AMERICAS VIEW -How the greenies corrupt the message

Posted April 9, 2013

The talented and provocative MSNBC host Alex Wagner, of the noon hour talk event, made the fatal mistake of giving her platform to the environmental lobby who denigrate the Canadian Oil Sands development and proposed XL pipe line.

Alex, let’s make a deal. Canadians will stop yapping about American gun controls and the illegal smuggling of guns into our country, if the U.S talking heads will stop yapping about how awful the Oil Sands’ development is ruining the atmosphere.

It’s a crock.

As a journalist, you have a responsibility to report and comment in a balanced fashion. When you bring in the head of the Sierra Club to address his group’s protest, you should also have invited the premiers of Alberta and or Saskatchewan. Both these provinces are the second largest suppliers of crude to America … after Saudi Arabia.

Yeah, I know, time constraints and availability of guests is a bind in live television. It is also easier to lard up the guest list with people sharing the same point of view. Also those folks receive an appearance fee. This epitomizes MSNBC’s slogan of “Leaning Forward”?

Here are some facts for your producer to consider:

There is already several pipelines transporting Alberta crude to the Gulf refineries.

More than 500,000 barrels of crude a day, some from the Oil Sands, are exported to the U.S.

A like amount of natural gas is also shipped south.

U.S. oil giant Conoco Phillips uses imported Oil Sands crude in its Texas refinery.

The U.S. is still reliant on Middle East and South American crude to supply 40 per cent of its needs.

The OPEC crude comes at a much higher price that Canadian crude.

Most of that imported oil comes from countries that are not friendly to the U.S.

The sustainability of Gulf of Mexico oilrigs to supply feedstock to Texas area refineries is rapidly declining.

Due to the sheer size of our countries, Canada and the U.S. are dependent on vehicles with internal combustion engines, well into the foreseeable future, to drive our economies. Pardon the pun.

There is a gradual increase in vehicle and power plant fuel efficiency.

No amount of renewable sources of power will supplant petroleum-based fuels.

Why does the environmental movement keep referring to “Climate Change” instead of “Global Warming”? Because science has determined the plant has cooled by .7 degrees in the past decade.

The real protest in the state of Nebraska is not about the TransCanada XL pipeline but its attempt to shut down the Oil Sands and its crude production.

The charge that the Oil Sands is the major North American producer of carbon dioxide, is an environmental myth. Besides, basic science states that Co2 is necessary for plant and animal life to create oxygen.

One volcanic eruption, such as the recent Icelandic explosion blanketing Europe for five days, wiped out any human attempt to curtail Co2 emissions by five years.

There are 200 active volcanoes in the world. At any given moment they can increase the amount of Co2 in such massive quantities that it destroys man’s attempts to protect the ozone layer by forcing people to adopt lifestyle measures that will protect the planet.

Unfortunately, we cannot control nature. To those who label the Oil Sands product as the dirtiest in the world, should look out the window in Iceland or the Philippines to witness the world drenched with real toxic materials. The volcano Pinatubo, in the Philippines, spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in one year than the entire human race emitted in all its years on earth.

This argument has nothing to do with the XL Pipeline, it’s all about a coalition of environmentalists trying to shut down the Canadian Oil Sands using misrepresentation of the facts as well as scare tactics.

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Are advocates of global warming creating a big lie?

Posted April 4, 2013

You would think that Professor Ian Plimer, an Australian geologist, earth sciences and mining geology, may know more than a little about so-called “Global Warming” and its successor “Climate Change.”

Basically he says that the environmental movement is irrational. He points to the vast bulk of the scientific community, including most major scientific academies is prejudiced by the prospect of receiving research funding.

He calls the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as being related to environmental activism, politics and opportunism.

It appears that the greening of our society has morphed into huge business with tentacles influencing the food we eat, the resources we use and the air we breathe.

Now the professor is seen as the uber skeptic of climate change. He challenges the reasons for weather changes that have been blamed on global warming, caused by excessive human-generated carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Plimer says the recent eruption of the Iceland volcano in just four days, totally erased every human effort to reduce carbon in the past five years.

Plimer writes: “Of course you know this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress, is that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow and synthesize into oxygen for us humans and animal life.

“I know it’s very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving a Prius hybrid, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid’s “The Green Revolution” science project, throwing out all your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick into your toilet tank, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing your 50 cents light bulbs with ones costing $10.”

He did not mention the dandelion effect in Ontario that banned chemistry on our lawns and gardens. It was another cave-in by former premier Dalton McGuinty. It’s right up there with the cancelling of the natural gas power generation plants in Oakville and Mississauga to win an election.

Plimer’s argument is the earth is going through a normal cycle that occurs over 800 years. In fact the planet has cooled by .7 degrees in the past century.

He warned that emissions trading schemes are a new tax imposed on everyone. It will not stop 200 active volcanoes from erupting around the world.

What if he right?

This scenario feeds directly into the proposed XL pipeline sending oil sands crude in Alberta to southern Texas to be refined. U.S. President Barack Obama stopped the project in January 2012. Protests by highly financed Nebraska environmentalists forced TransCanada Pipelines to redesign the route to accommodate concerns of the political action group.

The U.S. state department says it has no objection to the pipeline’s new route and sees no environmental concerns. The buck now stops with Obama. It’s really a no brainer.

The president’s policy is to make America self-sufficient producing petroleum products and reducing its reliance on foreign oil. Why would he not consider that more than 50 years of supply lies in the backyard of his best friend, major trading partner and closest ally? Why should Canada and America import costly foreign oil from the states not friendly when the resources lie in North America?

There is no financial cost. The refining plants in Texas and elsewhere are pleading for the oil because the supply of crude from the Gulf is dwindling. The environmental movement is determined to shut down the oil sands on the grounds it is a major producer of greenhouse gas, aka carbon dioxide.

This has become an embarrassing political mess in which the environmental movement in the U.S. is attempting to interfere with a sovereign state by forcing the closing of the oil sands.

Obama does not have to face re-election. There is no reason why he cannot approve this important development that will benefit both Americans and Canadians.

Make no mistake the environmental movement is powerful and has changed the way we live although often based on false science and premise.

Right here in Guelph, our city is governed by a majority of environmentalists on council. They are determined to change the city to their model regardless of whether the citizens go along or not.

The majority of this council has voted to spend more than $120 million to foster its beliefs that the city must change and become environmentally sound. But at what cost? Failure to replace the downtown library, provide adequate parking downtown, neglect recreation areas and needed community centres, are some examples of how priorities were shanghaied. It was to satisfy the minority among us who are radical about greening the city.

The time has arrived to push back and restore the city offering opportunity to all citizens not just the chosen few.

When will Americans realize they badly need us?

Reprinted from the Guelph Mercury, October 1, 2011

By Gerry Barker

We are witnessing the attempted political assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The American right wing, authors of the worst recession since the Great Depression under the leadership of George W. Bush, have confused and obstructed the third rail of the U.S. political system, the executive branch headed by the President.

Under the guise of misinterpreting the Constitution, the Republican Party leadership has made it clear that they are out to defeat President Obama without regard to economic policies that will bring the country out of the current recession.

No matter what the President proposes, the Republican leadership troika of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and House majority leader Eric Cantor, have thwarted any attempt by the executive branch to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

With more than 14 million Americans without jobs, the focus of the Republican Party is to defeat the President.

For his part, President Obama has attempted to strike a bi-partisan approach to work with the Congress and bring America out of the economic funk.

How has this happened?

The Democrats, who had a majority in 2010 in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, underestimated the strength of the Tea Party ultra right wing movement. Some 58 Tea Party members elected to the House stalled the government by refusing to accept balanced budget programs to reduce the huge U.S. deficit.

While the president recommended cuts to several programs, the Republican dominated House refused to allow increased taxes for the wealthiest of Americans. They continued to allow multi-billion dollar subsidies to major corporations including the integrated oil companies.

On Friday, September 2, the U.S. Labour department announced not one new job was created in August as the economy continued to stagnate. The underlying reason was the collapse of the U.S. political system captured by radical members of Congress who refused to give on their so-called principles.

The President has no choice but to face the electorate in November 2012. The gloves have to come off and he must pointedly blame the failure of the economy squarely where it belongs: On the Republican leadership and its hidden coterie of wealthy supporters. Instead he must promote positive policies to create jobs.

He is fortunately facing a divided panel of Republican presidential candidates vying for the nomination. Quality is definitely lacking. The potential Republican dream team for Obama to take on in2012 is Texas Governor Rick Perry with Michelle Bachmann as running mate.

Nevertheless, the outcome of this weighs heavily on Canada and our economy.

The U.S is our biggest trading partner as we are theirs. So why do the environmental activists attempt to stop the flow of oil and gas from Canada on the premise of pipeline leaks and so-called dirty oil from the Oil Sands? Why do they treat Canadians crossing the border as potential terrorists? Why do the states ban Canadians bidding on infrastructure projects? Why does the U.S Labour Secretary get criticized for trading in her limousine for a Chevrolet Equinox that happened to be assembled in Oshawa, Ontario?

Why are some Americans failing to recognize that Canadians are their best friends and spend millions to prove it?

In the next 25 years, America will need us more than we need them. It will be the need for safe energy supply and water to a projected population of more than 400 million.

Thinking Americans understand the important of our unique relationship. Let’s hope they remember it in 2012 when they go to the polls.

 

Gerry Barker is a retired newspaperman living in Guelph, Ontario. He writes freelance articles for the Mercury and other newspapers.  Reach him at – gerrybarker76@gmail.com