Charles Krauthammer explains why Obama isn’t going to be able to fix global warming

In the liberal Washington Post.

Excerpt:

Global temperatures have been flat for 16 years — a curious time to unveil a grand, hugely costly, socially disruptive anti-warming program.

[…]For the sake of argument, nonetheless, let’s concede that global warming is precisely what Obama thinks it is. Then answer this: What in God’s name is his massive new regulatory and spending program — which begins with a war on coal and ends with billions in more subsidies for new Solyndras — going to do about it?

The United States has already radically cut carbon dioxide emissions — more than any country on earth since 2006, according to the International Energy Agency. Emissions today are back down to 1992 levels.

And yet, at the same time, global emissions have gone up. That’s because — surprise! — we don’t control the energy use of the other 96 percent of humankind.

At the heart of Obama’s program are EPA regulations that will make it impossible to open any new coal plant and will systematically shut down existing plants. “Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal,” explained one of Obama’s climate advisers. “On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”

Net effect: tens of thousands of jobs killed, entire states impoverished. This at a time of chronically and crushingly high unemployment, slow growth, jittery markets and deep economic uncertainty.

But that’s not the worst of it. This massive self-sacrifice might be worthwhile if it did actually stop global warming and save the planet. What makes the whole idea nuts is that it won’t. This massive self-inflicted economic wound will have no effect on climate change.

The have-nots are rapidly industrializing. As we speak, China and India together are opening one new coal plant every week. We can kill U.S. coal and devastate coal country all we want, but the industrializing Third World will more than make up for it. The net effect of the Obama plan will simply be dismantling the U.S. coal industry for shipping abroad.

To think we will get these countries to cooperate is sheer fantasy. We’ve been negotiating climate treaties for 20 years and gotten exactly nowhere. China, India and the other rising and modernizing countries point out that the West had a 150-year industrial head start that made it rich. They are still poor. And now, just as they are beginning to get rich, we’re telling them to stop dead in their tracks?

Fat chance. Obama imagines he’s going to cajole China into a greenhouse-gas emissions reduction that will slow its economy, increase energy costs, derail industrialization and risk enormous social unrest. This from a president who couldn’t even get China to turn over one Edward Snowden to U.S. custody.

Now previously I wrote about how there hasn’t been any global warming in the last 16 years. I linked to the New York Times saying that, and to Reuters saying that. So everyone who isn’t a flat-Earther agrees that there has been no global warming in 16 years – those are the facts. This is just Obama’s attempt to change the subject now that everyone knows how badly he’s been screwing up on foreign policy and with the economy.

Abortion supporters chant “Hail Satan!” as pro-lifers sing “Amazing Grace”

Everybody seemed to be posting about this story on Facebook, so I might as well blog about it, for those who haven’t seen it. (H/T Chris S.)

Excerpt:

For several hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, the phrase “Hail Satan” trended on Twitter as word spread that abortion supporters had chanted it at pro-life Christians singing “Amazing Grace” amid mounting tensions over the pending passage of strict abortion laws in the Texas Capitol.

This week, Texas Governor Rick Perry convened a second special session in the Texas Senate after Democratic activism botched the passage of legislation that would have banned abortions in that state after 20 weeks.

The legislation would also require that abortions be performed at ambulatory surgical centers and mandate that doctors obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their practice. Opponents of the proposal argue that the proposal would virtually shut down abortion clinics in that state and pro-life supporters have no problem with that.

“The world has seen images of pro-abortion activists screaming, cheering,” Republican Gov. Rick Perry noted, in an earlier report in which he vowed that the process would not be derailed a second time. “Going forward, we have to match their intensity, but do it with grace and civility.”

[…]On Tuesday, the pro-abortion supporters went from riotous to sacrilegious when they chanted “Hail Satan” repeatedly in a bid to silence Christian pro-lifers who were singing “Amazing Grace” in support of abortion restrictions in the state.

The extremely unorthodox chant from the abortion supporters triggered a trend of “Hail Satan” on Twitter and many dismissed it as terrible public relations for the pro-abortion movement.

“When your supporters go around yelling ‘hail satan’ you’re likely not gonna have fabulous #’s” tweeted investigative journalist Kerry Picket pointing to poll numbers showing Gov. Perry at a big advantage in a potential face-off with political upstart Wendy Davis.

Other critics of the use of the “Hail Satan” chant like public relations expert Mark Demoss implied it was excessive.

“Do supporters of late-term abortion in TX help their cause by chanting ‘Hail Satan’ (really) over top of pro-lifers singing Amazing Grace?” asked Demoss in a tweet on Wednesday.

“‘Hail Satan!’ was actually the compromise chant. The hot-heads wanted ‘We Know It’s Murder And We Don’t Care!'” tweeted conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg.

Hmmmn. So, I think it’s pretty clear which side of the debate are the good guys, now.

Dinesh D’Souza: What’s so great about America?

Dinesh D’Souza

Here is the essay, which provides an immigrant’s perspective on America (Dinesh is the son of East Indian immigrants).

Excerpt:

Is America worthy of a reflective patriotism that doesn’t mindlessly assert, “My country, right or wrong,” but rather examines the criticisms of America and finds them wanting? As an immigrant who has chosen to become an American citizen, I believe that it is. Having studied the criticisms of America with care, my conclusion is that the critics have a narrow and distorted understanding of America. They exaggerate American faults, and they ignore what is good and even great about America.

The immigrant is in a good position to evaluate American society because he is able to apply a comparative perspective. Having grown up in a different society-in my case, Mumbai, India-I am able to identify aspects of America that are invisible to people who have always lived here. As a “person of color,” I am competent to address such questions as what it is like to be a nonwhite person in America, what this country owes its minority citizens, and whether immigrants can expect to be granted full membership in this society. While I take seriously the issues raised by the critics of America, I have also developed an understanding of what makes America great, and I have seen the greatness of America reflected in my life. Unlike many of America’s homegrown dissidents, I am also acutely conscious of the daily blessings that I enjoy in America.

Here, then, is my list of what makes America great.

He focuses on the following areas:

  • America’s Good Life
  • Equality
  • The Pursuit of Happiness
  • The Ethics of Work
  • Religious Liberty
  • Ideals and Interests
  • America’s Virtue

Read the whole thing. It’s long it’s similar to his book of the same name, but up to date.