Quadrant Online - The Climate of Opinion

[Steven Kates] ...for me it was one of those lessons in science in that the word of a “scientist” is not gospel and the more fad-like those beliefs are, the more resistant you should become. Mass acceptance of the implausible is a sign not so much that a theory is valid but that it fills some psychological need in those who take it up.
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Well I have news for him and the rest. We are not going to give up our way of life, our personal freedoms and our prosperity on the say so of those who seem to care nothing at all for these considerations or even seem to be unaware that they are an integral and important part of this debate. These are considerations that constitute the conservative element found in that ageing conservative white male classification. Tell me just which freedoms I should put at risk and how much the future wealth of the world ought to be diminished to pander to these climate change fantasists. Manne and the rest of the global warming crowd will have to be a lot more convincing than they have so far been before I sign on to a program that will put at risk a very great deal that I care about in the social order we have taken many centuries to create and to do so in exchange for no obvious benefit of any kind that I so far have been able to see.

The Push for Lame-Duck Global Warming Tax

[Chris Horner] You see, Enron had just bought the then-world’s largest windmill company, Zond. Which became Enron Wind. Which became GE Wind. Which participated in the recent meetings reported by E&E Daily.

The names may have changed, but the game is precisely the same, which is the world’s second-oldest profession, “rent-seeking” by industry seeking to make its fortune the old fashioned way. Through favors from buddies in government able to to rob you, Peter, to pay the politically savvy Pauls.

In that meeting, again just one in an identical series, I sat around the table with UCS, BP, a utility or two, the American Gas Association and others, scratching our heads over how to make sure the “global warming” treaty expected to be agreed in Kyoto that December would include the U.S.

Actually, I scratched my head over what business was doing sitting around the table with people who wanted to put them out of business. Which I asked one of the aforementioned’ entities’ representatives, who sheepishly said something to the effect that, well, sure, but they want to put coal out of business first.

Carbon Tax? Sorry, I Already Gave at the Office Gas Pump

Carbon tax proponents might say the foregoing analysis is not relevant because the purpose of gas taxes is to pay for roads while the purpose carbon taxes is to limit environmental impacts. This criticism is itself irrelevant. Whether the tax on motor fuel is called a carbon tax or a gasoline tax, it has the same effects on consumer behavior and business investment. What the revenues are used for — roads & bridges, green tech R&D, health care, deficit reduction — is a separate issue.

So the next time a warmista says we should pay a carbon tax, cheerfully reply, “Been there, done that, each time I fill up at the pump.”

Twitter / RyanMaue: @ClimateDepot Martin Hoerling ...

@ClimateDepot Martin Hoerling still wins metaphor prize w/his translation of "climate on steroids" as "climate on laxatives" @Revkin dotErf