Unca Darrell

JULY 15 / Two questions on global warming

ASSUMING THE DEMOCRATS' misbegotten energy bill -- half cap-and-trade, half command-and-control -- actually passes, how much will it reduce global temperatures by, say, 2100, and how much will it cost?

JULY 3 / Silence on silencing

IN 2006 the New York Times said NASA was attempting to gag Dr. James Hansen, the agency's inhouse cheerleader for the man-made global warming thesis. The Houston Chronicle waxed indignant, but mildly so.

JUNE 17 / More global warming skepticism

ALL CLEVER people -- including the clever people who write editorials for the Houston Chronicle -- believe these four propositions with near-biblical certainty:

(1) the world is getting warmer;

(2) it's all our fault;

(3) the only possible salvation is to give clever people our money and do whatever they say; and

(4) Propositions (1), (2), or (3) may never be debated.

Meanwhile, less clever people keep asking questions that the clever people can't, or won't, answer.

MAY 28 / Houston newspaper supports cap and trade

THE HOUSTON Chronicle, a newspaper that serves the executives and worker bees of the petroleum and petrochemical industries, a newspaper in a relatively prosperous state that generally welcomes investors and those who choose to work (contra: see California), a newspaper with a traditionalist, largely conservative readership . . . yes, that newspaper last week climbed aboard the solar-powered choo-choo of President Obama's imagination and endorsed cap and trade.

MAY 21 / Barone on global warming and religious faith

FOR LIBERAL elites, belief in . . . global warming has taken on the character of religious faith. We have sinned (by . . . driving sport utility vehicles), we must atone (by . . . recycling), we must repent (by supporting . . . cap and trade schemes). You may notice that the "we" in question is usually the great mass of ordinary American citizens.

MAY 11 / That was then

LAST AUGUST, Chronicle editorialists raised a self-righteous stink when the Bush administration dissed polar bears.

The bears were an endangered species, all right, the EPA said, but we're not interested in heading down the road to shutting off power plants to save them. The Chronicle declared that this was an "invitation to trample on [the Endangered Species Act] and the wildlife it protects."

Here's a hypothetical wager that the Obama administration will not get the exact same hiding for doing the exact same thing.

MAY 8 / When did Congress vote?

From today's editorial ("An OTC appreciation"):

Congress has made up its mind that there will be a price on carbon dioxide, most likely via a cap-and-trade system.

Our editorialists believe enthusiastically, uncritically in global warming theory even as the climate cools and alarmist computer models crash. The editorial writers can also apparently read Congress's mind, even before Congress votes.

APRIL 1 / Stuart Taylor, Jr., on card check and mandatory arbitration

These measures are not necessary to remedy the employer abuse of which unions complain. They would probably be bad for employees and employers alike, and they might kill countless jobs at a time when unemployment is already soaring.

 

FEBRUARY 23 / Standard, standard

BACK ON January 8 when you-know-who was still our president, the Chronicle said there was no time to lose in banning Bisphenol A. (No link; see below.)

When it comes to the developing brains of brains of babies and small children, the precautionary principle trumps wait-and-see reserve. We hope the next FDA director . . . better grasps the urgency of good science -- and quick action -- to clear BPA from our children's food supply.

So, now that Barack Obama is our president, what does the Chronicle think about our government's one-year delay fully enforcing a new law to limit lead and phthalates in children's toys? Substances that, according to our editorial board, have "been shown to lower IQ, alter behavior, even heighten violent tendences" (lead) or cause "fertility problems and birth defects" (phthalates)?

JANUARY 27 / Quote of the day

With the bipartisan example of Obama and Schwarzenegger as inspiration, this session Texas legislators should vote to give Texans the same right to cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.