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Giving up carbon for Lent

Posted by Joanne on 19 March 2010, 8:43 am

No, seriously!  This is an edict from several church leaders.

I arrived at this incredible revelation on a hunt for the relationship between environmentalism and Catholicism after reading this opinion piece in today’s Record by Community Editorial Board member Ruthann Fisher who is a ‘pastoral associate at St. Francis of Assisi Church’ in Kitchener.  Ms. Fisher begins her piece (which also includes a federal government-bashing) as follows:

“Can we afford to only honour our Earth for one hour or one week?”

As a Catholic and a Christian, I found that sentence very disturbing. I was always taught to follow the first commandment: I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.

“Honouring” our  “Earth” strikes me as somewhat sacrilegious.  I thought we were only supposed to honour God.

Then there’s that whole ‘afford’ thing – stoking up the old fear factor again.   Is God going to punish me if I burn some fossil fuel driving to the store?  I sure didn’t learn that in Catechism class.  Or is she trying to say that I’ll go broke? Or will my carbon sinning hasten the apocalypse?

As a Christian I believe it is our duty to be good stewards of God’s gifts to us and that includes the earth and all God’s creations therein.

So in my quest for a better understanding of where the Church was going on this I came across this notion of a Carbon Fast for Lent supported by many different religions and organizations.  In fact you are even invited to Light a Lenten candle this Earth Hour - “A carbon fast reflects the true meaning of the Lenten season.“ (Yikes!!!  Are you buying this?)

It’s a strange world today when the only sins that really seem to be ones worth worrying about are those against Mother Earth.

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Update:

Advice to priests: shut up about climate change, talk about sin – Telegraph

You gotta ask God about that – Rockin Traddy

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And please refresh my memory.   Where does the Catholic Church stand on abortion these days?

Pelosi prays to St Joseph to pass this abortion-funding bill for its life affirmation, or something – Hot Air (H/T Maz2)  [And I got a trackback from Hot Air. Awesome.]

Deus Vult! Pelosi invokes St. Joseph to pass bill that funds abortions – Washington Examiner

“Don’t kill babies, kill the bill” -  From: A House, and nation, divided on health care (Gazette)

Health Bill: Poll Indicates Perils for Some Democrats – Wall Street Journal

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Saturday Update

In case you missed it -

Seven-month-old baby survives shot to chest in parents’ murder-suicide pact blamed on global warming – Daily News.  (So I guess Al Gore was right after all. Global warming can kill you.)

U.K. warmists now scaring kids – Lorrie Goldstein

Global Warming Nursery Rhymes – American Thinker:

There is a reason why Hitler, Stalin, Mao and other totalitarian rulers have sought to give the state the responsibility for raising and educating their nation‘s youth. Parents cannot be fully trusted to prepare their children to be loyal and productive members of society. It is essential that the indoctrination process begin during those early formative years before any nonconformist values are instilled…

Minister’s global warming nursery rhyme adverts banned for overstating the risks – Mail Online

Filed under AGW, Abortion, Al Gore, Big Environment, Big Green, Climategate, Global Warming, Goldstein, climate change, environment, environmentalists, religion.
43 Comments

But can we wish away Al Gore?

Posted by Joanne on 2 March 2010, 7:54 am

There is no shortage of point-by-point criticisms of Al Gore’s New York Times Op-ed, We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change.

My first thought after reading his steaming pile of rhetoric was why did he set himself up for the inevitable drudging?   Or does he actually believe that we’re that stupid?

And how is it that the alarmists can continue to hold him up as some kind of prophet and still keep a straight face while they warn us all of impending doom?

Anyway, here are some of the better fisks that I’ve come across. If you find more please let share them in comments. Thanks.

Al’s latest global-warming whopper – Alan Reynolds, New York Post

Al Gore’s weird, disconnected op-ed on climate change – Rick Moran, American Thinker

Al Gore Comes Out of Hiding and Gets a Fisking – Bluegrass Pundit

EXCLUSIVE: Inhofe Blasts Gore Over Climategate – Connie Hair, Human Events

But in response to Gore’s statement that “what is at stake is our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption”,   Bill Kristol said it most succinctly:

“Redemption comes from God, not Gore.”

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Related

More inconvenient news for the global warming alarmists:

UN’s climate link to hurricanes in doubt – Times Online

Cyclone climate link rejected – The Australian

El Nino killed Costa Rican toad, not global warming – Oneindia

British scientist in climate row admits ‘awful’ emails – Sydney Morning Herald

‘The Acceleration of Disbelief,’ Starring ‘Floor Mat’ Al Gore - Big Journalism (this is a must-read)

So is this one: Climategate: ‘a lot of common data’ – Phil Jones exposes AGW dominoes to Commons committee – Gerald Warner, Telegraph:

...And oh, yes – one further interesting fact emerged from yesterday’s Select Committee grilling. Professor Edward Acton, the Vice-Chancellor of the “University” of East Anglia, now thinks more money should be devoted to researching the Mediaeval Warm Period. So apparently it exists after all.

Who knew?

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Local ‘Green Energy’ issues:

Wind farm faces opposition – Guelph Mercury article via Windaction

Ontario power risk – Parker Gallant, Full Comment

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Wednesday Update

Welcome Jack’s Newswatch readers!  And please check out Crux of the Matter – Trust Conservative gov’t timetable to refute AGW.

Peter Foster: Climate snow jobs – FP Comment

Wind power the worst kind of mirage – Henk Tennekes, FP

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Friday – Saturday Update

Waiting to hear ‘we’re sorry’ – John Robson, Ottawa Citizen

Blowing away taxpayers – Michael Trebilcock, Financial Post

Filed under AGW, Al Gore, Arrogance, Big Environment, Big Green, Carbon Shaft, Climategate, Copenhagen, Dalton McGuinty, Follow the money, Global Warming, Ontario economy, Propaganda, Science/tech, UN, Wind farms, Your tax-dollars, climate change, economy, environment, environmentalists, scandals.
45 Comments

The Audacity of Caution

Posted by Joanne on 1 March 2010, 7:52 am

Dr. Jack Kruuv, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Waterloo has a few choice words for Maxime Bernier in today’s Waterloo Region Record:

“Politicians should keep their trap shut, when they don’t know what they are talking about.”

And since politicians represent the people that elect them, then by extension he is telling us to keep our traps shut. So much for open debate in Canadian taxpayer-supported universities.

This is the kind of attitude that we’re up against.

Have at it, BLY nation.

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Update

Fantastic post at American Thinker by Rick Moran (H/T Maz2) where he savages Al Gore’s NYT op-ed – Al Gore’s weird, disconnected op-ed on climate change:

…In other words, Gore obviously believes we should sit down, shut up, and let him and his buddies reach into our pockets and remove trillions of dollars without demanding proof of the scientific basis for his power grab…

Sound familiar?

Phil Jones on the hot seat – not sharing data is “standard practice” – WUWT (H/T Maz2)

And a terrific comment  from a reader at the Daily Mail:

“Prof Jones today said it was not ’standard practice’ in climate science to release data and methodology for scientific findings so that other scientists could check and challenge the research.”

It is standard practice in every proper science to release date and methodology in the greatest of detail so that every aspect of the research and of the argument can be ‘falsified’ (using the Popper meaning of the word).
That is how science works.
That is why science works.
Not to do so puts climate research at the level of iridology, homeopoathy, and alchemy.
Add political agenda, and finding, and you have a bastardised pseudo-science barely worth another look. Unscrupulous people making money out of the latest political bandwagon, to justify further taxation by this dreadful government.

Which many of us have suspected for a long time.

- PeterMac, Ronda, Spain, 01/3/2010 18:45

Filed under AGW, Al Gore, Arrogance, Big Environment, Big Green, Climategate, Follow the money, Global Warming, Science/tech, Your tax-dollars, climate change, democracy, environment, environmentalists, grassroots power.
43 Comments

Bernier rather than Charest? Mais oui!

Posted by Joanne on 26 February 2010, 8:16 am

Both Chantel Hebert and Susan Riley ponder the possibilities of a Maxime Bernier leadership bid after his awesome opinion letter in La Presse. But Riley lost me at “oil patch foot-draggers”, so we will shift our focus to Hebert’s more objective column.

Chantel’s theory is that Bernier is indeed setting the stage for a future leadership bid, and that Conservative party members would prefer Bernier to Jean Charest as the Quebec candidate. Well I can tell you that based on the readership of this blog, Charest doesn’t stand a chance in h-e-double hockeysticks.

Furthermore, Hebert suggests that the Progressive Conservative MPs may be out of touch with the larger grassroot movement, and therefore Jim Prentice may be vulnerable against a potential leader who appeals more to the base.  That certainly is a possibility. Prentice is a gifted politician but I’m not sure how much the base can identify with him:

...On Wednesday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice scrambled to distance himself from Bernier’s double-edged praise of his climate-change approach.
And the zero-growth policy the ex-minister advocated in his Calgary speech is unlikely to find its way into Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s upcoming budget.

But then auditioning for a return to the cabinet table is not what this is really about.

Bernier’s long game has always been to go after the top job.

These days, he is making the most of his unsolicited freedom from cabinet solidarity to stake out ideological ground that could stand him in good stead with the rank-and-file Conservatives who will select the next party leader…

Previously I haven’t wanted to indulge in these kinds of discussions because I’ve felt it was more the opposition and media trying to stir the pot and insert some divisions into the party. However I can tell you that the patience of the grassroots loyalty has been sorely tested in recent months and there are a few issues that will be deal-breakers if our concerns aren’t acknowledged. Less government interference, more fiscal restraint and a commonsense environmental approach are all dear to the hearts of my most of my readers and by extension a large segment of the party supporters.

And what are the alternatives if the CPC veers much further to the left?

I suppose we would have to sit home during the next election.  Pity.

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“It’s not debatable.”

Filed under Big Environment, Big Green, CPC, Canadian Government, Canadian economy, Carbon Shaft, Climategate, Global Warming, Jean Charest, Quebec, Voter cynicism, climate change, environment, grassroots power.
59 Comments

Stop climate change – Wear a sweater

Posted by Joanne on 24 February 2010, 12:12 pm

Yeah, but if global warming is such a problem why do I need the sweater?

Dear Loblaws – Please forget supporting the WWF and give that money to your Children’s Charities instead. I love your products but hate your politics. Thank you.

Filed under Big Environment, Big Green, Climategate, Follow the money, Global Warming, Propaganda, climate change, environment, environmentalists.
50 Comments

You can’t have it both ways (but they still try)

Posted by Joanne on 21 February 2010, 9:43 am

Lorrie Goldstein presents a compelling argument to global warming alarmists in today’s column Global Warming Snow Job -  not that logic was ever their strong suit (or objective science for that matter):

...So, given the somewhat unsurprising news Olympic officials were trucking in snow to Cypress Mountain, site of the freestyle skiing and snowboard events, how did Canadian warmists respond?

Well, here’s our most famous environmentalist, David Suzuki, calmly commenting.

“I’ve watched in horror as the snow just melted away from Cypress Mountain and it’s even more horrifying to me to think of helicopters airlifting snow from Manning Park to fill it back up again.”

In addition to Suzuki’s apparently low tolerance for horror, climatically speaking, his foundation chimed in man-made global warming clearly had a hand in the lack of snow.

So, just to review the warmist perspective:

(1) North of the 49th parallel — global warming explains the lack of snow.

(2) South of the 49th parallel — global warming explains the snow.

Plus:

(1) Warmists can use single weather events to prove global warming.

(2) Opponents can’t use single weather events to disprove global warming.

Does it not occur to warmists that stuff like this is one of the reasons more and more people are starting to think of them as the intellectual heirs of Chicken Little?

And a few words for the Gore-Suzuki bootlicking media:

…As for Canada’s warmist media, if you’re wondering why fewer people are buying your argument neither climategate nor the growing scientific controversies engulfing the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is news, ask yourself this.

How many of you (justifiably) criticized Inhofe, DeMint and Fox for what they said? Now, how many of you criticized Suzuki and his foundation for what they said? Oops.

A final assignment for warmists. Go to your video bible, Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and find in all those dramatic visual images linking global warming to present-day heat waves, droughts, floods, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and hurricanes, one image — just one — linking global warming to record snowstorms.

Trust me, you won’t find any, because that would have gotten in the way of Gore’s painfully simplistic argument that more greenhouse gas emissions simply means more heat...

Unfortunately for the Warming lobby, the public is becoming more educated and less likely to placidly accept the Green Koolaid that’s been shoved down our throats for so long.  And what many of us would like to see is some kind of redress for this massive propaganda scheme which seems to have been preying on our blind faith and naivete – and costing us big bucks.

At the very least let’s hope we have learned to view the news with a dose of healthy skeptism – and not be afraid of being labelled a ‘denier’.

Filed under Big Environment, Big Green, Climategate, Copenhagen, David Suzuki, Follow the money, Global Warming, Goldstein, Kyoto, MSM bias, Media Watch, Propaganda, UN, Weather, Your tax-dollars, climate change, environment, environmentalists.
42 Comments

The rats are jumping ship

Posted by Joanne on 18 February 2010, 8:04 am

Yvo de Boer has just announced his intentions to resign as executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Can you spell f-a-i-l-u-r-e?

Meanwhile we learn via Terence Corcoran and Lawrence Solomon that ‘at least five major U.S. corporations have pulled out of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership‘. Yet several of our Canadian provinces are still hanging onto the cap-trade scheme.

Why is it taking our Canadian political leaders so long to catch up on the latest news? Why are they not at least acknowledging the mistakes?

As Lorrie Goldstein says today, We’re drowning in climate stupidity.

Demand answers, Canada!

Do not go placidly into that carbon trade cesspool.

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Related

Cap-and-Trade Cracks Up – Myron Ebell, Fox News:

…So cap-and-trade is dead. But other piecemeal energy-rationing policies are still very much alive. The Environmental Protection Agency is going ahead with regulating greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is working with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) on a “compromise” package that can gain bipartisan support. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has passed a renewable electricity requirement and new building energy efficiency standards out of his committee.

And big corporations are still circling the trough. By my count, U.S. CAP still has twenty-three corporate members plus eight environmental pressure groups that front for big business. And of course, BP America, Conoco Phillips, Caterpillar, and many other companies that don’t belong to U.S. CAP still hope to make money off the “right” sort of policies to raise energy prices.

The good news is that public opinion has turned decisively against global warming alarmism and energy-rationing. People have figured out that they, not big business special interests, will end up paying the bills when energy prices, in President Obama’s elegant formulation, “necessarily skyrocket.” And, guess what? In the November elections, the American people will have a lot more votes than James Rogers of Duke Energy or Jim Mulva of Conoco Phillips.

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In case you missed it:

Many thanks to Frmgrl and Bec for the tip about Dave Rutherford’s interview with Jim Prentice yesterday.  Definitely worth a listen.  [Click on Wednesday Feb. 17 at 11 am]

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Friday Update

Denial not just for the deniers – Peter Foster, Financial Post

Filed under Big Environment, Big Green, Canadian economy, Carbon Shaft, Climategate, Copenhagen, Flicking politicians, Follow the money, Goldstein, Lemmings love taxes, Science/tech, UN, Your tax-dollars, climate change, environment, environmentalists, grassroots power.
54 Comments
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