Dakota Beacon

On Tuesday, September 4, Democrat presidential wannabes engaged in a seven-hour environmental scare fest. And -- we are nowhere near Halloween! Those who buy into the manmade climate change drivel, like children at story time, want to be scared.

On Wednesday, after hearing about the CNN-sponsored dark festival, I made a beeline to a couple of books on my bookshelf. Much like the Democrat leaders today, previous doomsday soothsayers were saying silly sooth as far back as the 1960s. Even at that time Chicken Little’s sky had not fallen – but it might have in twenty or thirty years.

In the 1990s, Dixie Lee Ray (1914 - 1994), Democrat and former governor of the great state of Washington, authored two books critical of the leftist environmental movement. Dr. Ray earned her Ph.D. in biology from Stanford University. In 1973 she was appointed chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and in 1975 she was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Bottom line: she was no slouch.

Her first book was “Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal With Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other things),” Regnery, 1990. (Interestingly, we never hear about acid rain and the ozone hole any longer. These may have outlasted their usefulness to environmental leftists.) Ray scornfully describes environmentalists as “distinguished by a vocal do-good mentality that sometimes cloaks a strong streak of elitism that is often coupled with a belief that the end justifies the means.” Ends justifies the means? This phrase was contemporaneous with Communist ideology.

In her second book, “Environmental Overkill: Whatever Happened to Common Sense?” Regnery, 1993, Ray makes a straight forward analysis for those who wish to understand the scientific and political fundamentals of environmental issues.

During a speech in Pasco, Washington in 1991, she denounced the growing number of scientists advancing theories of climate change by telling her audience to “beware of averages. The average person has one breast and one testicle.”

Manmade climate change evidence continues to evaporate. It has either dried up or was made up.

-- CLAIM: The earth is overheating caused by people (mostly Americans) building factories and driving big cars. FACT: The planet has been warming and cooling since the beginning of time.

-- CLAIM: Computer models predict the dramatic increase in the global temperature. FACT: Computer models have been notoriously wrong. Garbage in; garbage out.

-- CLAIM: We are experiencing the hottest decades ever. FACT: Temperature measurements indicate no warming over the past many years.

-- CLAIM: Global warming is melting the polar ice caps. FACT: The Antarctic sea ice is expanding.

-- CLAIM: Global warming is causing extreme weather. FACT: Planet earth is experiencing normal variations in temperature and precipitation.

Anyone making the effort may consult websites successfully discrediting the manmade climate change and junk science claims. These include:

-- Pricipia Scientific International (http://www.principia-scientific.org)

-- Professor John Christy University of Alabama - Huntsville (http://www.desmogblog.com/John-Christy)

-- Climate Depot (http://www.climatedepot.com)

-- University of Oslo Department of Geoscience (climate4you.com)

-- Watts Up With That (wattsupwiththat.com)

-- Dr. Roy Spencer (http://www.drroyspencer.com)

Each of us must exercise diligence in acquiring legitimate information lest we fall victim to political scare mongers. Democrat presidential candidates don’t care about the environment. They have no expertise in climatology. They care more about gleaning votes from citizens they scare to death – and then offer improbable solutions.

Here are the real reasons for the pursuit of the manmade climate change fraud. One is the redistribution of wealth from a guilt-ridden United States to underdeveloped countries. Another is the promotion of global socialism. And third, most important of all, it is the acquisition of authoritarian power by political charlatans over an unkowing American public.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).