Pirate's Cove

Thomas Friedman has a little op-ed piece up regarding Obama’s “climate change” power plant rules, which includes an interview with Obama. Remember, this is the same guy who will take a fossil fueled helicopter over to Andrews Air Force Base, jump on Air Force 1 to fly all the way across the country (with a backup AF1 following), jump in his limo which is accompanied by over a dozen more fossil fueled vehicles, briefly attend an “official” event, then take those same fossil fueled vehicles to multiple fundraisers, and then reverse it, all within a day. And do it all the time.

(NY Times) WHEN it comes to dealing with the world’s climate and energy challenges I have a simple rule: change America, change the world.

If America raises its clean energy standards, not only will others follow — others who have hid behind our inaction — we’ll also stimulate our industry to invent more of the clean air, clean power and energy efficiency systems, and move them down the cost curve faster, so U.S. companies will be leaders in this next great global industry and American consumers will be the first to benefit. That is why the new Environmental Protection Agency rules President Obama proposed last week to curb carbon emissions from power plants are so pivotal. You can’t make power systems greener without making them smarter — smarter materials, software or design. One new ruling will not change the world — and we have to be careful that this one doesn’t replace our addiction to coal with an addiction to natural gas alone.

A couple problems with Freidman’s opening. First, the rules simply look to shut down as much coal energy production as possible, and could affect other power plants. Nothing within the plan ensures that our power grid is protected, and all this will do will skyrocket energy costs.

Several weeks ago, as he was drawing up these new emission rules, I interviewed President Obama in the White House library about climate and energy. Following are highlights. (The interview is also featured in the final episode of Showtime’s climate series, “Years of Living Dangerously” airing on Monday.)

A show which nobody watched.

For starters, Obama is aware that we can’t just keep burning oil, coal and gas until they run out…..

“Science is science,” he said. “And there is no doubt that if we burned all the fossil fuel that’s in the ground right now that the planet’s going to get too hot and the consequences could be dire.”

This from a man who is constantly using lots of (taxpayer funded) fossil fuels to travel all over the country and world. Remember, he put his dog on a separate plan for a vacation. OK, yes, the plane was going there anyway, because, apparently, Obama needed multiple (taxpayer funded) airplanes to go on vacation. As for the science, despite an increase in CO2, there has been no statistically significant warming in close to 18 years, per actual data.

The rest of the interview is just as idiotic (and hypocritical). He wants to put a price on “carbon”. We already have that: Obamacare. Carbon is the second largest element in our bodies. As for CO2, most “carbon markets” have pretty much collapsed. Then we get to the typical Obama insults

Do you ever want to just go off on the climate deniers in Congress?

“Yeah, absolutely,” the president said with a laugh. “Look, it’s frustrating when the science is in front of us. … We can argue about how. But let’s not argue about what’s going on. The science is compelling. … The baseline fact of climate change is not something we can afford to deny. And if you profess leadership in this country at this moment in our history, then you’ve got to recognize this is going to be one of the most significant long-term challenges, if not the most significant long-term challenge, that this country faces and that the planet faces. The good news is that the public may get out ahead of some of their politicians” — as people start to see the cost of cleaning up for hurricanes like Sandy or the drought in California — and when “those start multiplying, then people start thinking, ‘You know what? We’re going to reward politicians who talk to us honestly and seriously about this problem.’

So, if it’s so compelling, why is Obama not drastically reducing his own footprint? Or even reducing it at all? Isn’t that “leadership”? For a guy who is supposedly the smartest ever, he doesn’t know that Sandy was not a hurricane at landfall and that California has had much worse droughts. The “baseline fact” is that 95% of the models have failed.

And while it might be Freidman who brings up the “denier” bit, Obama is more than happy to comply and smear people who fail to agree with his cult. As Gateway Pundit notes “It would seem President Obama is losing patience with those who exercise their free speech rights to express concerns about his (bogus) Climate Change agenda.” Not a thing unusual about that. Obama is not a big supporter of free speech for people with different views. Including those who see that anthropogenic “climate change” is fake science, and really all about politics.

Crossed at Right Wing News.