Two fine pieces on the politics of climate change
May 28, 2014
Ross Kaminsky, "Brass Balls and Climate Change: The Regime's Final Pivot Into Permanent Cynicism".
Greenland is a favorite subject for climate alarmists because its ice sheet has been losing mass for a couple of decades. (They seem to forget that the Vikings settled on a verdant Greenland beginning a millennium ago, leaving about 500 years later just before the Little Ice Age.) Antarctica, pace the report’s distortions, has been gaining mass for at least as long. The dirty little secret: Antarctica’s ice mass is 9 times that of Greenland. And Antarctica by itself holds roughly 90 percent of the world’s sea ice.
To disguise the fact that the huge ice sheet is gaining mass while the (relatively) small one is losing mass, the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), demonstrating the many grains of salt with which to swallow the current Assessment, says, “Together, the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth.” Right. And together, blacks and Asians make up 79 percent of players in the NBA.
Salena Zito, "Climate Gravest Threat Only in D.C.".
One thing Dutton already has won is the sentiment of a country dumbfounded that President Barack Obama last week defined climate change as the most pressing issue facing the country. Obama did so as part of a huge public relations campaign — yes, campaign — that included asking people to pressure Washington to act on the issue.
Not jobs. Not the economy. Not rebuilding our aging infrastructure. Not gang violence, or education.
Climate change.
And he and his party ridiculed anyone who disagrees.
A couple of things about all of this smack the sensibilities of regular folks.