Have You Been Blacklisted?

Over the last two years, as climate change advocates have watched their poorly fortified arguments collapse into the rising tide of general awareness, many moderately minded people still postulate on the fence with this familiar sounding argument:

“Even though we know that most man-made solutions will have little effect on reversing global warming, what’s the harm in implementing some of these solutions?

At worst, these actions would be an insurance policy against the very small likelihood that these apocalyptic fantasies are possible.”

If this is you, mark your calendar, for today is the day this once pragmatic argument unquestionably tumbled into the sea.

In a radical speech to the National Press Club in Washington, Dr. James Hansen, a rouge NASA scientist and leader of the global warming movement, called for the heads of the world’s largest oil companies to be put on trial in a global tribunal.

“CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of the long-term consequences of continued business as usual," said Hansen.

"In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature."

While this sounds utterly fantastical, I am not making this up. He actually said this. In front of a really big audience…with television cameras…from networks other than PBS and MSNBC. In a few days, we'll probably find out this guy roomed with Obama at Harvard.

So, in case you need someone to spell it out for you, the reason we shouldn’t let unproven opinions and emotional arguments guide our decision making is because, once down this path, the burden of proof becomes too easy a causality. We don’t need to look any further than the stories of the vigilantes or McCarthyism to understand the importance of having a fair trial based on the facts.

Under this line of thinking, anybody who buys or uses oil, gasoline or diesel could be an accessory to a crime…an amazing statement coming from someone who has chosen to associate themselves with such a clean and green organization as NASA.

Apparently, nobody told Dr. Hansen that the carbon footprint needed to design, build and launch the space shuttle is slightly more than zero (especially if you take into consideration the 835,000 gallons of liquid propellant used to place it in orbit). Even nasa.gov doesn’t hide the fact that the Space Shuttle and Titan rocket programs account for a quarter percent of man-made carbon emissions per year. This is almost equivilent to Al Gore's house!

So what has made Dr. Hansen the unbiased arbitrator of humanity rather than a co-conspirator in the cold-blooded murder of nature?

Could it be that he has active political ties to both Al Gore and John Kerry? Could it be that he has received over a million dollars in grants from the Heinz Foundation and the Open Society Institute, a political organization funded by George Soros? Could it be that he is protected by governmental employment practices that abdicates accountability?

Or, maybe it is because mainstream Americans haven’t paid close enough attention.

Sadly, the Scoop thinks it is the latter.

Are you guilty?