can make the other men burn less oil, burn less coal, drive smaller cars, not heat or cool their abodes as much, stop growing so much beef and pork and chicken, stop exhaling so much carbon dioxide, the world will end badly.

I do not pretend to be a climatologist. I do claim to follow the subject and it has been clear for years that there is major controversy about whether global warming is really happening in a long-term way. Data suggest (not prove, suggest) that the earth was warmer hundreds and even thousands of years ago than it is now. There is some evidence that the earth reached a high point in temperature in 1998, and then fell, with a rebound just in the last year.

There has also been controversy about whether whatever climate change is occurring is anthropogenic (or of a scale to make much difference about most facets of life). There are terribly smart scientists in the field who say the effects are caused by solar activity or oceanic actions or something else they cannot explain.

In other words, the results of burning carbon are in doubt and the causes are in dispute. The recent publication of hacked e-mails among global warming advocates showing a clear effort to obscure the truth was a stunner to some, but not to those who knew there was a major controversy about this all along.

In this case, what on earth are we doing seeking to drastically change man’s activities on the planet in this quixotic campaign? Why are we seeking to turn industry upside down in the cause of something that may not even be real?

Maybe because the real goal of the climate change elites is not to save anyone from anything but to have as much social control as possible. Just as the real goal of Marxism was to elevate the power of the Marxists, possibly the real goal of climate change champions is to elevate their status in the world.

Karl Marx was a demon sent from hell, but he said a mouthful when he said that “all history is the history of class struggle.” Maybe what we are seeing now is class struggle between the academics and bureaucrats and the businesspeople and oil people and utility people. Maybe that’s what this recent tomfool notion of declaring CO2, a life-giving gas, a dangerous pollutant is. If the government can have a right to control CO2 emissions, it can control every aspect of life everywhere. This is a recipe for blowing up the Constitution. In the name of a goal which may be unrelated to carbon dioxide emissions, which may not even be a real target, which may be a wholly specious goal, we are considering giving government control over our lives beyond what would have been considered conceivable just a few months ago.

Surely this breathtaking assault on freedom merits absolutely total certainty by everyone with a microscope that we will all die very soon from carbon dioxide emissions if we do NOT take away freedom. To allow the government this kind of control over our lives, climate change should be an imminent, life and death issue understood as such by everyone. It should not have to be protected from inquiry and truth seekers as it obviously has been judging from the hacked East Anglia e-mails. The Constitution is far more important, human freedom is far more important, than bowing down to the climate change gods with their smoke and mirrors.

We are living in frightening times, and the ones who are the most frightening among us are, as usual, the ones pretending to save us.

topics:
Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change, Copenhagen

About the Author

Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (191) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

CB| 12.15.09 @ 7:12AM

As usual, another fine common sense article by Mr. Stein. Why is there no one in Washington who can enlighten the public for something that is so obviously insane? The air we exhale is going to kill us all? Good grief....

Michael S. Williams| 12.15.09 @ 1:28PM

CB,
Because this is the marxists best opportunity to seize power from the largest free place on Earth. They can then control us. That is why they are doing this in spite of the facts.

shrummer| 12.15.09 @ 4:27PM

Over 38,000 scientists disagree (in writing) with the less than 100 who were involved with the UN committee report. I would say that SOME controversy exists regarding the finality of climate change research.

Danram| 12.15.09 @ 6:06PM

You are 100% right, shrummer. The science is nowhere near "settled" and it never has been, despite what Al Gore and his disciples in the mainstream media keep telling us.

kurt| 12.16.09 @ 9:34AM

Ben for President. No kidding he is the Anti -Obama
Obama is a tall dark handsome, hip, stuffed suit, filled only with loopy idealism and a crazy thin resume. He isn't crazy about America.
Ben is not tall ,kinda pale, plays the square in movies,and surprisingly is a really erudite observer of Democrat folly and the human condition.Ben has real affection for the good nature of the American people.Why else would we elect a guy like Obama past?
Ben is like Yoda.
Ben is like the uncle you go to when you need trusted advice.
Everyone has fallen for someone like Barak either in Love or in Politics. Sooner or later people usually have a Peggy Lee moment, "Is that all there is?" and they move on, all the wiser with a new respect for substance over style.
By 2012 Ben Stein might be the type of "hip and handsome" President we want.

Pat McCoy| 12.15.09 @ 8:19AM

It's really not the air we exhale. It's the emissions from coal-fired power plants and automobiles choking major urban areas world-wide with smog that obscures the sun and causes lead-poisoning, cancer and other diseases. Reasonable people can disagree over what we should do about carbon emissions, but no reasonable person can suggest that it hasn't risen dramatically, or that the overwhelming majority of scientists who work in climatology don't believe-without the insidious political agenda that Mr. Stein is so paranoid about-that human activity is likely contributing to it. People write about previous periods of geologic history and global warming as if billions of persons were at that time living on coastlines that would be inundated even by modest sea rises, or as if they had the capacity to foresee climate change and the wisdom not to overreact.

Why do we live in a culture in which political challenges inevitably result in the trashing of those who disagree with us by the punditocracy? That Mr. Stein, who appears to be doing quite well as a corporate advertising representative, should refer to anyone else as an elitest is surreal.

Marc Jeric| 12.15.09 @ 9:02AM

31,478 independent US scientists say that there is no human-caused global warming. This number includes 9,029 scientists with PhD degrees. They all signed the Global Warming Petition Project - see Internet.

reader| 12.15.09 @ 9:20AM

"That Mr. Stein, who appears to be doing quite well as a corporate advertising representative, should refer to anyone else as an elitest is surreal."

I also fear a country that reviles "academic elites." Last time, I checked -- having academic degrees and contributing to the well-being and productivity of this country were positive things.

To characterize scientists as evil elites (who are mostly motived by scientific discovery), while treating businessmen (who are mostly motivated by money) as representatives of the people, is astounding.

Otis, my man!| 12.15.09 @ 9:54AM

Dear Reader,

You need to read more at this website. You might learn something.

So I'll explain to you this once that Conservatives use the term "elitist" to describe any person who thinks they know better than you do. "Elitism" has nothing to with class standing. It has to do with compelling others to do as we say, not as we do.

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 6:44PM

Or as Thomas Sowell called them "The Annointed" Self-annointed that is.

mark| 12.15.09 @ 11:58AM

As far as businessmen vs. scientists and their motiviations. I will need cede a spec of moral authority to the scientists. At a personal level scientists are motivated by credit, professional recognition, and getting their next grant.
Businessmen gravitate to the most compensation surely. But tactically they have customers to satisfy, customers who will only willingly spend money if value is provided. It's competitive, and the only effective way to progress for all concerned. How many academics, scientists and journalists have you met who are resentful that their superior minds are not compensated as well as these base, ammoral businessmen? It's a delusion and fundamentally wrong in the main.

Terry| 12.15.09 @ 2:50PM

Mark,

I am a scientist, and I can tell you most of the scientists I know are resentful that their superior minds are not compensated as well as these "base, ammoral businessmen". Many lie, cheat, and do many unscrupulous things to get ahead. I have suffered for not sacrificing my values like many of my colleagues. So believe me when I tell you that climate scientists have many reasons to lie and try to get ahead with falsehoods.

pomdter| 12.15.09 @ 3:00PM

If you haven't noticed - "businessmen" are pushing the global warming hoax harder then the profiteering scientists. JP Morgan /GS are pushing for carbon trading profits, and it was GE that pushed tru the ban on lightbulb (fluorescent's are much more profitable), and the sell wind turbines.

JB98| 12.15.09 @ 3:33PM

An academic elite is not the same thing as someone who has academic credentials. The CRU emails demonstrate the way an elitist thinks. "I know better than anyone so why bother having a discussion with people who disagree? We'll just label them as stupid and choose to believe what we believe." Elites are those who feel they have a calling to use their intellectual prowess to save the people of the world from themselves. True academics would use their intellect to try to educate people rather than hide facts.

Scientists are motivated by scientific discovery? That's a pretty general statement. There are other motivations that scientists can have which can lead to poor behavior. They have reputations to defend. If, for example, a scientist is the first to proclaim that man is indeed responsible for changing the climate, he will focus all of his attention to making sure that people know he's right. This may even mean having to fudge the numbers.

Michael Williams| 12.15.09 @ 5:00PM

Scientists stand to gain millions in grants from so-called studies supporting humans cause global warning. So your foolish if you think their motives are oh so moralistic. Just remember you have the freedom of choice whether or not to buy a product from a business. When government regulates the air we breathe, you have no choice and you lose your freedom.

seriously| 12.22.09 @ 3:45AM

You talk as if its evil to want to accumulate wealth. Do you not seek this in your own life? Do you not work and save and get things you want?

People sure do love to demonize. The argument wasnt that "having academic degrees and contributing to the well-being and productivity of this country" were not positive. The shady power grab of academia was called into question. Fact is you cant legislate against theory. And why govern globally? That just opens a door nobody wants to go through.

Cogs| 12.15.09 @ 9:37AM

Um, coal fired plants have scrubbers, the “smoke” you always, always see in eco-nuts photos is steam from cooling towers. Unless you guys have decided that steam is a pollutant too.

charlie| 12.15.09 @ 10:58AM

steam is water and water vapor is the main greenhouse gas!!! Of course steam is a pollutant.

Oh Really?| 12.15.09 @ 11:29AM

Doesn't that make clouds a pollutant? Clouds are composed of water vapor. Consequently, rain would be a bad thing as well.

Jeff| 12.15.09 @ 2:18PM

I hear a lot about hydrogen cars being the answer to our problems.
Don't hydrogen powered cars give off......water vapor?
Seems the climate nuts are a house divided.

ncatty| 12.15.09 @ 9:40AM

Mr. McCoy, what is the target climate you are aiming for? Europe in 1100 ad? Greenland in 1800 ad? There is no point in trying to adjust the climate until there is consensus on the ideal climate. So what is it?

John Edwards| 12.15.09 @ 9:48AM

A reasonable person like yourself should also recognize that Al Gore is "doing quite well", with his two companies tailor made to profit from Climate Hysteria. You should also be reasonable enough to admit that declaring CO2 a 'pollutant' is absurd.

Ken (Old Texican| 12.15.09 @ 9:51AM

Pat,
A well thought out comment…
Except your premises are all left hanging. Screw the pundits for a moment! Many equally qualified scientists have doubted “man Made” global warming since the whole thing came up after the “cooling scare” in the 1970s.
I have employed a number of “pure scientists” over the years. I watched with fascination how carefully they documented their observations with copious notes…and questions. Heh! They were always…always..... eager to show me their work product and notes.
Why haven’t the so called “climate consensus” guys delightedly turned over their notes and observations for a possibly well earned “attaboy” from we the public?
Nope! They have obviously decided to do a “cram-down” Why?

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 10:46AM

Ken, it's a simple answer. Follow the money. The funding comes to those who adhere to the Faith of impending catastrophe. Plan a scientific study of any popular Lrftist/statist issue and the dollars flow. A study of free markets, forget it. Those in academia know where the bread is buttered. Heaven forbid they find out some truth that belies the Faith.

dukas | 12.15.09 @ 9:55AM

This canard that we should save the ‘world-wide’ from smog that obscures the sun and causes lead-poisoning cancer and other diseases certainly is not the case in New York City. Every morning brings fresh wind down the Hudson, that clears the air from the day before. L.A.’s problem has more to do with its location in relationship to the mountains. Instead of blaming carbon it is just as easy to say, location is the culprit.

JB98| 12.15.09 @ 5:16PM

Have you been to Philadelphia? Maybe that's where New York's stink goes. ;-)

I'm surprised that the people who are concerned with overpopulation are also concerned with keeping everyone healthy.

Ninth| 12.15.09 @ 10:08AM

Carbon Dioxide doesn't cause Smog; it doesn't cause lead-poisoning (duh); it doesn't cause cancer, and it doesn't cause any other diseases.

Danram| 12.15.09 @ 6:17PM

Quite correct. In fact, CO2 is food for anything on the planet that contains chlorophyl, which is just about everything at the bottom of the food chain, including plants and algae. Without CO2, life as we know it on Planet Earth would not exist.

Stuart (Austin, TX)| 12.15.09 @ 10:23AM

The reason for Ben Stein's concern is based are these: In history, there undeniably are cycles that one must be constantly aware of lest one lose perspective. In human pursuits, there is an eternal struggle for acquisition, preservation and enhancement of power. It exists on a personal level and on a civilizational level. THAT is what is driving this religious fervor about global-warming (or is it now called "climate-change," since the warming has stopped?) One can, and usually does, favor a cleaner environment and responsible stewardship without pressing the point to absurdity like economic devolution that would bring dire calamity to huge numbers of people. It's the same as any other kind of half-baked extremist ideology. That's what Mr. Stein was warning about, and rightly so.

Carpenter| 12.15.09 @ 12:16PM

How does making some part of a living as a face for advertising disqualify Mr Stein's views?

Sean Smith| 12.15.09 @ 12:51PM

Define "dramatically." If something goes from being 1% of the atmosphere to 2%, that's a 100% increase. Still, how "dramatic" is that? Carbon dioxide remains a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the percentage contributed by humans--even accounting for the dramatic increase in that percentage brought on by industrialization--is still only a trace of that trace. It's not enough to make a difference.

Allen G| 12.15.09 @ 1:31PM

Other than scope, what's the difference between what I breathe and what is produced by cars or factories, or whatever?

You see, once the Government has ursurped (sp?) the power to regulate CO2 emissions, they have the power to regulate ALL CO2 emissions, regardless of source and regardless its impact on any individual.

The point of Mr. Stein's piece, as I read it, is that it's increadibly dangerous for any government to have power that wide ranging- whatever their current motivations, some day someone will come and use that power for evil. It's a fact of life.

JMart| 12.15.09 @ 3:34PM

Your mention of sea level rise is interesting, and instructive. Current projections call for sea levels to rise something on the order of a foot and a half this century - these are the UN projections, not those of the skeptics. Interestingly, this is roughly the same rise seen over the last century. You can search far and wide, and not find evidence that this was a huge crisis at all, or even much recognition that it was happening. We coped with it, the world coped with it. Whether man-made or not, the changes projected by even the "warmist" scientists are simply not significant enough to justify the massive attack on the world economy that is being pushed as the only solution.

mike| 12.15.09 @ 3:41PM

4% of CO2 is fm coal, oil, or other "non-natural" sources, 96% is from natural sources i.e animal, and insect respiration..most from termites actually.. if man decreases emission to 0% that is only a 4% reduction!! 1 billion people BREATHING ! emits more CO2 than all suvs, manufacturing, energy prdxn, etc ... Global "warming" is a sham that is really about a "social justice" agenda and rich countries giving poor countries aid.. on the table right now is a tax of 0.7-1% of gdp to goto the UN and then be redistributed ...

D.C. Goodman | 12.15.09 @ 4:27PM

Mr. Stein reminds us of the American Truths that transcend the heartbeat worship enthralling M. McCoy; Liberty and Self Determination. Life without them is mere heartbeats. Clearly, M. McCoy does not value Liberty nor Self Determination. That makes McCoy and the other warmers un-American.
A solution satisfying both sides of the argument consists of convincing all those believing in the evils of carbon dioxide to stop breathing out. Eventually the only people left would be those who don't believe in the myth in the first place.

Michael Williams| 12.15.09 @ 4:54PM

Pat,
"Over 38,000 scientists disagree (in writing) with the less than 100 who were involved with the UN committee report. I would say that SOME controversy exists regarding the finality of climate change research."
Patrick, why are you such a sheep? Don't you wish to keep your freedom? Or do you wish to continually have a marxist diaper changed to make you think you are taken care of. Stein is right. Whenever a small group of people (Gore and his ilk) spend their time trying to convince you they will bring heaven on Earth, they bring nothing but hell instead.

Danram| 12.15.09 @ 6:13PM

Pat, that is simply not true. There are many scientists who believe both that the planet is warming and that man's activites are a significant contributing factor. But there are just as many reputable scientists who either regard these claims as fallacious or that, at the minimum, have significant doubts. There is NO "overwhelming majority" of which you speak.

Wanna have a little fun while seeing just how small a part of the world's ecosystem man is? There are approximately 6.5 billion people in the world today. Let's assume that an area of 2 feet x 2 feet ... 4 square feet ... is, on average, enough room for each of these people to stand comfortably.

So, the question is: How big a space would be required to enclose every single human being on the face of the planet?

6,500,000,000 people multiplied by 4 square feet per person = 26,000,000,000 square feet needed in total.

The square root of 26,000,000,000 square feet is about 161,245 feet. That means that a square area with four of its sides equal to 161,245 feet will cover an area large enough for every single man, woman and child on the planet to fit inside it.

There are 5,280 feet in a mile. Dividing 161,245 by 5,280 equals 30.53 miles.

So, an square measuring just 30.53 miles by 30.53 miles would be big enough to hold the whole of humanity.

That's a little more than half the size of the state of Rhode Island. Take out a map or a globe and visualize just how small an area that is in the overall scheme of things ... and don't forget that about 2/3 of those people are producing virtually no carbon emissions whatsoever.

When you think about things in this way, you really start to appreciate just how utterly absurd all the panicked hyperbole coming out of the AGW camp really is.

Lloyd| 12.15.09 @ 7:33PM

Your comments are factually incorrect, so far as the West is concerned, by about 50 years. No major urban west of the Danube is being choked by any such emissions. Likewise, the remarks about soot and smog obscuring the sun are obviously rhetorical, since no such phenomena are observed ... well, apart from the Los Angeles Basin to be sure. Cancer-causing? No scientific epidemiological study establishes even a correlation let alone causation between anything in the air and cancer, apart from benzene and the long-term inhalation of blue asbestos dust.

Not even modest sea level increases are genuinely "likely" given the actual rate of increase in global temperatures over the last century. The data bases of the "Chicken-Little" school of climateology have been corrupted and their data is entirely unreliable. Do you read the news at all? Do you recall that, some thirty years ago, the catastrophe de jur was a new Ice Age? Population collapse with only 40 million surviving Americans by the year 2000? What happened to all that? It never happened. Just as this second attempt to use claims of impending climate disaster to justify making us the slaves of politicians is not happening. If all the Arctic ice cap were to melt, sea level would not rise one millimeter. How can I say that? Put an ice cube in a glass of water; mark the level. Wait for the ice cube to melt and see if the water level rose. It will not. Please try not to be more gullible than the good God made you.

Blue Eyed Indian| 12.15.09 @ 10:19PM

My suggestion to you Pat:
1) Move out of the smog.
2) Stop breathing.

Andrew Suprun| 12.16.09 @ 12:49PM

Huh? CO2 emissions cause smog, lead-poisoning and cancer? That's news to me.

Todd Self| 12.19.09 @ 7:06PM

Pat, I love when u guys bring up the people living near the coast as if one day they will wake up under water. Venice has been sinking for 500 years! People slowly over a hundred years MOVE AWAY FROM THE COAST and People like me, in the Texas hill country slowly have beachfront property! By the way contaminating particulates are pollution not CO2. I believe everyone wants cleaner air. but ask the plants if they want us to "Starve" them of CO2. P.S. CO2 causes greater plant growth, thus greater harvests!

Tully| 12.15.09 @ 8:23AM

***The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false front for the urge to rule it. -- H.L. Mencken***

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 10:47AM

"The issue is never the issue, the issue is control"

Thunderbottom| 12.15.09 @ 11:41AM

"Many great causes start as a movement, evolve into a business, and eventually wind up as a racket." I don't know who said this but I think that, with regard to the ecology movement, it is especially apt.

Curly Smith| 12.15.09 @ 2:06PM

That was Eric Hoffer in "Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements"

JohnD| 12.15.09 @ 11:51AM

A few other relevent Mencken quotes:

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."

"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup."

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."

H. L. Mencken

DeborahD| 12.15.09 @ 1:43PM

"Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so." Ronald Reagan

Jeff| 12.15.09 @ 2:40PM

I miss that guy.

Deborah D| 12.15.09 @ 1:54PM

"The American dream has an entirely different definition to Democrats and liberals than it does to you and me. Their American dream is the United States becoming a full-fledged socialist country." Rush Limbaugh

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 2:44PM

The Left Deborah, as you know, buys into the Marxist materialst view of equality. To them it is better that all are in want than that many advance and only a few remain "poor". That "poor " becomes a relative term in relation to the highest material standard of living in the world means nothing as it only reveals their hypocricy.

As long as they can make some believe that life is a zero sum game and that those in need are victims of the successful, they gain political power. It is that power which they seek.

Always good to hear from you.

scott| 12.15.09 @ 8:30AM

I'd add the disturbing observation that many liberals don't really actually care about the environment; they're in love with the idea of caring about the environment. It's similar to the ineffective Iraq War protests that reeked of such disingenuousness. It's the only way to explain their refusal to listen to opposing opinions, consequences or specifics whatsoever.

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 8:35AM

Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : What a Piece of Work [spectator.org] links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…jpfreire J.P. Freire amspec American Spectator 2 Show more Add Topsy to Your Blog Turn tweets into comments for your WordPress blog. Topsy Plugin – WordPress 2 tweet tweet The American Spectator : What a Piece of Work spectator.org/archives/2009/12/15/what-piece-of-work – view page – cached "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!…In apprehension how like a…

JamesJ| 12.15.09 @ 8:37AM

Thanks Pat, you proved Mr Stein's point

Marteen| 12.15.09 @ 8:43AM

@ Pat McCoy
It is most certainly about the air we exhale, witness the demands of a one child policy during Copenhagen by not only China, but the Optimum Population Trust, as well as the Financial Post of Canada, as the only real way to solve man-made climate change. That sounds to me like the most elemental way of controlling the "air we exhale".

The human desire to control and dominate people is a force I fear much more than your climate bogeymen.

Alphred| 12.15.09 @ 8:48AM

The 'climate science' is even worse than Ben describes. In case after case the 'scientists' are being shown to have fiddled the data. By arbitrarily lowering weather station temperatures prior to 1950 and ignoring the Urban Heat Effect, we frankly don't know if there has been any heating in the last century. That said, all objective evidence points to cooling in the past decade, despite the continuing increase in CO2 concentrations (they still lag H2O concentrations by two orders of magnitude!). If this cooling cycle continues, we would be fools to curb CO2 emissions, not because they would prevent cooling, but because we need them to perform their primary funtion: PLANT FOOD!

cooperscopy | 12.15.09 @ 8:52AM

Great column Ben Stein. Once again the true agenda is squeezed from the propaganda, and given the light of day. These climate hysterians are pushing a dangerous and deadly agenda that will hurt the poor the most, and reduce the living standard for all the world... All to gain significant power over our lives.. No Recession in Washington D.C...at...
http://cooperscopy.blogspot.com/

Melvin| 12.15.09 @ 9:07AM

...You mean purple unicorns... or the Earth Mother don't really exist?
Liberalism is just one big rendition of Avatar. It's all based on fantasy.

reader| 12.15.09 @ 9:13AM

Wow. Did Ben Stein really compare Hitler to current climate change advocates?

I have found that few arguments are won using Nazism as a comparison. They are nothing a like.

We cannot control "mans theft from man" ???
That, my friend, is called the Rule of Law-- which this country was founded upon. Common people united in a single vision of freedom and equality.

Cogs| 12.15.09 @ 9:38AM

Why is it that the left always gets incensed when the “Hitler” comparison is raised? I see this all-over comment boards. “The first one to bring-up Hitler loses”, is a common reply by a lefty. Why didn’t I hear that when GWB was in office? Maybe the left gets upset, as the comparison may be a bit closer to the truth than they want to admit.

Interested Conservative| 12.15.09 @ 9:42AM

I thought this country was founded by religious nuts with guns? I must have missed class when they discussed rule of law and single vision.

Gia| 12.15.09 @ 9:46AM

Reader:That, my friend, is called the Rule of Law-- which this country was founded upon. Common people united in a single vision of freedom and equality.

And what the CRU Warmists have done is commit fraud. I believe that is against the law.

hareynolds| 12.15.09 @ 1:16PM

Yup, and in the present-day version of National Socialism, General Electric will be playing the role of Krupp.

Sean Smith| 12.15.09 @ 6:04PM

Where the rubber meets the road, there's actually very little difference between the National SOCIALISM of the NAZI variety and every other iteration of the global socialist movement--including the most recent manifestation in the form of the Warm Mongers. They're all coercive, redistributionist, top-down tyrannies. The differences between them are more or less window dressing. Read The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek for far better insights than this humble observer could ever provide.

JC in DC| 12.15.09 @ 9:36AM

Mr Stein,

I think you have put your finger on the topic most in the minds of independents - how much government is too much government?

Well done.

Paul from Brooklyn| 12.15.09 @ 9:38AM

Ben Stein is right. Freedom loving people of the world (beginning with this country) should take heed. Beware of this movement. It is a sham.

Something else; I never thought I'd live to see the day when the Socialists would have such control over this country. Too much TV and fast food clouding the minds of the populace, I guess. Rise up, people. Take your coulntry BACK. VOTE in 2010. The Republicans have indeed sucked, but they're all we've got, at least for now. VOTE.

H. Evers| 12.15.09 @ 1:16PM

Paul et al,
Please remember that voting is just one part. Remember Goldwater in ’64 and Regan in ’76 to ’80. Remember them not for the loss or victory in their run for president; but rather, for their capture of the Republican party one precinct at a time. Each state has it own rules for how the parties choose their leadership. Use the rules and take back the Republican Party! Don’t just vote, act.

Trackback| 12.15.09 @ 10:09AM

Beware Those Trying to Save Us, on buzzflash.net, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!…In apprehension how like a god…" so said the Bard, and of course, he was right. Man's capacities, for good and evil, are stupefying. In science, in language, in war, in healing, how miraculous are man's achievements.

allan guida| 12.15.09 @ 10:11AM

Hi Everyone...Ben Stein is bright guy. But he likes to say things without supporting evidence. Is the melting of the polar ice caps an optical illusion? If Ben Stein thinks the scientists are incorrect, he should suggest that more scientific investigation is needed to try to figure out the real cause of global warming. The scientists could be wrong about the cause (human activity), but what if the scientists just happen to right? Simply rejecting their conclusions out of hand seems like a bad strategy. Why not tells us more about the methodology used by the scientists to make their case? Then he can criticize their methodology. That would be sensible. Unfortunately, I suspect his motives are more political than rational. Allan Guida

Carpenter| 12.15.09 @ 11:37AM

Is your question about melting polar ice caps merely a rhetorical flourish? In case it is not, maybe you should check the data, because there is no net melt after cyclic changes are deducted. Funny to see this canard used immediately after suggesting that Mr. Stein likes to say things without supporting evidence. So do you, Mr Guida.

hareynolds| 12.15.09 @ 1:23PM

Melting, Schmelting, Guida, you're just plain wrong. See ANY of chart at
http://arctic-roos.org/observations
Oh, sorry, am I making light of your poor SAT Math scores, especially the charts-and-graphs questions? Didn't mean to single you out like that.
Call me when Norwegians have returned to successful farming in Greenland.

Lloyd| 12.15.09 @ 7:38PM

Mr. Guida, you're absolutely right! My God, all that Arctic ice floating around on the water, why if it were to melt, it would raise the sea levels by ... wait a minute. It wouldn't raise the sea levels at all! But, never mind. The Anarctic cap, now that ice is in imminent danger, with the temperatures rising in the center and edge of the continent by 20 degrees ... oh, wait, that means instead of being minus 60, the ice is at minus 40 ... melting point is 0 ... wait a minute !.....

SteveC| 12.15.09 @ 10:27AM

The danger in the "theory" of anthropogenic global warming is there is no possible way to know that it exists. Even if we could all stop driving, eating, breathing and making stuff for a year, any resulting change in temperature may not be the result of our actions. Though, if the earth cooled just a fraction of a degree after this experiment, those who are zealots would say "see, I told you so!"

I'm guessing that the first time someone thought human sacrifice would bring rain, and they killed a few of their own, it rained. Eureka! Even when it didn't "work" in future sacrifices, that didn't deter them from their belief that the gods had to be appeased and human sacrifice was the only solution.

Now that we know that some in the academic community were only interested in achieving results that agreed with their theory and rejected those that didn't, what could any rational person now believe about this whole subject?

As a life-long environmentalist, I can tell you that nature changes and oft times man causes those changes. Formerly pristine treasures like Florida's Everglades have been forever damaged by over-development and the continuing draining of underground sources of fresh water to serve the growing population. Those facts are irrefutable and there is no "other" opinion.

However, climate change has been an historical fact for hundreds of millions of years. We now know there hasn't just been THE Ice Age, there have been many. Where I sit typing this comment used to be at the edge of a glacier one mile thick and in the timescale of the Earth, that was just last week. That glacier no longer exists, unless you count the Arctic pack ice. And that was just the last Ice Age. Others preceded it. What caused that ocscillation between extremes? Couldn't have been man because man wasn't here, only animals.

What's most troubling is science is always open to question, even the science that has been "proven beyond doubt." Einstein has been proven less than 100% correct in all his theories yet no one thinks less of him. And the scientific community welcomes those who can disprove age-old "truths." Religion, on the other hand, is not open to interpretation, nor is it open to doubt -- it "is", take it or leave it; no debate. Believe or don't believe.

So, therefore, I ask the simple question: Is anthropogenic global warming science or is it religion? For if it is science, the scientific community would not spend all its waking hours preventing opposite opinions from seeing light of day. If, however, it is a religion, then it's time to recognize it as such.

Pete| 12.15.09 @ 11:38AM

"I'm guessing that the first time someone thought human sacrifice would bring rain, and they killed a few of their own, it rained. Eureka! Even when it didn't "work" in future sacrifices, that didn't deter them from their belief that the gods had to be appeased and human sacrifice was the only solution."

Great stuff. And I am sure those who had the good fortune to suggest the well timed sacrifices gained great power, wealth and control over their fellow man. That is Ben's point here - that is what the Goracle and his followers are after.

I am curious if anyone else has noticed that these kooks are back to using the phrase "global warming" more than "climate change" again - old habit or deliberate shift in marketing tactics?

Edith Clara | 12.15.09 @ 3:10PM

Steve C , I absolutely loved your post. Until recently I, also, lived atop a large and well known ridge (in the greater Chicago area). This ridge resulted from the last ice age glacier activity and was once the shoreline of an ancient lake. (There is no lake water within several miles at this time.) That ridge is a living and constant reminder to me that much is beyond our control. Things change, continents rise and fall, and ice forms and melts all on their own eternal cycles.

At the same time, we need to be serious about the environment. Within the context of things we KNOW we can control--and using reason and balance-- we must continually strive to be worthy stewards of air and water and forests and agricultural soils.

SenatorMark4 | 12.15.09 @ 10:37AM

Allan Guida: You are typical of the people that believe the Constitution is a living breathing document. Some government sponsored hack scientist tries to scare you with a hypothesis, not a proof mind you, and you're prepared to give away your RIGHTs, given by God. Move on, man, there are any number of countries you could arrance to move to without suggesting we give up our rights without proof. If we continue to follow this road it will be bumpy and you best move out of our way!

PolishKnight| 12.15.09 @ 10:56AM

What's at stake for the left is that the next thing they have to do is drink cool aid, and they know it. They're put their ego's on stake as great holders of scientific truth AND caring about The Environment and using this to demand that everyone be forced to join into their cult.

Now that the sham has been exposed and the excitement cooling, literally, for a major tenet of their religion they face having to admit that ALL of their beliefs now have to be called into question. (Eeek! "Science" isn't about asking questions! It's about lecturing about Holy Truth!)

Doing so is far less painful than just swallowing the happy juice and getting a ticket on the comet. Smart leftists will just pretend they didn't take it too seriously in the first place while the more rabid believers will probably become suicidal. Really. There is nothing more depressing to them than hearing the sky is NOT falling!

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 12:08PM

PK,
Good to see you here. Hit the nail on the head with this one. It's all about Faith to them.

BTW wasn't it the Polish Knights who saved Vienna from the Turks?

PolishKnight| 12.15.09 @ 1:56PM

There's a wonderful film that can be enjoyed by non-Poles, "Colonel Wolodyjowski", that documents the period and puts into context what's at stake in modern times. If you enjoyed the Conan film series, you'll love this! (Apparently 17th century Polish women all had big blow dried hair, though)

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 11:01AM

American Experience: Kinsey (2005) : Sacred Clone links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

American Experience: Kinsey (2005) : Sacred Clone Home FAQ Relics Sacred Clone We are all exactly the same, only different. We are one. We are the only ones. You are one of a kind, just like everybody else. American Experience: Kinsey (2005) Posted on |…

NeilBJ| 12.15.09 @ 11:05AM

Ben Stein's thoughts uncannily reflect my own thoughts. I too am not a climate expert, but from what I have read so far I do accept the fact that the climate changes. I have read about the Medieval Warm Period when the Vikings settled Greenland and the longer growing seasons provided a greater abundance of food. It was said that the temperatures during this period were warmer than they are now.

The Medieval Warm Period was followed by the Little Ice Age, when the Thames River froze over. This period ended about 1850 and the climate has been warming ever since.

If these are the facts (and I hope I have recalled them correctly), it is obvious to me that cyclical climate change is a natural process.

To blame industrialization for the current warming period due to increased carbon dioxide emissions has come into question due to the revelations of Climategate. In fact many scientists have questioned anthropogenic global warming before Climategate, but they have been marginalized, or have not been allowed to speak. It is truly disheartening to read how agenda driven "scientists" have conspired to "hide the decline" (to put a simplistic label on the whole Climategate mess).

It is even more disheartening to read about those who in effect say, "So what? We all agree that the earth is warming and that man is the cause and therefore we need to vastly restructure society in order to avoid a disaster of cosmic proportions."

What any reasonable person would do in this case is not what I see happening. With many scientists prior to Climategate doubting anthropogenic global warming, and with the revelation that the data supporting AGW may have been "doctored", it is absolutely necessary that we review the data and make sure that our pending loss of freedom is based on solid scientific evidence.

Why is this not happening?

Green Adolf| 12.15.09 @ 11:32AM

If the true agenda of hard-core collectivist tyrants and their hangers-on masquerading as 'environmentalists' were widely known, it would be understood that it is fundamentally anti-human. Just like the murderous tyrannies of the recently passed century.
Environmentalists, not to be confused with conservationists, consider the existence of humanity to be the focus of evil in their ideology.
They are confident they have the science to predict climatological conditions 100 years from now. If these people get their way and trample all human freedom, especially in America, 100 years from now they will be hailing Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, et. al as some of the greatest heroes in the green revolution to save humanity.

I won Ben Stein's money| 12.15.09 @ 11:54AM

This is just another typical article with the basic talking points: those evil elites, destroying the constitution, comparing people to Hitler, Karl Marx is a demon from Hell, people are trying to take your freedom, and these are frightening times. Stein doesn't say anything remotely insightful. Same old, same old.

Don Henderson| 12.15.09 @ 11:58AM

Except he's right.

Green Adolf| 12.15.09 @ 12:29PM

Do you deny that those dictators did a bang-up job of getting rid of lots of life forms that did untold damage to the environment in their day? Think of the millions of gallons of gas not burned, the cars not driven, the children not born, the red meat not consumed, the trash not generated by all those people put to death. Yes, there was some temporary inconvenient pollution from burning all those bodies, but over all a big win for Our Mother, the Earth!
No matter the reasons why dictators like Adolf killed millions of people, you gotta admit that he did a lot of good, from a Green perspective.

Melvin | 12.15.09 @ 11:58AM

An excerpt taken from the Wall Street Journal. "The Chinese manufacturers can now make [solar panels] a lot cheaper than Europe, the United States and Japan because the whole supply chain is now available in China," says Martin Green, who runs the photovoltaic center at the University of South Wales in Australia, a training ground for many scientists working in China's solar industry. "The Chinese are making it more affordable, and they're more adventurous in introducing new technology as well."
The ability to manufacture cheaply is attracting the notice of U.S. utilities. Huaneng says it can make gasification equipment cheaper than foreign rivals."
Duke Energy Corp., of Charlotte, N.C., signed a pact with Huaneng in August to share information on clean-coal technology. Duke says it would take eight years to build an IGCC plant in the U.S. -- versus three in China."
What the hell is wrong with the above picture?
Not one utterance is written about the United States being on the forefront of this type of technology.
My God people, the Chinese were constructing runways for allied aircraft during WWII with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows.
Mao murdered the best and brightest that China had to offer all in the name of Communism and now look what has happened.
First I have to give the Chinese an atta Boy for giving us a resounding thumping economically. Love em, hate em they have beaten us. As much as I or any other American hate to admit it, the numbers speak for themselves.
We can go throw all the minutia of how they have cheap labor, unfair economic practices, but all those complaints are irrelevant now. Because we did not respond to their economic, and technological advances.
Has everyone noticed a Chinese studying habits. When American college students are slamming beer bongs and having wet t-shirt contests, the Chinese study, When Americans play their Xboxs, the Chinese study and engineer a better cheaper Xbox, and when the American students get indoctrinated with multiculturalism, the Chinese students does not pay attention, because to him or her there is only Chinese and one China and nothing else matters.
When and where did we get the hell of the damn boat? Even when we do have students that graduate in engineering, bio technology, and the like, where the hell do they go now? They go to China or Russia because the United States has been turned into a economic, and intellectual sewage pit and there is no longer any promise of prosperity because our government has deemed American prosperity as evil and should be destroyed. So our best and brightest now go overseas.
Odd isn't it, Communist prosperity is
good, American prosperity is bad.

Green Adolf| 12.15.09 @ 12:35PM

Not to mention, above all, American prosperity be racist!

Philosopher | 12.15.09 @ 12:52PM

And, so much for the mantra of the Obama administration that 'green' jobs can't be outsourced! What a farce.

Here's my related post on that topic: http://pracphilosblog.wordpres.....-to-china/

factis| 12.15.09 @ 12:06PM

Last time I checked, the weather was changing from what it is now into whatever it will be tomorrow. The one thing about the weather that never changes is that it always changes. These global-warming totalitarian Communist/Socialist jiveasses are real good at whippin' up a tempest in a teacup. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, then The New Ice Age, then the Population Bomb, and now this. Why can't these schmucks just shut up & leave people ALONE! Oh, I remember. Man-made crisis is the cottage industry of the racist Left. It's how they make their money and justify their wretched existence. Hey Leftists! Don't go away mad, just go away. Sheesh. Enough already.

SeattleMark952| 12.15.09 @ 12:13PM

Ben, as the Brits say, you are "spot on". You've provided an excellent "common man explanation" of what is happening. The key point to me is that climate change mantra is merely a ruse to shift money and power to the people running the con. This trick has been used by same people ever since they found that "protecting the spotted owl" excuse worked great for shutting down all sorts of things in Washington State.

CyKick| 12.15.09 @ 12:14PM

>>
What if there is global warming and it is NOT man-made?
Al Gore and his ilk are wasting time and energy chasing ghosts.

Franklin| 12.15.09 @ 12:18PM

I am an old tree hugger from way back. But climate hysterians have hijacked the environmentalist cause and made it their licence to claim the power to control all of mankinds behavior.

All I wanted was less polution and some green space here and there. This 'save the planet' is crap. The planet is stronger than we are and will be here after we are gone. It's happened so many times after each progressive civilization ends.

Climate hysterians just need to leave us alone.

Glenn P Morris| 12.15.09 @ 12:26PM

Folks - take off the window dressing and you will see that US Dollars will flow to the 3rd world as a result of this idiotic push for CO2 control.

That is what this is all about.

Another Redistribution of American Wealth.

The marxist Progressives in our Statist led Government act with impunity in their quest. What is their quest?

In Healthcare - why do they want control of our bodies and why do they wish to import policies demonstrated in other countries to be personally and financially destructive?

In Energy - why do they want control of carbon, a fundamental component of every compound in commerce including transpo fuel, electricity, food and all other consumer goods?

In National Security - why do they persistently attack to undermine Defense, Intelligence and Anti-Terror policy?

In Environmental Issues - why do they monetize and create legislation over every blade of grass, every cricket and every molecule of atmosphere?

In Government - why do they attempt to concentrate political and legislative power away from the individual and the community and toward the State and Federal Government, while growing government and its beauracracy to an unprecedented scale and size with reach into every corner of our person and communities.

In Spending / Deficit Creation - why are so many States in deep deficit, the Federal Govt in terminal velocity of spending with incalculable debt which is impossible to pay off?

In Justice - why the vigorous defense of the terrorists interred in Guantanamo, and the release of the photos of our military defenders and guardians to the terror networks in the on-going fight against the Jihadist's?

When you begin to answer these questions, you will be well on your way to the realization of the threat they are to our country, our culture, our survival going forward

Glenn P Morris| 12.15.09 @ 12:38PM

Green is the New Red.

When the Soviets and the rest of the marxist states fell, the Reds were looking for a new position after Communism, Marxism, Socialism, a new "ism" from which to assume their continuing quest for power and control.

They bagged the Green Movement about 20 years ago because it was so easy. The movement is populated by empty headed "idealists" who are what Stalin called "useful idiots" who would be the cannon fodder of the movement.

They are here on this board, spewing their talking points and factless rhetoric.

Most are displaced, disillusioned burnouts who hate society and see the human race as the "problem".

Just read their postings. They are easy to spot and even easier to counter. Just use facts, for they have none.

Tony in Central PA| 12.15.09 @ 12:44PM

The population control stuff coming up now at this conference is revealing. I'm sure we will begin to read enlightened, left - leaning opinions calling for the West to emulate China's " One Child Policy " replete with government - issued " birth permits ", forced abortions, etc. And why shouldn't the government be in charge of human procreation ?

Green Adolf| 12.15.09 @ 1:15PM

Yes, human procreation falls under the rubric of Health, which the government so desperately wants to bestow upon us, for our own "good", whether we are already covered without their "help", or not.
And since our bureaucrat masters will be paying the bills and making the decisions, it only naturally follows that allowing another carbon-consuming and spewing potentially racist American to be born will likely have a significant, and detrimental environmental impact.
Just think, the ladies can do all their one-stop shopping for pre-natal permission at Planned Parenthood. Fill out their Environmental Impact Statement, and if it's divined by a bureaucrat it's OK just this once, they won't have to have a Green Abortion.

Philosopher | 12.15.09 @ 12:46PM

Contrary to what the alarmists try to push in order to grab control of our society, the ClimateGate revelations clearly call into question the entire flawed theory of human-caused 'global warming.'
Here's another nail in the climate-scam coffin I came across posted on this topic:

http://pracphilosblog.wordpres.....-question/

Lobby your Congressmen to vote NO on any climate scam legislation and taxes!

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 1:01PM

American Fluorescent VRR232TRE8 Reed and Ribbon Vanity Light, Hand Applied Rust Finis links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…52Inch Sharp LC-52D62U 52-inch HD LCD TV | LCD Monitor Repair Related posts on American The American Spectator : The Life of California's Party The American Spectator : President Spock The American Spectator : What a Piece of Work Related posts on Applied Resicom » Blog Archive » Caulk it up to experience :: choosing the … Creating an interactive display for touch screen kiosk … Use Of Natural Characters…

Jacob Morgan| 12.15.09 @ 1:21PM

It occured to me the other day that if too many cows are bad for environment, then too many buffalo must have been bad too.

Maybe Hollywood could make a movie about the heroic buffalo hunders wiping out vast herds of farting buffalo. Ben Sein could be the rich guy financing the operation and Tom Selleck could be the main sharp shooter. There has to be a bad guy though...

David| 12.15.09 @ 1:41PM

Mr. Stein's basic point about the climate change movement posing a threat to our liberties and way of life is a sound one in my opinion. Where he errs is in his blanket dismissal of all environmental concerns raised by scientists with respect to global CO2 output and climate effects. Just as inconceivable as any of the utopian visions cited by Mr. Stein from the last century is his belief that massive releases of greenhouses gases into our atmosphere over time will have no significant effects on our planet. Such a stance is proof that wishful thinking and ideological dogmatism know no political boundaries.

Bohemond| 12.16.09 @ 2:56PM

"massive releases of greenhouses gases into our atmosphere over time "

Massive?????

Recheck your numbers.

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 2:13PM

Tuesday’s Reading Room « scottwilder.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

NATE CLIFFHANGER His pants are actually on fire: Gore Faces an Inconvenient Truth Liberals Will Believe Anything Will Obama Unveil a Surprise in Copenhagen? Democrats Move to Drop Medicare Buy-In Beware Those Trying to Save Us Rich Lowry: Dems Look Panicky and Careless Byron York: Why Dems Push HC, Even If It Kills Them Lieberman Signals Success 800,000 H1N1 Vaccine Doses Recalled Man Gets Life for Killing Wife Over…

Adam| 12.15.09 @ 2:29PM

Has anyone ever considered that global warming may be a good thing? I live in Chicago. It's freezing here 6 months of the year. Warmer weather would be welcomed. It would increase productivity and reduce seasonal depression making people happier. I personally doubt global warming, but even if true, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Green Adolf| 12.15.09 @ 3:03PM

It's been considered, especially up here in Minnesota. But the High Priests of Global Warming Made in the USA have decreed they desire a different global temperature to be ideal, presumably much lower than the -3F we're enjoying today, and are hashing out how many trillions they want to fine the US Treasury before they say exactly what it is.

Marty| 12.15.09 @ 2:36PM

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

C. S. Lewis

Neo| 12.15.09 @ 2:49PM

Looks like the DOE is out looking for the data that comprises the basis of the EPA CO2 finding, the “Jones and Wigley” record, which the DOE funded. Without the “Jones and Wigley”, the EPA has to start all over again. No wonder the Met office started their 3 year long effort to recreate the "raw data" over the complaints of PM Gordon Brown.

Fred Flintstone| 12.15.09 @ 3:23PM

The enviro-extremists want to reduce the vast majority of humanity (excepting themselves, of course) back to a Stone Age existence.

"Yabba Dabba...Yes We Can Do It!

WRJonas | 12.15.09 @ 3:33PM

Some very interesting stuff and a huge chink in the climate fraud industry's armor.
I do believe much as Ben Stein that this is all Marxism in disguise.
My favorite tag line used to be " the first impulse of every Utopian is to make the people obey the government," but that has pretty much been achieved. The struggle is still for mans soul by Satan .
Someone above offered the opinion that the earth will last long after we're gone . From a Christian standpoint that is not so . We will be redeemed and ultimately spend all eternity on a new earth which will replace this corrupt imperfect world.
The Devil and the Democrats lose in the long run.

Paul in Colorado| 12.15.09 @ 3:37PM

Would you bet your life on the ability of a computer model to accurately predict the future? The supposedly purloined e-mails make it clear that those who know them best don't trust these models. But still the buffoon Gore grandly announces that "the science is settled" while his myrmidons twist the data and silence opposing opinions.

Fortunately, the Danish farce is making it all perfectly clear. This is about Third World kleptocrats trying to shake down the Western Democracies for more guilt-driven baksheesh. They even have the stones to throw a tantrum when the Democracies suggest that they'd like to know how the money is to be spent, while China exploits another opportunity to hamstring the West.

One thing is certain: the only climate change we can count on will be better air conditioning in the condos these thugs are planning to build for their mistresses.

NikFromNYC | 12.15.09 @ 3:44PM

Simple data eye candy:

http://i45.tinypic.com/kqbd4.jpg

NikFromNYC | 12.15.09 @ 3:46PM

...and this:

http://i49.tinypic.com/2mpg0tz.jpg

Mark Oregon| 12.15.09 @ 4:11PM

The Global Warmist High Priests have this propaganda down so good that Goebbels would be proud of them:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
The_Craven Joseph Goebbels

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 4:39PM

Global Warming? Try Global Grab - US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…the climate change gods with their smoke and mirrors. We are living in frightening times, and the ones who are the most frightening among us are, as usual, the ones pretending to save us. The American Spectator : What a Piece of Work __________________ Talk is cheap, it's what you do that counts. Barack Obama: "If you want to know my policies, then judge me by the people with whom I surround myself." Valerie…

Paul in Colorado| 12.15.09 @ 4:53PM

Twenty-five years ago I had a "teachable moment" on this subject. As a member of both the National and International Wildlife Federations, and a charter member of the Cousteau Society, I was stunned to see a coalition of the leading environmental organizations announce that the greatest threat to marine mammals was not the Japanese whaling fleet, but rather the Reagan Administration's planned deployment of Pershing II missiles in Europe. This is true and came as quite a epiphany. Rather than disabling and/or sinking those bloodstained tubs, they sold their souls to the European Left, and along with my membership lost their entire credibility on the subject of protecting our planet.

Their sell-out was shown to be even more pathetic after the Wall came down and we got a look at the environmental practices of the USSR and their satellite states. The Soviets were raping the seas, but much of their catch was left to rot on the docks, and was only suitable to feed minks and sables that were destined to grace the shoulders of EuroTrash. Chemical sewers were running through city parks in East Germany, carrying high level toxins to the nearest river. Brown coal powered their economies, without the slightest interest in controlling their emissions. Dying forests, birth defects, air so bad that people waited in line to get a few minutes of clean air at state-run "breathing stations", and all for the benefit of a few geriatric gangsters at the top of a rotting pyramid.

Very strange bedfellows, indeed. Sufficient to call some peoples motives into question. I learned my lesson in 1984, and I hope others are watching today.

Ilexa Yardley | 12.15.09 @ 5:12PM

There is a yin and yang to man's predicaments that is obvious, as well, in weather, reproduction, business cycles and philosophy. That is, first we're in one place, then we're in another, but whatever point of view we choose, the opposite comes forward. Sometimes this takes a moment...sometimes it takes a lifetime...sometimes it takes a few centuries...but all of us can notice, in all things, starting with a heartbeat, and ending with a continual reproductive cycle (circle) there is a circular nature to all movement (here to there, now to then, and back again). Why? Only a circle can create a circle (though we call it many different things)...we can imagine the writers and thinkers of today are no different than the writers and thinkers of any time period...observing, and, then, complaining...things must occur as opposites...for why see www.Circular-Theory.com...once we 'see' the circle, we can finally accept the yes-no, true-false, good-bad, right-wrong, maybe-maybe-not reality we are forced to live...all of us (all times, all places).

Mike| 12.15.09 @ 5:25PM

I will yield my liberty when these yahoos can predict the surface temperature in my backyard to the tenth of a degree three weeks hence at precisely 15:34:02 and do it three times in a row.

We can't tell in January how many hurricanes there will be this year with any degree of accuracy but we can predict the temperature a hundred years from now.

BS. THis doesn't pass the smell test

Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)

S.L. Toddard| 12.15.09 @ 5:58PM

I have a question.

Consider the following tendencies:

*endless quasi-religious worship of the state's military power

*endless demands that more and more wealth (and therefore power) be confiscated (from American workers) and redistributed to the state's military machine

*blind and passionate advocacy for any and every costly, state-expanding, state-empowering scheme the egghead bureaucrats in washington cook up - as long as it involves using the state's military machine

* Abiding faith and devotion to the idea that (whenever the government uses or proposes to exercise its truly awesome and terrible military might) government is noble and beneficent, that it is efficient, that it is peopled with wise men, and that it should be further empowered with confiscated tax money so it can be used as an engine to effect social change all over the world -

Is it possible for one to argue that the tendencies enumerated above are not those of a statist?

We have 3,000 miles of open border with Mexico, across which any terrorist can easily stroll. Keep that in mind when Big Government tells you our soldiers need to be on the other side of the globe to "protect us from terrorism". It is not a serious position - to claim the danger we face from terrorism is so profound that we must wage perpetual war, but it is so insignificant that we can leave open a 3,000 mile door to any jihadist who wishes to attack us.

Ken (Old Texican)| 12.15.09 @ 6:05PM

SL...same ole' one stringed violin...sigh.

Thank goodeness for scroll buttons.

S.L. Toddard| 12.15.09 @ 6:30PM

You know, I did not consciously set out to describe you personally (and accurately), but you really are extremely typical of this type of militaristic statist. All the feigned skepticism and fear of government - all belief that it is a necessary evil, that it should be mistrusted and kept small, that it should be unintrusive and inexpensive - go right out the window the second a Big Government scheme involves dropping a bomb on someone.

S.L. Toddard| 12.15.09 @ 6:31PM

You know what - I posted this on the wrong thread! Sorry, Ken.

John II| 12.16.09 @ 1:04AM

Oh . . . whew! I'd thought that you'd really lost it this time, Tod. I mean, the topic is global warming baloney, fergod'ssake--imagine what happened to my eyeballs when you started the standard rant.

So far, my favorite posting on this thread is another re-run, but germane: Marty's 2:36PM chestnut from C.S. Lewis. The quote occurs in Lewis's essay on "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," which first appeared in 1949 in an Australian journal called "20th Century." It's reprinted in Walter Hooper's collection "God in the Dock," named after one of the several essays occurring in the collection. The Lewis quote and the whole essay in which it appears reminds me of "That Hideous Strength," which Lewis had published a few years earlier as the third installment of his Ransom trilogy.

More Lewis, less Fleming, Tod.

S.L. Toddard| 12.16.09 @ 7:19AM

Let us hope that Lewis quote does not fall into the hands of those suffering under the occupation of benevolent American "liberators" come to bring them the light of civilization, to free their women from the shackles of their traditional society (as the Left has done for our own women here), and to replace their shabby torture chambers with our own state-of-the-art ones - all for their own good, of course. We are, after all, leading a benevolent "global democratic revolution", no?

"Omnipotent moral busybodies" - if that doesn't describe the hawkish left, i.e. liberal internationalists/neoconservatives, then I don't know what does.

John II| 12.16.09 @ 11:54AM

Well . . . read the rest of the Lewis essay, wherein the quote appears. You have to get your mind on other things, Tod--this isn't healthy.

Reminds me of a comment dropped by one of my grown sons when he and his family were staying with us for Christmas last year. He was looking at my DVD collection, which is shelved so as to take up almost an entire wall of our study (the books take up most of the walls in the rest of the house). His eyes ran over the collection, then he looked at me, then he glanced back at the movies, then he regarded me steadily, with mock sadness, and said: "This is a sickness, Dad."

I urge you to go cold turkey on the neocons for one whole month, Tod.

S.L. Toddard| 12.16.09 @ 2:43PM

I don't think the fight against America's enemies can be suspended like that. It is our duty as Americans to expose their hypocrisy and lies. The claim that the danger we face from terrorism is so profound that we must wage perpetual war, but it is so insignificant that we can leave open a 3,000 mile door to any jihadist who wishes to attack us, is ridiculous on its face, and belies the stated motives behind the "War On Terror".

John II| 12.16.09 @ 8:54PM

But if you just put it aside for a month or so, you will thus recharge your batteries, banish all cobwebs, and put your best foot forward. With luck, you'll eliminate some cliches too, but I don't seem to be doing very well myself on that score.

I recommend a fifth of Knob Creek and a complete re-viewing of all eight of the Mr. Moto flicks made in the late 1930s under the steady acting of Peter Lorre and the directorial genius of Norman Foster. Naturally, you will need as well to view Laurel and Hardy's "March of the Wooden Soldiers" (1933) and Jimmy Stewart's "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) in deference to the Chris--, er, Holiday Season. (Damn--I almost said the C-word: one can get in trouble nowadays for that sort of thing.)

And look at the bright side of the much-maligned American military adventurism. Our boys (er, fighting men and women) are staying in practice and keeping trim by chasing the terrorist ragheads. It would be dangerous to the morale and effectiveness of our military if it didn't kick some ass on a fairly regular basis. As to nation-building, maybe and maybe not. But there can be no doubt that our response to such provocations as 9/11 is properly to move in, here and there, and bust up the place, just to let 'em know we're serious.

And now back to Mr. Moto.

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 7:28PM

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JimE| 12.15.09 @ 7:57PM

Toddard you continue prove that you are a retard.

Paul| 12.15.09 @ 8:06PM

How many of the so-called delegates to the Copenhagen meeting walked or cycled to the event?

If they're so worried about CO2 emissions, why don't they start by killing all their own pets first?

Once I see a little personal sacrifice from these hypocritical moralizing creeps, then maybe I'll give them the time of day.

John II| 12.17.09 @ 12:11AM

"If they're so worried about CO2 emissions, why don't they start by killing all their own pets first?"

I think I'd like it better if they'd display their solidarity with the Planet by a generous act of mass suicide.

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 9:04PM

Daily Right 12/15/09 « The Quantum Conservative links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…chance that the poles will melt and polar bear cannibals will rampage south killing every man, woman, and child in their path.” Scientist: “Ummm….no, not really.” Alright, so I may be paraphrasing. * What a Piece of Work, by Ben Stein. * Faith Based Global Warming, by Mike Jensen. * If the Marx Brothers Held a Climate Conference, by Rachel Adams. * Time for a Smarter Approach to Global Warming, by Bjorn Lomborg.…

Jabo| 12.15.09 @ 9:57PM

Wow. I don't know where to start. Aw well, would anybody be interested in signing my petition to ban di-hydrogen oxide as it is the "greenhouse" gas that has truly gone unnoticed by my "the sky is falling" colleagues?

Brian in NC| 12.15.09 @ 10:41PM

"man still tries to come up with a theory to explain everything and then to use that theory to control his fellow man"

Silly me, when I read that, I thought this article was about right-wing, taliban-like Christianity, who definitely think that their theory explains everything and definitely use it in attempts to control others.

PolishKnight| 12.16.09 @ 2:17PM

Indeed, Brian! Compared to stalinist, crazy, sky-is-falling leftists, the good ol' fashioned Judeo Christianity seems mild by comparison!

In the old days, the left used to at least be about having some naughty fun such as the Hugh Hefner types but since the 90's or so even that was ruined by Anita Hill who made the left into prudes.

It's now the left that wants to connect people's homes up to computers to tell them when they can turn on their A/C, what is acceptable speech (Canadian "Freedom" and 'human rights charter' is a joke), etc. The self-proclaimed religious wackos at least admit they are religious while the left believes they have Scientific Truth and Caring on their side.

I'll take good ol' Catholicism and belief in wafers anyday over faux Science.

Pingback| 12.15.09 @ 11:54PM

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mbs1960| 12.16.09 @ 2:24AM

Yes Mr. Stein I agree "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" These Climate "Do-Gooders" want to sequester more than just your Carbon Footprint...

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Ben Stein is right « THE IRON PEN by Daniel Hite links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…has heated up much more than the planet, and our freedom is indeed in jeopardy from all sides, political, environmental, financial, and moral. Read it and weep. Weep for America. http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/15/what-piece-of-work Leave a Comment No Comments Yet » No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Click here to cancel reply. Name (required) E-mail (will…

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david wells| 12.19.09 @ 6:38PM

Ben Stein is a ninth magnitude Michael Moore! His "Creationism" documentary is a stinking cesspool of mock naiveté and intellectual dishonesty. This deadpan, dead-boring pitchman for all manner of commercial hokum is indeed the proper host for this weak-minded essay on the evils of Darwinism. What he thinks is probing and daring is so much posturing and treacly, lukewarm sentimentality. Ben Stein the "economist" (with his B.A. from Columbia!) is now the poor man's William Jennings Bryan.

Pingback| 12.28.09 @ 8:31AM

Making The Impossible Possible With The Green Screen! - The Blog Planet links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…results when shot in the outdoors. You may also want to check out: Green Screen: Making The Impossible Possible Big Government » Blog Archive » The LA Story, Part IV: Program for … The American Spectator : What a Piece of Work Interesting post on Green Parent forum…food for thought… « Steve's Everything Las Vegas » Everything Las Vegas Issue # 635 Digg it Add to del.icio.us Reddit Stumble 0 Comment Leave a…

Pingback| 1.11.10 @ 12:25PM

Cooler Heads Digest 18 December 2009 | GlobalWarming.org links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Baltimore Examiner, 16 December 2009 Hide the Decline…and More David Harsayni, Denver Post, 16 December 2009 Video: Skeptic Assaulted by Enviros at Copenhagen Fox News, 15 December 2009 Beware Those Trying To Save Us Ben Stein, American Spectator, 15 December 2009 Fire and Ice in the Global Warming Debate Myron Ebell, Washington Post, 11 December 2009 Beyond Debate? Martin Cohen, Times Higher Education, 10…

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Energy Prize won by Small Town in Scotland links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Technology and the Arts. Eigg won £300,000 for there well built power grid while the other winners who received £300,000 where a small nit town in the Brecon Beacons in Wales who managed to reduce their CO2 emissions from four community dwellings and 155 houses by a whopping 20%. Another community that shared the funds was from Shropshire. This volunteer group ran an energy efficiency project and managed to reduce CO2…

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Baltimore Schools Designate Six Schools as Persistently Dangerous with a Warning to A links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

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Hercules won’t help you until you have all five items from Zeus’ quest. Once you have the five items, bring them to Athena. Zeus will appear and steal them. The big jerk! Once this happens, talk to Athena and she will tell you that Hercules will help you. You’ll need to have the magic mirror from Aphrodite because Hercules doesn’t want to have to walk. He’s so lazy!
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